Three plants with a combined capacity of 484 MW will soon be built in Thiès. These facilities include Dias solar plant (25 MW), Taïba Ndiaye wind farm (159 MW) and Mboro coal-fired plant which can produce 300 MW. This information, according to Sud Quotidien, was revealed by Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, the Prime Minister, during the inauguration of Ten Merina solar plant (30 MW)...

Odebrecht group, via its subsidiary Odebrecht Mining Service Investments GmbH, accepted to sell its 16.4% interest in Catoca mining company (SMC) for $140 million. SMC operates the Catoca project, the fourth largest open pit diamond mine in the world, in Lunda Sul province, Angola. According to details reported by Macauhub, the interest of concern will first be sold...

Burkinabe government will disburse CFA25 billion to build up a 95,000 tons cereal stock for food security. The information, relayed by Xinhua, was announced by Jacob Ouedraogo, minister of agriculture.  The process, which will be conducted by the National Company for food security stock management (SONAGESS), mainly aims to compensate the food deficit resulting from armyworms...

Gambian government has signed a $210 million framework agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB).  This agreement, over a 3-year period, will enable the country to import refined petroleum products and agricultural inputs. It will also provide funding for agricultural goods’ production directed...

Africa’s overall real GDP, according to the African Development Bank (AFDB), should grow to 4.1% in 2018 and 2019, against 2.2% and 3.6% in 2016 and 2017 respectively. This was disclosed in the institution’s African Economic Outlook 2018 report, released yesterday in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.  In Libya, BDG should rise significantly, exceeding 55%, driven by oil production. Ghana’s...

Nigeria’s government will construct two additional power lines to pipe the surplus of 2,000 MW. Due to lack of adequate infrastructures, the Federal Government was unable to transport the power surplus recorded for months.   Indeed, Nigeria has an output capacity of 7,000 MW while its power distribution capacity stands at 5,000 MW. “Federal Executive Council (FEC) has...

Decried for long by its detractors, China particularly, the reliability of World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) rankings has been compromised. This time, the accusation comes from the Chief Economist of the institution himself. Last Friday, in an interview with Wall Street Journal, Paul Romer (photo) said that the many recent changes to report’s methodology were motivated by political reasons....

Mining company Roxgold produced in 2017, 126,990oz of gold, above the 115 000-125 000 ounces expected (previously announced last September) at its Yaramoko project, in Burkina Faso. In its annual report published this week, the company indicated that it has sold 126,555 ounces of gold for a cumulated amount of $159.4 million. It recorded a strong production with a cash balance...

Senegal’s national telecoms company (Sonatel) reduced, again, its mobile internet rates. The tariff cut which reaches 50% is in line with the second phase of its strategy to support the “Sénégal Numérique 2025” program initiated by the government to fast-track access to efficient and affordable internet. Last February, the company had cut internet cost by 25% during the first stage of...

Between February and December 2017, Nigeria has exported 220,000 tons of cashew nuts generating N144.7 billion of revenues, or $402 million. This was disclosed by Sotonye Anga, spokesman of Nigeria’s Cashew Association (NCAN). The figures are respectively up by 19% and 55% compared to the previous season. Nigerian cashew is mainly exported to Vietnam. South Eastern Asian countries...