Sierra Leone signed with the British government a compact which will help it bring its electrification rate to 100% by 2025. The project which targets all six million Sierra Leoneans falls under the country’s post-Ebola recovery plan. Solar holds a key position in the realization of this project. Government initially plans to exempt taxes on renewable energy products to make them accessible...

Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, has announced that it has temporarily shut down the terminal which exports the country’s Bonny Light crude oil, as attacks by militants have reduced production and caused damages to a key pipeline. With this force majeure by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), approximately 400,000 bpd of Nigeria’s output has been shut in. According...

According to French newspaper Le Monde, Orange will, before the end of 2016, introduce Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to its Mobile Money service in Africa. A universal reader equipped with NFC, developed by the French start-up Famoco, will be used by thousands of agents spread over Orange’s Money sales points in Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. Cited by Le...

Niger’s economy should grow this year by 5.2% against 3.5% in 2015, mostly as a result of better performances in agriculture and higher mining and oil output, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement published on May 10, 2016. “In the mid-term, economic outlook remains favorable but is still exposed to major internal and external risks. Real GDP should grow to 5.2% in 2016,...

Following a new series of metallurgic testing at its Lola graphite project in guinea, miner Sama Resources confirmed a high potential for graphite concentrate and recovery rate. Test results indeed indicate that 70% of concentrate graphite is made of super jumbo, jumbo and large flakes sizes. Super-Jumbo flake size accounts for 24% of the concentrate with purities of 92.7% and 95.5% graphitic...

On May 10, 2016, Egypt’s Ministry for International Cooperation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed two agreements valued at $250 million to finance investments in Egypt’s transport and water sectors. The signing took place at EBRD’s headquarters in London, UK. Under the first memorandum of understanding, EBRD will provide $250 million, in two...

First Deputy Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), David Lipton, said on May 9, 2016, that African countries need to find the right balance when seeking for financing for their infrastructure projects to avoid falling into excessive debt. “Infrastructure projects can be very successful in supporting growth if countries pick the right projects and carry them out in an...

South Africa will finally have its biggest Coca-Cola producer. South African competition authority has indeed approved of the merger of assets of soft drinks dealer Coca-Cola and SABMiller. However, the approval comes with a few conditions, Reuters reports. The firm, in addition to investing $53 million to support small enterprises and freezing job cut over three years, will have to...

According to official statistics released by the Suez Canal Authority, the Canal’s earnings in dollars have decreased, for the third month consecutively, in March, media sources reveal. With a turnover of EGP3.48 billion ($396.4 million) in March 2016, earnings of the Suez Canal fell by 1.2% comparing to the month before where it reached $401.4 million. However, due to the strong...

A new company is born in Africa’s e-commerce industry. Named Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM), the firm is to become Africa’s largest classifieds group. Product of a joint-venture between Ringier Africa, a digital media firm subsidiary of Swiss group Ringier, and One Africa Media (OAM) which has Africa’s largest portfolio of job, travel, car and goods sales ads, ROAM was announced on May...