Industrial buyers commit to purchase 25,000 tons of local maize in 2025, up from 5,000 tons a year earlier. Senegal imported an annual average of 413,000 tons of maize between 2020 and 2024. Authorities expect the 2024/2025 maize harvest to rise 13% to 639,000 tons. Maize ranks as Senegal’s most consumed cereal per capita after rice and millet. However, growing industrial demand...

TradeConnect offers guarantees for small international trade deals First agreement signed with Access Bank to share loan risk Tool aims to ease financing constraints for importers and exporters Germany’s development bank DEG has introduced a new trade guarantee tool called TradeConnect, designed to secure small international transactions between German companies and partners in...

Algeria grants 5G licences worth DZD 63.9 billion ($492 million) to Mobilis, Djezzy and Ooredoo. The government plans a six-year national rollout with eight pilot wilayas. Stakeholders warn about deployment costs of $3–8 billion and the affordability of 5G devices. Algeria launched mobile 4G services in October 2016. By the end of the first half of 2025, 4G represented...

Sierra Leone’s 2026 Finance Act eliminates import duties on a wide range of clean cooking equipment including LPG cylinders, improved stoves and solar cookers. The measure supports the country’s National Energy Compact, which targets raising clean cooking access from 1.5% to 25% of the population by 2030. The duty waiver aims to lower household costs, boost demand, and stimulate...

Namibia Critical Metals raises Lofdal’s development cost to $347.9 million, up from $207 million in 2022. The project delivers a post-tax NPV of $275.5 million and an IRR of 19%, with a 4.2-year payback. Japan’s JOGMEC already owns 40% of Lofdal after investing $17 million. The Lofdal rare earths project ranks among several potential new mines under...

Parliament approves a CFA11.96 billion budget for the ministry, down 11% from 2025. The government maintains its administrative-modernization agenda despite reduced resources. Senegal adopts broader fiscal-discipline measures as revenue projections fall for 2026–2028. Senegal is tightening public spending as the government cuts the 2026 budget of the Ministry of Public Service,...

Egypt plans to capture 8% of the global green-hydrogen market with 10 million tons of annual output. Cairo signed over $83 billion in green hydrogen and ammonia MoUs at COP27. The Suez Canal will anchor future hydrogen supply chains, according to the government. Egypt is leveraging abundant renewable resources and a strategic location linking three major regions as it...

Vodacom buys 20% of Safaricom for $2.1 billion, including a $1.6 billion purchase of the Kenyan government's stake. The deal could raise Vodacom’s ownership in Safaricom from 35% to 55%, subject to regulatory approvals in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. Vodacom will consolidate Safaricom in its financial statements, lifting group revenue to about 220 billion rand ($12.95...

Nigeria elected to lead AFRIPERF, created in September 2025. Sixteen countries attended the first executive meeting in Abuja. Nigeria will also host the forum’s permanent secretariat. Nigeria has assumed the presidency of the African Petroleum Regulators Forum (AFRIPERF), a new body created in September 2025 to strengthen cooperation among national oil and gas regulators across...

ECOWAS has started drafting its first regional e-government strategy to harmonize fragmented national digital policies and build interoperable public digital infrastructure. The plan aims to strengthen data governance, cybersecurity mechanisms and cross-border access to public services. West African countries already show progress in e-government, with Ghana, Cape Verde, Côte...