The Government of Japan has signed with the African Development Bank a $300 million agreement, to support a program which aims to boost private sector in Africa. This new funding brings to $1.5 billion Japan’s commitments with the AfDB, in the framework of this program. “Japan is a strategic partner for the AfDB and major actor in Africa’s trade sector. Your support to the...

In Nigeria, purchases of cocoa have slumped as most of the beans for the ongoing harvest failed to fully develop. In addition to this, there is also the relative low weight of matured beans, revealed buying agents in the country’s cocoa-producing region which is in the southwest. Benjamin Adeyera, a cocoa-buying agent, in a phone interview with Bloomberg, attributed the high incidence of...

Nigerian ICT firm, Retail Development and Investment Company (RDIC), has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese manufacturer of tablet PCs and smartphones, Shenzhen Jizhao Information Technology Co. Ltd, to build a smartphone and tablet PC assembly plant in Nigeria. “This MoU will provide a sound pedestal for anchoring the much anticipate digital revolution in Nigeria, with its...

The World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to the government of Nigeria for its social investment programme. This was disclosed by Maryam Uwais, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments. “The World Bank has been assisting with training and other supports. In fact, the bank has approved a $500 million loan for us to enable us cover a large number of people...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has disbursed FCFA900 million for Senegal in the framework of the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment Project. Going from 2017 to 2023, the project will benefit small horticulturists from the Association of the Niayes’ gardeners unions. The region which is located in the North-Western part of the country is one of the main areas where...

In its yearly report, the Moroccan indirect taxes and customs office (ADII) revealed a very good performance for the past year. Indeed, custom revenues surged more than 4% to stand at 90.5 billion dirham ($9.2 billion) in 2016 with 500 million dirham ($51 million) worth of confiscated goods. The customs office attributes the increase to record imports revenues which stood at about 400 million...

Zimbabwe must pay compensation to German farmers who have been stripped of their lands in the framework of agricultural reform. This was declared by Germany’s ambassador near Zimbabwe, Thorsten Hutter, in an interview with BBC. “We have a number of German nationals who invested here in Zimbabwe after independence who are not here anymore. We have a particular case where the issue of...

In a statement released on May 18, State-oil Company NNPC said it has reopened its depot in Kano to boost petroleum products supply to the Northern part of Nigeria. The infrastructure was initially shut due to attacks from militants in the region. “Today is a historic day for us in Kano. With the depot now back on stream, our people would have abundant petroleum products at their doorstep,”...

Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) said it will provide up to 20,000 new loans to small firms in its first year of activity. This aims to facilitate access to credit in Nigeria, according to the lender’s chief executive, Tony Okpanachi. “The focus is on new loans. We know agriculture is a focus area, we will encourage that. We know other small industries. We would also try to encourage those...

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (“ICD”), the private sector arm of IDB Group, and Coris Bank International have entered into a Joint Strategic Collaboration to establish Islamic window. The CEO of ICD, Mr. Khaled Al Aboodi and Mr. Idrissa Nassa, CEO and Chairman of Coris Bank International signed the advisory agreement. Through this collaboration, ICD is...