Christine Lagarde (photo) is officially stepping down as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund IMF next September 12, the Executive Board said on July 16.This announcement comes when Ms. Largarde, 63, was nominated early this month as the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) and is expected to take office in November. For the time being, David Lipton, the Fund’s First...

Ethiopia will benefit from $100 million from the United Arab Emirates to finance technological innovation, the PM Office informed this week.The new funding consists of a grant to be provided to the East African country through the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development. It will be used to strengthen the capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, more specifically those...

Stanbic Bank Zambia, local branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank, secured a credit line worth $15 million from World Bank’s International Finance Corporation IFC to support SMEs growth. The bank says at least 25 percent of the loan is dedicated to women-led businesses. “By 2022, we plan to quadruple the number of women-owned SME borrowers from 50 to about 200, representing an...

Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications says between January and June this year it recorded acts of vandalism that highly disrupted activity and affected the quality of service it provides customers. Overall, GCT reported a total of 2,000 cuts of optical fiber and 600 thefts of equipment, including 240 batteries. This made the company spend around $5.7 million (over GH¢30 million) in repairs;...

The European Investment Bank wants to support the development of Angola. The bank says it is considering investing €30 million ($33.7 million) in high growth potential Small- and mid-sized companies. Funds will be managed by commercial banks operating in the country. Marc Leistner, representative of Angolan Bank, indicates funds are expected to be available by 2020 but before that, EIB...

Diaverum, a company specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of renal diseases, enters the African market, first implanting in Morocco. Statistics show more than 25,000 people suffer from such maladies in the country. As part of its expansion, the renal healthcare specialist has partnered with the Marrakech Hemodialysis Center (CHM) to strengthen its nephrology care offer to patients in this...

The government of Zimbabwe says, as part of its ambition to boost the telecoms sector, it is planning to sell the majority stake it holds in TelOne and NetOne. This was reported last week by the finance minister, Mthuli Ncube (photo), during a press conference. According to him, the two still State-owned companies will be privatized through a single offer; that way, transactions will be eased...

Uganda is launching a new car assembly plant worth $263 million, Isaac Paul Musasizi, the Managing Director of State-controlled Kiira Motors Corp, told Bloomberg during an interview.The plant, which is expected to enter into production by 2021, will produce 5,000 cars a year in Phase I and this capacity will be extended to 150,000 cars (buses, trucks, pick-ups and sports utility vehicles)...

The African Development Bank Group on 16 July 2019, announces the debarment of Lutoyilex Construct Limited, a construction company registered in Nigeria and its Managing Director, Mr. Bamidele Obiniyi (also known as Mr. Bamidele Abayomi) for a period of 36 months. An investigation conducted by the Bank’s Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption established that Lutoyilex Construct Limited...

The amount of money transferred via mobile phone during the first quarter this year in Zambia reached $652.1 million, ZMW8.15 billion, the Central Bank revealed. This volume is the highest ever reached for a first quarter since 2012, and is more than twice the amount in Q1 2018 (ZMW3.68 billion). The Q1 2019 amount is also much more than the total value of the transactions made...