Stock exchange companies operating in Morocco had a difficult year in 2018, according to data reported by the local newspaper L'Economiste. The cumulative net income of these companies resulted in an overall loss of MAD13 million ($1.3 million). Despite successive reforms, the Casablanca Stock Exchange is struggling to attract new stocks and daily transactions are quite low. This sluggishness on...

The African Development Bank re-affirmed its intention to boost economic and regional development on the African continent when its Board of Directors approved a $300 million support facility for the Eastern and Southern African Trade & Development Bank (TDB) on Wednesday, 17 July, 2019. The COMESA regional trade and project finance package consists of a composite funded trade finance and...

South Africa is planning to borrow more money to better deal with the weak tax revenues this year, the finance minister Tito Mboweni (photo) said.He said tax revenues for FY2019-20 could be way below what was expected. This situation, combined with the growing spending incurred by power utility Eskom, to which the State has just granted $4.2 billion in assistance, should considerably...

The Senegalese telecoms ministry announces the forthcoming construction of Digital Centers in each of the country's 45 departments. Minister Ndèye Tické Ndiaye Diop (photo) said this on July 19, 2019, at the opening of the Ministry’s National Validation Workshop for the Joint Annual Review. She believes the project will bring administrative services closer to people, thus making them save...

Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi (photo) has just signed a new decree extending the state of emergency for another 3 months. According to local media, the decision allows “the armed forces and the police to take all the necessary measures to fight the dangers of terrorism and its financing, maintain security across the country, protect public & private properties and people’s lives.” This...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is committing $28.86 million to support development projects in Somalia. The institution announced it on July 19 during a Board meeting. Of the amount, $11.99 million is for an urban water and sanitation project in the towns of Kismayo (south) and Baidoa (southwest). The remaining $16.86 million is for the rehabilitation of 247 km of roads and...

Interswitch, a Nigerian company specializing in payment solutions for companies, has resumed its dual listing operation on the London and Lagos financial markets. According to a source cited by Bloomberg, the company has picked U.S. banking groups JP Morgan and Citigroup, and South African Standard Bank to help with the operation. This follows a disinvestment procedure engaged by shareholder...

The telecom market in sub-Saharan Africa remained very dynamic last year attracting 20 million new subscribers and generating more than $144 million, according to the GSM Association. This means, the number of individual subscribers increased by 4.39% peaking at 456 million, a mobile penetration rate of 44%. With such an annual mobile growth rate which is considered the highest in the...

London-based payment service provider VertoFX, which operates a subsidiary in Nigeria, raised $2.1 million with a consortium of investors led by Accelerated Digital Ventures. The payment company founded in 2017 by two former Nigerian-born British bankers (Anthony Oduwole and Ola Oyetayo) will use these resources to develop its payment solutions in emerging markets including Africa. VertoFX...

Mobile operator Africell makes a breakthrough in the technology segment launching virtual SIM card in DR Congo on July 18. This computerized chip, CEO Milad Khairalla (photo) said, will put an end to the problem of loss of SIM cards and contacts. With eSIM, contacts are stored directly on a virtual platform such as Google Drive or iCloud. “With eSIM, you have the possibility to scan several of...