On November 20, during a parliamentary hearing, the French Minister of Armed Forces, Florence Parly (pictured), discussed the financing of the G5 Sahel. The official criticized Saudi Arabia, one of France’s close allies, for failing to honor its commitments to provide millions of euros to the joint security force. In 2017, Saudi Arabia said it would approve over €100 million for the G5...

The World Bank will finance the construction of a 27 km railway line between Matola and Albazine stations in the metropolitan region of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. According to Amade Camal, President of Metrobus, the bank will first disburse $130 million, which will be used to build railway stations, electrify lines, train staff and purchase electric trains. Metrobus is an...

Egypt's tourism revenues increased to $12.5 billion in FY2018-2019, tourism minister Rania Al-Mashat (pictured) said this week in an interview with Bloomberg. According to the manager, these are the highest tourist revenues in the history of Egypt. The good performance comes after the serious crisis that hit the sector from the 1970s onwards, due to the increase in attacks targeting areas...

Chinese electronics company ENGO Holdings launched today its computer and mobile phone assembly and manufacturing plant in Uganda. The inauguration ceremony was headed by the country’s president Yoweri Museveni. The new factory, located in the Namanve Industrial Park in Wakiso District, Uganda, is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed between ENGO Holdings, the National...

Nigeria-based pan-African development fund Africa Finance Corporation raised a $140 million loan on the South Korean capital market; the first loan contracted on this market. This follows a US$233 million and JPY1 billion dual currency Samurai Term Loan Facility closed in September 2019, on the Japanese market. Commenting on both fundraisings, Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC,...

The Bank of Zambia announced it has raised its key interest rate to 11.5% from 10.25%, the second increase since the beginning of the year. According to Denny Kalyalya (pictured), the Bank’s Governor, the new measure aims to support the local currency, the kwacha, which has weakened by 18% against the dollar since the beginning of the year, and to curb inflation. The latter accelerated to...

Last year, Egypt shipped a total of $4.7 billion worth of goods towards the rest of Africa, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed. Compared to the $3.71 billion in 2017, this figure is up 26%. Algeria, Libya, and Morocco formed the top 3 biggest importers of Egyptian products over the period consuming $979.2 million, $635.9 million...

Toronto-based mining company Trigon Metals announced it has concluded a non-binding memorandum of understanding to acquire full stake in the Silver Hill copper/silver project in Morocco. The project covers 16 km2 in the country’s Anti-Atlas region, which is home to Africa’s major silver mines, mainly Imiter and Zgounder. Initial exploration works undertaken by Office National des...

Senegal plans to launch its Islamic microfinance program with the opening of financing windows by June 2020, Yaye Fatou Diagne (pictured), coordinator of the National Program for the Development of Islamic Microfinance in Senegal (PROMISE), announced on Tuesday. The 5-year program valued at 47 billion CFA francs ($79.2 million) and supported by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) aims to provide...

The former employees of Comium, a telecom company operating under the brand name Koz, are seeking the intervention of the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara so that they can finally be paid their social rights. Comium had been forced to stop activities in 2016 following the withdrawal of its operating license for various breaches, including high unpaid financial fees...