Ethiopia recorded a GDP growth of 6.1% for the budget year 2019-20 which ended on July 8, 2020. The country achieved this feat despite the Covid-19 pandemic, PM Abiy Ahmed (pictured) said during a special session of the Lower House of Parliament.   While the figure is down 2.9 points from the country’s initial target before the pandemic broke out, it is far above the 1.9% forecasted by...

Dangote Cement, Nigeria's leading firm by market capitalization, explains that one of the advantages of its Pan-African expansion is gains related to foreign exchange, particularly as the Naira declines. Guillaume Moyen is the Group Chief Financial Officer. He agreed to answer questions from the Ecofin Agency Ecofin Agency: Dangote Cement indicates that it has distributed 1 trillion Naira in...

For several years now, typhoid fever and diarrhoea cases have fallen significantly in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, especially in the major district of Kawempe, according to an African Development Bank report published on 7 October. Kawempe is an administrative subdivision that has developed rapidly, but water and sanitation infrastructure has not kept pace in this area dominated by swampy...

The Kenyan subsidiary of U.S. bank CitiBank is mentioned in a loan deal of KSh285 million (about $2.6 million) with the African neobank 4G Capital. The fully digital financial institution, whose services are accessible via a mobile application, wants to reach approximately 25,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). CitiBank will support the operating activity of these companies by...

The United Nations (UN) will organize a fundraising operation to respond to the humanitarian emergency in the Sahel. The announcement was made Friday, October 16, by Jens Laerke (pictured), spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) during a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland. The event will take place within the framework of an inter-ministerial...

The African Development Bank has approved the participation of the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) in a $4 million partial trade credit guarantee with OCP Africa, a subsidiary of the OCP Group. The project will reduce potential risks along the agricultural value chain, and improve access to quality inputs, including fertilizers, in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The three-year...

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced on October 16 it has adopted a $6.8 billion budget for next year. According to the authorities, the government had no choice but to lower its spending due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has further shattered an economy already weakened by other challenges, including poverty, insecurity, and the Ebola epidemic. The latest...

The African Development Bank hosted its second virtual business opportunities seminar in 2020 (BOS) on 13 and 14 October. The BOS offers a one-stop shop for individuals and consulting firms, civil contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, and diplomatic commercial attachés from the Bank Group’s regional and non-regional members seeking to provide goods and services to projects or to the Bank,...

The South African telecom operator Telkom called on the Competition Commission last week, denouncing the relations between the mobile operator Vodacom and mobile data service provider Rain. As a reminder, the two partners strengthened their collaboration last year with the renewal of their roaming deal. Telkom says the regulator should limit the partnership between Vodacom and Rain as it seems...

World Food Day 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization, but celebrations this 16 October are muted due to the coronavirus. COVID-19’s multi-sectoral impact should have governments and development institutions rethink investments in food security, healthy diets, and building infrastructure that supports how food is grown, processed, traded,...