Angola and Ghana contradicted analysts forecasts about the results of the first meetings, this year, of their respective monetary policy committee. Early January 2019, analysts unanimously forecasted that major Sub Saharan economies would keep their benchmark interest rates but, this was not the case for these two economies. In Ghana, the central bank claimed a downturn of the inflation which...

In Nigeria, six large firms will finance the construction of new roads, the Global Construction Review indicated this week.   The new project, part of a public-private partnership initiated by the country’s president Muhammadu Buhari, should help build 19 new roads, of 794 km long in total, in eleven states. Dangote Industries Limited, Lafarge Africa Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Flour...

Algeria and Tunisia have decided to further bring their population together via telecommunications by suppressing surcharges on international calls usually called roaming fees. Houda-Imane Faraoun, Algeria’s minister of posts, telecommunications, technology and digital, and his Tunisian peer Anouar Maarouf announced this on January 27, 2019, during a press briefing organized at the end of the...

Huawei’s first assembly plant in Algeria has been officially launched on January 22, 2019. The launch of this plant built at Oued Smar, in Algiers, was unveiled to the public during a press conference organised for the introduction of the Y7 Prime (assembled at the Oued Smar plant) to the public. A result of a co-venture between Huawei and Algerian AFGO-TECH, the assembly plant has a...

Angola’s economy should record average growth of 2.6% in the four coming years, a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and quoted by Macauhub last week, reveals. According to the media, these new outlooks mark the southern African country’s entrance into a period of stronger growth ; higher than the 1.4% average growth recorded between 2014-2018. The report reveals that...

Adenia Partners announced that it has finalised the acquisition of Tumaini Self Service Ltd, a retail chain in Kenya. The operation was finalised on December 5, 2018, but Adenia Partners revealed it last week. “We were attracted to Tumaini as an investment because the Company’s stores offer an affordable product offering at convenient locations that complement customers’ busy lifestyles. We...

The acquisition of South African data centre services provider Teraco Data by Boston-based Berkshire Partners could be one of the most important, in terms of value, in the Sub Saharan private equity sector if it is finalized. The value of this operation has not been disclosed but, when Permiram, the transferor, announced that it was seeking an acquirer for the firm, Teraco was valued...

Last Sunday, the French president Emmanuel Macron started a 3-day official visit in Egypt. Planned to end on January 29, 2019. This visit is organized amid a tense context marked, for months now, by the protests of Gilets Jaunes (the name given to the French protest movement that started in late 2018 against rising fuel prices).   The French president’s arrival in Egypt is placed under...

Qatar group Ooredoo’s executive president Mohamed Ben Abdallah Al Thani (photo) announced that he will visit Tunisia next week. At the end of a meeting with Tunisia’s investment and international cooperation minister Zied Ladhari on January 24, 2018, (the third day of Davos economic forum), he declared that this visit is to “prospect for opportunities to develop new startups in the tech...

In 2018, Algeria’s economy grew by 2.3%, the ministry of finance indicated on January 24, 2019, in a release.   According to figures reported by Reuters, this growth was spurred by the rise of the average price of the oil barrel that rose to $72.43 in 2018 against $52.71 in 2017.   Despite a 4% growth in the non-oil sector, Algeria is still unable to reduce its...