Nigeria’s borrowings from China are concessional loans with interest rates of 2.50 percent per annum, a repayment period of 20 years, and a 7-year grace period. Nigeria's debt to state-owned Chinese banks more than tripled between June 2015 and December 2021, increasing Beijing's share of the West African country's bilateral debt to 84.7 percent, according to data released by the Nigerian Debt...

Proparco is a key player in the development sector, which has been dedicated to financing the private sector for over 45 years. Proparco has been operating in an extraordinarily complex international environment, especially since 2022. Faced with the climate crisis and growing inequalities, the African private sector holds the key to helping to resolve some of these long-term challenges. Based on...

In recent months, the frequency of power outages has increased in South Africa, affecting all sectors of the economy, including telecommunications. In that context, the government wants to ensure that citizens receive good quality services nonetheless.  The South African government has established new quality of service thresholds for telecom operators and Internet service providers...

Despite its strong growth, the African wealth management market remains concentrated in a limited number of countries. South Africa alone accounts for more than half of this market.   The African wealth management market is expected to grow by 60% over the next decade to reach $240 billion in 2032 from $150 billion in 2022, according to a report published on Tuesday 28 March...

Due to the inflationary pressures facing the South African economy, the Reserve Bank is taking a cautious approach. As a result, the monetary policy committee decided to raise the main policy rate to curb rising prices. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) raised its main policy rate by 50 basis points to 7.75% from 7.25% in November 2022. The rate hike, announced yesterday, aims to curb...

Eswatini Mobile launched its commercial operations in 2016. Since then, the company has been ramping up investments to be more competitive in a market dominated by MTN. Telecommunications company Eswatini Mobile (ESM/Swazi Mobile) plans to invest 200 million lilangenis ($11.05 million) between April and December 2023 to improve its telecom network coverage in the kingdom. This was recently...

The banking group seems to be playing safe despite a positive net result and banking income up 3% and 6% respectively. The prudential stance may be due to its significantly lower cash position and unrealized losses.  At its annual general meeting, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated suggested the distribution of a $0.11 per share dividend for the 2022 fiscal year. The proposed dividend...

Bolloré Africa Logistics unveiled its new brand on March 30, 2023. The company will now operate under the name: AGL, standing for Africa Global Logistics.  With this new brand, AGL affirms its ambition within the MSC Group to continue to contribute to the sustainable transformation of Africa and emerging markets, thanks to its global, customized, and innovative logistics solution. ...

In 2021, Seychelles signed an agreement with the IMF for reforms that have accelerated economic recovery, improved public finances, and reduced debt. Building on this success, two new preliminary IMF arrangements have been secured by the archipelago. Seychelles recently reached a staff-level agreement worth $103.15 million with the IMF to support economic policies and reforms and strengthen...

Senegalese entrepreneur Fatou Diouf is one of 1,000 youth selected from 21,000 applicants for the African Development Bank’s Digital Ambassadors program. The program, which aims to achieve a 50/50 gender balance, is expanding digital skills to African youth - especially in rural communities - through a peer-to-peer training model. For this first edition, 45% of the selected candidates were...