Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, said on 16 June 2020 that the government wants to raise the average Internet speed to 20 Mbps by the end of 2020. This is in line with the government’s strategy to improve access to and increase coverage of internet services. In 2018, the average Internet speed in Egypt was 5.7 Mbps. By 2019, it reached 15.5 Mbps and...

AU President, Cyril Ramaphosa, launched on June 17 a platform for covid-19 supplies. This was during a virtual meeting with the Extraordinary China-Africa Solidarity Summit against COVID-19. The strategy is aimed at helping countries easily access critically needed medical supplies to combat the coronavirus. Afreximbank and Eximbank of China have been entrusted with the management of this new...

In a June 17 statement, the government of Madagascar announced the soon launching of an economic stimulus package targeting more than 980,000 small businesses.This a financial plan of nearly 280 billion ariary ($73 million) consisting mainly of loans targeting small farmers and agricultural distributors, as well as businesses in the tourism, trade, handicrafts and manufacturing sectors. The loans...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced on June 17 it has decided to invest $100 million in Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s leading banking group by turnover in 2019. This loan is part of an $8 billion fast-track funding program announced in March 2020 to support the commercial activity of IFC partners in dealing with the pandemic. It represents the first investment in Africa of...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank on Wednesday approved a 225 million euros loan to finance Egypt’s Electricity and Green Growth Support Program (EGGSP). The funding, provided in a challenging global context, will help meet the Government of Egypt’s financing requirements in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and support a sound electricity infrastructure base, a key...

Ethiopia will benefit from €487 million granted by the European Union under the “Europe Team” program to cushion the economic and health impacts of the coronavirus. The information was reported by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA). Specifically, the money will serve to develop quarantine sites, improve social protection, and restore livelihoods. The latest assessment of the...

The Algerian Minister of Post and Telecommunications Brahim Boumzar (pictured) set up a multidisciplinary working group on 10 June 2020 in Algiers to draw up a roadmap that will contribute to the effectiveness of local loop unbundling, national roaming and mobile number portability. Speaking to the press, the Minister explained that the task of this working group will be “to examine the...

Kenyan commercial banks listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange experienced a rather complex first quarter of 2020, marked in early March by the coronavirus and its implications. On a consolidated basis, their combined earnings per share decreased by 7.3% over the period compared to an increase of 12.2% in Q1 2019. This weak performance is due to an increase in charges on each net banking...

NCA Rouiba, a producer and distributor of fruit drinks and juices, issued a public buyout offer (OPR) for the purchase of 2.1 million shares, representing 25.04% of the shares held by its minority shareholders. The selling price is 258 Algerian dinars per share. Once the transaction is done, the shares will be delisted from the official listing of the Algiers Stock Exchange. The producer will...

South African agribusiness investor Zeder announced it has sold its 32.1% stake (61.6 million shares) in the animal feed company Quantum Foods Holding Limited to Country Bird Holdings, a company operating in the same business segment as Quantum. The transaction was carried out through Zeder’s subsidiary Zeder Financial Services. Zeder Investments will use the R308.1 million ($18 million)...