Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz has called for a comprehensive global plan to help countries cope with mounting debt that has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic. Stiglitz, a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, was speaking on Friday at the virtual launch of the African Development Bank’s 2021 African Economic Outlook report during a conversation with...

Despite the challenging backdrop of a global pandemic and external economic shocks, Africa is expected to recover from its worst recession in half a century and reach 3.4 percent growth in 2021, the African Development Bank said in its 2021 African Economic Outlook report, launched on Friday. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in December 2019 has taken a massive toll on Africa, hitting...

VC company Savannah Fund, which focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, announced the first close of its second investment fund –Savannah Fund II- worth $25 million. This vehicle will support early-stage startups in the region with a particular focus on women-led high-growth companies. The first close was led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which invested $3 million in the...

Benin has received the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as part of the Covax initiative. In an official statement yesterday, the government reported the arrival of 144,000 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine transported from India by Unicef. “We are very happy to receive these first doses of vaccines against covid-19 through the COVAX initiative. The receipt of the vaccines marks a turning...

Few days after it imposed an embargo on maize imports from Tanzania and Uganda, the Kenyan government announced today it has lifted the ban. Resumption is however subject to better and stricter compliance with phytosanitary requirements. According to Peter Munya, Minister of Agriculture, maize exporters to Kenya will now have to register with the relevant authorities and provide certificates of...

The African Telecommunications Union, in collaboration with the Swedish technology company Ericsson, has validated last March 5 a set of recommendations that will help African countries accelerate broadband connectivity, including 5G, across their territories. Approved by twenty-five countries and representatives of regional economic blocs in Africa, these tools will guide the beneficiaries in...

The International NGO Tax Justice Network has just unveiled its Corporate Tax Haven Index for 2021. The document is a ranking of jurisdictions most complicit in helping multinational corporations underpay corporate income tax. For this edition, several big trade partners of Africa on the international market appear in the top 20. Switzerland, which ranks fifth in the Index, is also the...

Fintech company Flutterwave, which operates in 33 African countries, announced yesterday it has successfully raised $170 million in a Series C financing. This operation values the fintech at over $1 billion and brings the total amount raised by the company since its inception in 2016 to $225 million. "When Flutterwave was founded in 2016, the payments landscape in Africa was...

The Ghanaian government will soon carry out a new operation on the international capital market, the Finance Ministry reported on a March 9 note. For this new fundraising, the country is seeking $ 5 billion to finance the 2021 budget, whose deficit is expected this year at 8.3% of GDP. Before the actual operation, the government will start a roadshow next week to attract...

The Kenyan government will earmark about $15.5 million to assist people with disabilities who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Peter Muchiri (pictured), the chairperson of the national council for people with disabilities (NCPWD), said the money will improve the livelihood of the beneficiaries. About $11 million of the amount will serve as a monthly allowance to support 30,000...