Since the covid-19 outbreak, the challenges facing African countries, which already struggle with terrorism and poverty, have been exacerbated. To cope with these challenges while pursuing its development plan, the continent has embarked on an active strategy to mobilize external financing. Côte d'Ivoire hosted yesterday July 15 a high-level meeting on the twentieth replenishment of the...

The Democratic Republic of Congo reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for the disbursement of $1.5 billion under a three-year program. The IMF Board will gather this week to approve the deal, subject to certain preconditions. The conclusion of the staff-level deal between DR Congo and IMF seems to face some barriers. Before it is done, the International...

The end of the civil war, amid the coronavirus crisis, has created many business opportunities in the South Sudanese telecom market. The country is welcoming a new telecom operator. The President of the Republic of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, presided over the official launching ceremony of Digitel Telecommunications, the country's third telecom operator, on Monday 12 July. The new competitor to...

People in Benin have been experiencing in recent months a sharp increase in the prices of necessities. The government attributes the situation to very low rainfall and massive exports of local production. Despite the control recently imposed on exports, prices went up 2.7% month-on-month in June 2021 according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE). Households in...

While the third wave of covid-19 fueled by the delta variant has been officially declared in Africa, vaccination campaigns are still struggling to get underway. With over 2.22 million cases recorded to date, South Africa remains the most affected country on the continent. Africa has just exceeded six million cases of coronavirus, according to the latest report from the African Centers for...

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched yesterday a Private Sector Financing Program (PSFP) as part of its broader efforts to address rising hunger and poverty levels in the world’s poorest countries. The PSFP is a financing facility designed to promote increased investment in small-scale agriculture. As part of the launch, the PSFP announced its first...

Since Jacob Zuma got arrested last July 7, South Africa has been going through waves of violence that have resulted in 72 deaths so far. Several observers believe that the country's economic difficulties are contributing to the crisis and the police seem powerless to deal with the situation. The African Union (AU) has condemned the violence that has been going on for nearly a week in South...

After a first offensive last June 28, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) announced its rebels have taken over the region’s Capital, Mekele. In the aftermath, the central Ethiopian government announced a unilateral ceasefire agreement, which the TPLF made subject to certain conditions. In Ethiopia, the Tigray region has become the scene of a new offensive by rebel forces since...

Elmenus, a venture-backed food delivery startup based in Egypt, that serves over 1 million monthly users, has raised $10 million in a pre-series C investment. The funding round was led by Fawry Group with participation from Property developer Marakez, and Luxor Capital. The fund will be used to expand the platform across Egypt while investing in customizing the app’s user experience and...

Following a bilateral meeting held last Friday at the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly signed a Franco-American roadmap for increased cooperation in the field of special operations. This cooperation is aimed at fighting "non-state threats," such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. The agreement also appears to herald new...