Rwanda’s Minister of Finance, Uzziel Ndagijimana (pictured), presented, on June 22, to lawmakers the 2020-21 draft budget adopted by the government to revive the economy in a post-Covid cotext. For the next year starting July 1st, the Rwandan government eyes a $3.4 billion budget. The new budget aligns with the country’s economic recovery plan after the pandemic and will be mainly...

South African President and African Union Chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa today hosted a historic conference to spur infrastructure investment in his country and inspire similar efforts in the rest of the continent. “South Africa, within the AU family, has been given responsibility for championing infrastructure development. It is through these objectives we will be able to attain the objectives...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank on Monday approved a $10 million loan to the Republic of Seychelles to support the government’s COVID-19 response program. The loan will be channeled toward macroeconomic stabilization, strengthening national health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and safeguarding livelihoods and social safety nets. Against a backdrop of declining...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank have approved the reallocation of $3 million in loan resources to help Togo purchase agricultural inputs to enhance food security in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The approval on 18 June, enables required funds from a previously approved African Development Fund (ADF) loan to be channeled to the Togo Agro-Food Processing Project...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank on Monday approved a EUR 88 million loan to Cameroon as direct budget support to finance the country’s COVID-19 crisis response. The loan, to the country’s COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Programme (PABRC), falls under the framework of the Bank’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF) of up to $10 billion, the...

The Kenyan Minister of Information and Communications, Joe Mucheru (pictured), announced that the government will create in the coming weeks a data commissioner to improve privacy protection on the Internet. “Our goal is to protect people’s privacy,” the minister said on June 21, a week after the Education Minister George Magoha denounced the ease with which school children now have access...

The government of Morocco plans to more than double its railway network by 2040, reaching a total of 4,410 km of routes from 2,110 km currently. According to the roadmap of the Railways National Office (ONCF), the plan is to make the sector a key component of the country’s economic growth. In detail, the project aims for 1,100 km of high-speed lines (Marrakech-Agadir, Rabat-Fez,...

Egyptian company Globaltronics will receive $10 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to bring prepaid digital meters to the Egyptian market. Part of the money will be injected into a new plant in Saudi Arabia. The electricity meter supplier will also invest in research and development of new products. ‘We look forward to investing and growing our business in Egypt and...

Hisham Hendi, Vodacom Tanzania CEO lauds the move as crucial support for the remittance ecosystem. The mobile Money services continues to drive economic growth in Africa Tanzania’s leading mobile money service provider – Vodacom M-Pesa – on the 16th of June, 2020 announced the expansion of its International Money Transfer (IMT) service portfolio.  Vodacom Tanzania customers will now...

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Equity Group speak about the debt cancelation for African countries. According to the CEOs of these banks, a debt cancellation will only be detrimental to the beneficiaries. “Forgiveness is not helpful because your debt is somebody else’s savings. When you go to the market to borrow money, the market is looking at your current and past behavior,” said...