Christian, Adovelande, President of the West African Bank for Development (BOAD in French), said €30 billion is what must be spent to “fix” West Africa’s energy deficit. “We will identify major production areas in order to deal with the problem at a regional scale. The issue will be solved, by using traditional power sources and renewables also on which we’re presently focusing...

Air Algérie will purchase 40 planes between 2018 and 2025 to improve long-distance flights, its CEO, Mohamed Abdou Bouderbala, announced on September 17. As part of the acquisition project, four planes will be received in 2018 and the rest will follow between 20202 and 2025. Air Algérie thus plans to bring its fleet to 100 planes, by 2025, from 60 presently. Cited by local news agency...

In a statement released on September 15, the African Development Bank said it will grant Senegal a $1.4 billion financing between 2016 and 2020. The money will be used to support agricultural processing and acquire infrastructures to boost production and competitiveness (energy and transport), the 2016-2020 Strategy Document for Senegal (DSP 2016-2020) states. This strategy falls in line...

Vietnamese telecom operator Viettel has asked the Burundese government its help to implement various projects in the African nation. These include social projects and projects to improve the living standards of local populations. Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pham Binh Minh, and Burundi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Aimé Nyamitwe, discussed the...

In Tanzania, prices of tomato have plunged 88% compared to the last season. Since one crate of tomatoes was Sh60,000 last season, a lot of farmers began growing the crop this season. This led to oversupply and subsequently price fall. The crate has fallen to between Sh6,000 and Sh7,000. Officials are now looking for ways to help farmers gain from the activity. According to Ebron Mwakalinga, an...

South African newspaper Sunday Times revealed that Foeta Krige and Suna Venter, two journalists, have received death threats. Both are employees of state broadcaster SABC. The journalists said they were sent SMSes ordering to leave the city. Also, Venter’s house was robbed. Venter and Krige are part of a group of eight journalists sacked by SABC and later re-hired. The state broadcaster was...

Eni has successfully restarted exploration activities onshore Tunisia in the Sahara desert, about 700 kms south of Tunisia.The Italian company has now completed operations on the discovery well, Laarich East-1, situated in the Makhrouga-Laarich-Debbech licence, where Eni owns a 50% stake and the Tunisian state company ETAP holds the remaining 50%. Laarich East-1 reached the final depth of 4,111...

Following the announcement of the commencement of negotiations in relation to the new deep-water Tano Basin acreage on September 7, 2016, Petrel and its partners in the Pan Andean consortium have been offered revised coordinates of the acreage by Ghanaian officials. “Negotiations to formalize a revised Petroleum Agreement between the Company and Ghanaian officials will continue as agreement...

The Mozambican government and Anadarko Petroleum are in the process of signing an agreement that will result in the commencement of natural gas extraction operations in the Rovuma basin, in Cabo Delgado province. According to Al Walker, the chief executive of the Anadarko, when signed, the agreement will resolve problem associated with contracts and legal framework, which are essentials in...

Cape Town-based investment portfolio manager, Allan Gray has bought a significant volume of naira bonds, issued by the Nigerian government. The treasury bonds were bought after the Central Bank of Nigeria decided to remove the peg on local currency which caused it to slump 37%. By doing so, Allan Gray went in the direction opposing most investors’. After a second quarter of economic slump,...