A report underlines that the European carbon tax could severely penalize African countries, most of which lack the financial and technological resources to rapidly decarbonize their heavy industries.  The European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), applicable to seven economic sectors from 2026, could make Africa lose $25 billion yearly, according to a report published, on May...

In December 2022, Abdoul Ly, then Director General of the telecom regulator ARTP, announced that 5G would be launched in Senegal in 2023. His statement was later affirmed by his successor, Abdou Karim Sall, in April.  On Wednesday, May 31, Senegal’s telecom regulator ARTP issued a call for applications for 5G licenses. The regulator is thus keeping its promise to launch commercial...

In Burkina Faso, the agriculture sector faces several challenges including insecurity and extreme weather conditions. With the new season underway, the government is stepping up efforts to boost production.  During its ministerial council last Wednesday, Burkina Faso gave its approval to a presidential plan aiming to cultivate 11,000 hectares of farmland in the upcoming 2023/2024 growing...

Although the possibility of dollarization of the Kenyan economy and the perception of a high level of risk are the factors highlighted to counter the project, the CBK has sufficient foreign exchange reserves to cover several months of imports. Kamau Thugge (photo), the proposed candidate to replace Patrick Njoroge as Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, intends to test foreign currency bonds...

The Togolese Agency for Identification, ANID-TOGO, has partnered with Atos and IDEMIA to build a national biometric eID system based on the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP). Atos and IDEMIA will design, build, test, and run a biometric national eID solution for Togo based on iris, face, and fingerprint recognition technology. This project is part of the West African UID Regional...

The African Development Bank Group is committed to partnering with Africa's regional and continental institutions to address the continent's biggest development challenges. This was the key message when Bank President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, met with the heads of intergovernmental organisations and African development finance institutions on 25 May in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  The meeting,...

The mercenaries of the private military company Wagner are present in the Central African Republic since 2018. Bangui is now keen to host a Russian military base capable of housing between 5,000 and 10,000 troops. Central African Republic is ready to host a Russian military base capable of housing up to 10,000 soldiers. This was revealed by the CAR’s ambassador to Russia,  Léon...

MStudio officially launched its activities in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on March 7, 2023. The company aims to spur the growth of start-ups in Francophone Africa and possibly the birth of the region's next unicorn. Leslie Ossété, co-founder and COO, MStudio, explains in this interview the company’s operational choices. What exactly is a startup studio, and what makes it unique? A startup...

Since January, Guinea-Bissau has been benefiting from an IMF-supported economic program under the ECF. Following the satisfactory performance recorded during this program, the Fund and the country reached a staff-level agreement. Guinea-Bissau and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement in line with which the latter should provide the former $3.16 million...

The Nigerian financial market is reacting favorably to Tinubu's promises to remove fuel subsidies to finance infrastructure and unify exchange rates. However, the future remains uncertain regarding the economic challenges ahead and the repayment of subsidies. In Nigeria, financial market actors continue to welcome the promises made by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu (photo) during his inaugural...