The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under its Anchor Borrowers Programme, has approved a N660 million ($1.9 million) loan for 3,479 farmers in Gombe State, according to Sani Chobe, Head of Development Finance, Gombe State office of CBN. Speaking at a sensitization workshop, he explained that the loan was for farmers who applied for the funding in the first and second batches and will be...

2016 was particularly harsh for land activists, according to a report recently released by the human rights defense organization Global Witness. The document indeed states that, about four people defending their lands were killed each week, last year, be it against mining, hydroelectric or agricultural projects. Overall, 200 people were murdered in this framework in 2016. This is 10% more than...

Tunisian Group Loukil and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will build in Raoued, Tunis suburb, Africa’s biggest mall, the Tunisia Africa Mall. Partnership agreement for the project was signed last Friday, July 7th, on the sidelines of the recent Tunisia-China forum held in Tunis. The project whose cost has been estimated at $120 million will be fully funded by ICBC. It will...

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), production capacity of the Inga III hydropower dam will finally range between 10,000MW and 12,000MW, thus about twice more than initially planned (4,800MW). This was revealed by Bruno Kapandji, director of the Development and Promotion Agency for the Great Inga project (ADPI-RDC). The increase plan whose cost was not indicated aims not only to meet...

In Nigeria, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has raised N105.96 billion ($307.5 million) by selling a 5, 10 and 20-year local currency bond at an auction on Wednesday to fund the 2017 budget. According to the debt office, the amount raised was less than the N135 billion ($391.6 million) it had planned to issue at the auction. A total of N47.01 billion in 10-year paper was raised at a rate...

In Nigeria, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the commencement of the validation and payment of N2.7 trillion ($7.8 billion) debts owed to contractors and employee for over twenty years. This is in line with government’s effort to resolve long standing dues and stimulate economic activity. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance disclosed this at the end of the weekly Federal...

The World Bank will provide Gambia a budgetary support valued at about $56 million to help the country’s new government bridge its deficit and provide basic public services. The West African nation is currently facing an unprecedented economic crisis and despite the numerous promises made by foreign donors, Gambia is still struggling to rebalance its finances. It barely stands below the...

In Côte d’Ivoire, 389,000 tons of cocoa were processed at the end of June, up 13.8% as compared to a year before. According to Reuters which reports GEPEX’s estimates covering 6 out of the country’s 12 processors, from May and June, the volumes of cocoa processed recorded a strong growth, standing at 18% and 34% respectively. Despite having an annual processing capacity of 712,000 tons...

Nigeria’s Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo (photo), has on Wednesday, ordered the immediate release of N1.6bn ($4.6 million) to support states affected by flood in the country, according to Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. The states include Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Lagos, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo, and...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 35 other Federal agencies have been given seven days to submit their 2017 budget proposals to the National Assembly for appropriation. The directive was issued to the agencies by the Senate on Wednesday. This decision comes after a motion raised by Senator Ahmed Lawan, claiming that most government agencies...