Launched on December 3, 2020, the "Smart Villages for Rural Growth and Digital Inclusion (PVI) Project" is a program that aims to develop agriculture and livestock farming, mainly through digital technology. It seeks to connect 2,211 villages and benefit nearly 1.5 million producers, thanks in particular to the financing of digital infrastructures. To achieve this goal, the government planned a...

Egypt will sell three of its companies belonging to the army by 2021. The announcement was made this week by Ayman Soliman (pictured), managing director of the Egyptian sovereign wealth fund. This operation is part of the government's strategy to privatize many public companies to attract more private investment. A total of 10 companies out of the 30 owned by the National Service Projects...

The US engaged in talks to sell more than $1 billion in arms to Morocco, a US media announced last week. According to available information, the military equipment consist of four MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones manufactured by the private company General Atomics as well as Hellfire, Paveway, and JDAM precision-guided munitions manufactured by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. A note on the...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it will channel a series of projects to help Chad quickly achieve digital transformation. Through a deal signed last Dec 11 with the Chadian authorities, the European Union's financial institution agreed to provide technical expertise in three feasibility studies. Each of the studies will focus on the provision of high-speed Internet, improved...

Aerobotics, a South African startup that uses artificial intelligence and drones to help farmers improve their yields and monitor their agricultural production, has secured an undisclosed investment from the Dutch FMO and the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, which finances the growth and scale-up of innovative companies. The financing will stimulate Aerobotics' international expansion and...

Mozambique will benefit from new funding from the World Bank as part of its development programs. A total of $100 million will be used to implement an urbanization project in Maputo. According to the institution, the new funding is a grant from the International Development Association (IDA). It aims to facilitate essential investments in urban infrastructure in the city of Maputo while...

The aggregate value of restructured loans by commercial banks listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya's capital market, reached KSh1.4 trillion in local currency ($12.55 billion) by the end of October 2020, according to a report by the analysis firm Cytonn Investment. This represents 46.5% of the total outstanding loans granted by these financial companies during this period. According...

The US has officially removed Sudan from the list of countries considered as sponsors of terrorism, today Dec 14. This announcement by the US embassy in Khartoum is the result of a long process initiated by Sudan to get off this list. It comes after the expiration of the deadline given to the U.S. Congress to decide on Donald Trump's decision to remove the East African country from the blacklist...

While several African countries are experiencing an uprise in the number of Covid-19 infections, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that as of Dec 11, 2020, the continent had a little more than 2.3 million cases and nearly 2 million recoveries with a death toll of 55,265 people. The top 3 most affected countries on the continent by cases are South Africa (836,764...

The World Bank announced the disbursement of $60 million to support agricultural resilience in six African countries. Beneficiaries are Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia. The initiative aligns with the institution’s ambitions expressed during the 2019 Climate Action summit. The World Bank promised to support food security research in Africa based on climate-smart...