The foreign currency reserves of Algeria lost US$ 19.02 billion between 31 December 2014 and 31 March 2015, going from US$ 178.93 billion to US$ 159.918, announced the Algerian Central Bank on 14 July. “The balance of payments deficit resulted from the external shock and the rise in the capital account deficit, and the negative impact against the appreciating US dollar led to the official...

Savannah Petroleum Ltd, oil and gas company listed in London, will soon sign a new production sharing agreement (PSA) on the oil of the Agadem Rift basin, a region located in the South-East of Niger. The new agreement covers an area of 5249 km2 and extends to the permit zone R3/R4, located in the vicinity of the previous production sharing agreement R1/R2 of 8406 km2 in the Agadem...

The Japanese group Furukawa Electric has decided to open in the near future a fiber optic assembly line for telecoms in Tangiers, reports the business magazine Nikkei Asian Review. The goal for Furukawa will be to “offer cable assemblies to telecommunications companies in Africa and in Europe while getting ready to produce connectors in the future”, the same source added. The company, based...

West African Resources Ltd, a developing company focused on gold, has come across, at a shallow depth, an oxide mineralisation at 1.5g/t of gold in a historical mining quarry in the Mankarga1 project of its Tanlouka permit in Burkina Faso. The mineralisation was cut through in two holes of its reverse circulation drilling program which is completed at 15%, specified the mining company on 14...

Africa Finance Corporation and FMO have signed an agreement to develop together with the Ivorian project company Ivoire Hydro Energy SA (IHE), for the construction of a 44 MW hydroelectric plant in Singrobo in Côte d'Ivoire.  The development costs for the project will be jointly financed by AFC and FMO, Dutch Development Bank, through a joint AFC-FMO project development structure. This...

Afriland First Bank, bank group with predominantly Cameroonian-held shares, will soon buy into the capital of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. The information was disclosed by Paul Kammogne Fokam, the founder of the 2nd banking group in Central Africa, behind BGFI. “For this purpose, one of the African branches of the group will be appointed to act as...

Competing telecom operators Mauritius Telecom and Telma are in a race for the acquisition of the second telecommunications services operating licence in the Comoros. The two companies, in addition to Shyam Telecom and Vihaan Networks, represented by the Tanzanian Quality Group, are part of the four companies being considered for this operation. By the coming month of September, the winner of this...

The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) invalidated, on 13 July, the new election code of Burkina Faso, which prevents followers of the deposed president Blaise Compaoré from standing as candidates in the presidential elections in October. The court considered that the provisions of this electoral code are a violation of the right to freely partake in the...

In Morocco, the production of white sugar has increased by 32% and is now at 480,000 metric tons, indicates La Vie Eco. Thanks to this progress, the kingdom will provide 40% of its sugar needs against the usual 29% this year. The performance was promoted by the increase of 48% in areas dedicated to the cultivation of beetroot whose production has also risen by 45%. Though the results of the...

The French group Sucres & Denrées Côte d’Ivoire (Sucden CI) has just been granted a financing of €100 million by the African Bank of Development (AfDB). This amount, loaned within the framework of the Soft Commodity Finance Facility, will be used to pre-finance the cocoa season, indicated the institution. According to AfDB, the loan which has a two-year maturity will allow Sucden...