The United Nations accuses the Eritrean forces involved in the Tigray conflict of preventing people in the region from accessing humanitarian aid. Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said Asmara is using food "as a weapon of war” against Tigray. He said Eritrean soldiers block convoys carrying food destined for areas...

As part of the promotion of renewable energy and following phase 1’s success, JIRAMA and Green Yellow Madagascar have agreed to further expand the Ambatolampy power plant in order to increase its capacity from 20 to 40MWp as well as providing for a 5MWh of battery. The JIRAMA states that this expansion allows a significant reduction of its production costs within the framework of its recovery...

South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice announced a plan to increase its stake in BetKing, a Nigeria-based sports betting and entertainment company that has expanded its operations to Kenya and Ethiopia. The company is investing $282 million to bring its share from 20% to 49%.  The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, was announced during the release of MultiChoice's financial...

The Egyptian Space Agency will send two new satellites into space in 2022. These are NExSat-1, intended for remote sensing and scientific research, and EgyptSat 2 which will be used for Earth observation. The information was announced last June 11 by Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, at the Euro-African Space Forum held for two days in...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has today announced a partnership with Belco Realty LLP to support the development of a mixed-use affordable living complex consisting of 1,379 residential units and over 4,500 square meters of retail and commercial space in Kongowea, Mombasa county. In the quest to meet the rising demand for housing, IFC will help identify international strategic...

The Covid-19 vaccination campaign in South Africa took another blow. An investigation suspects that about 2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine the country recently acquired were contaminated during the production process in Baltimore, Maryland. President Cyril Ramaphosa said the contaminated doses cannot therefore be used for the campaign. On Friday, June 11, U.S. authorities warned...

The G7 DFIs, the IFC, the private sector arm of the African Development Bank, EBRD and the European Investment Bank today announced that they were committed to investing $80 billion in the private sector over the next five years to support sustainable economic recovery and growth in Africa. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a severe global economic and health crisis. The announcement is a...

Tanzanian authorities announced they are waiving the value-added tax on smartphones, tablets, and modems as part of a plan to bring broadband penetration to 80% from 38% by 2025. In addition to affordable data packages, the government wants to make device prices affordable to the population.   When defending the 2021-2022 draft budget before the parliament last June 10, the Finance...

The African Development Bank launched a A$600 million (US$463.9 million) 5.5-year Kangaroo bond, marking its return to the Australian dollar bond market. The transaction, announced on 8 June, was led by Nomura and RBC Capital Markets. It is the institution’s first benchmark Kangaroo since early 2018 and its first in the mid-curve since 2015. It is also the largest AUD trade ever issued by the...

In its World Economic Outlook report published last June 8, the World Bank forecasts the economy of sub-Saharan Africa to grow by 2.8% this year and reach 3.3% in 2022. The institution expects the growth to be supported by a recovery of economic activities in the sectors that were hard hit by Covid-19. World Banks says the recovery in countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola will...