The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the payment of $247 million to Tunisia in the framework the extended credit facility.  This was announced by the minister of great reforms  Taoufik Rajhi (photo), on June 12, 2019.   This is the sixth tranche of a $2.8 billion support programme approved in 2016 to support economic reforms in this North African country....

Truestone Impact Investment Management, a British fund manager operating in Subsaharan Africa, plans to launch Mano River Transition Fund aimed at investing between $500 thousand and $5 million in SMEs in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Overall, the fund plans to invest $50 million in those SMEs. “The qualifying companies that we have identified for follow-on investment are cash flow...

Cöte d’Ivoire plans to adopt a budget close to $13.8 billion for the 2020 fiscal year, the government indicates in the 2020-2022 budget planning document published this week.   Compared with the budget for the ongoing 2019 fiscal year, this represents an increase by 9.8%. Named "Document de programmation budgétaire et économique pluriannuelle (DPBEP) 2020-2022", the said document...

A delegation of Luxembourg businessmen visited Rwanda on June 10, 2019, in the framework of the first Rwanda-Luxembourg Business Forum organized by the RDB (Rwanda Development Board) and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. During the forum, fifteen Luxembourg companies expressed their interests in the Rwandan IT sector that highlights the country as an African tech and digital pole. According...

International telecommunications services provider MGI Global Services has signed a 5-year agreement with satellite internet provider Avanti Communications for broadband internet provision in South Sudan, Chad and Angola. MGI Global Services indicates that its goal with this partnership is to provide quality internet in rural areas with poor coverage.   Ilija Reymond, MGI managing partner,...

South Africa’s first fully digital bank TymeBank announces the launch of its unsecured loan services in July 2019. This schedule conforms to the plan presented to investors in February 2019 when the bank officially launched its activities. This also shed a light on the ZAR200 million ($13.4 million) received days ago from Ethos, a fund that supports artificial intelligence projects. This...

Ghana Export-Import Bank has invested GHs10 million ($1.8 million) in the shea nut value-chain. Part of this fund will be used to train 400 women in the collection segment while another part will be used to provide equipment and security materials to 1,200 collectors.  With this investment, Ghana expects to increase its shea exports currently estimated at 70,000 tons per year. “In view...

Ethiopia will record a 9% economic growth during the 2019/2020 fiscal year, finance minister Ahmed Shide (photo) indicted before the national assembly on June 11, 2019, during the budget presentation. The official added that in the framework of that budget, expenditures are estimated to be Br346.9 billion ($13.48 billion), up from the Br346.9 billion set for the 2018/2019 fiscal year. William...

In Tunisia, trade deficit reached TND8.10 billion ($2.66 billion) in the first five months of 2019, according to figures published by the national institute for statistics on June 11, 2019. During the same period in 2018, this deficit was TND6.62 billion. During the period under review, exports reached TND19.59 billion representing a 15.1% year to year rise. On the other hand, imports recorded a...

Mauritius should record 4.1% growth during the 2019/2020 (July-June) financial year, finance minister Pravind Jugnauth (photo) indicated on June 10, 2019, during the 2019/2020 budget presentation. The official added that during the said fiscal year, public expenditures should rise from Rs133.8 billion in 2018/2019 to Rs138.6 billion ($3.9 billion). The budget deficit will remain the same as in...