This year, the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) plan to issue XOF2,723 billion ($4.82 billion) in the debt market against XOF2,433 billion in 2018, the regional debt planning agency, UMOA-Titres, announced on January 12, 2019. "When we look at the consolidated calendar of the issuances in 2019, we are reaching an aggregate amount of XOF2,723 billion", said...

Before the end of 2019, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) could open 20 agencies dedicated to online banking exclusively. This decision was motivated by the bank’s will to catch up with digital evolution in the sector. By the end of December 2017, NBE, the oldest bank in Egypt (created in June 1988) had about 430 agencies in the country as well as subsidiaries in South Africa, the United Arab...

Telecom operators Safaricom and Telkom won the call for tender issued by Kenya’s Telecommunications Authority (KCA) for the extension of the telecommunications network in 78 remote areas. Turkana, Wajir, Garissa and Kwale communities are the priority zones. The KCA set the tender to Ksh1.24 billion. Safaricom won part of the offer estimated at Ksh888 million while Telkom’s part is estimated...

On January 9, 2019, World Bank forecasted that Algeria’s economy should grow by 2.3% in 2019 and 1.8% in 2020. In its report on the World Economic Outlook, the institution explained that the 2.3% estimate is an actualized estimate of the 2% growth forecast made in June 2018. However, this actualized estimate (2.3%) is still slightly below the growth in 2018 when the country’s GDP recorded a...

In the democratic republic of Congo, the suspense has ended. The candidate of the opposition Félix Tshisekedi was proclaimed "the temporary winner" of the presidential election of December 30, 2018.   "I salute president Joseph Kabila. As of today, we must no more consider him as an enemy but as a partner for democratic change in our country”, M. Tshisekedi said when the result was...

The green light seems to have been given since July 2018 but, it is through a release published fifteen days ago that Kenya Competition Authority revealed that Goodlife Pharmacy had been authorized to acquire some of the assets of Maghreb Pharmacy, a local competitor. This is the second major acquisition from the group in which Leapfrog investment, a major investor, took the majority...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a USD 32.5 million equity investment in Climate Investor One’s (CIO) Construction Equity Fund (CEF), a platform that uses a unique blended finance approach, and targets the entire asset lifecycle to deliver viable renewable energy projects to the market. CIO will provide capital and technical assistance for early stage...

At just months to May 2019, the deadline for companies of the Inter-African Conference of the Insurance Markets (CIMA) to boost their equity, few of those firms are on a good way for that compliance, Ecofin Agency learnt from an official presentation. An ambitious reform with great expectations Gathered in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in April 2016, the ministerial council in charge of the insurance...

On January 7, 2019, Egypt’s minister of investments and international cooperation, Sahar Nasr, and the communications and IT minister Amr Talaat, decided to increase their help to digital project holders. In that regard, the two ministers have decided to launch the "Fekretak Sherketak"  initiative (Your idea is your company) in tech innovation centers created in universities. Via this...

In a release published January 8, 2019, the speciality pharmaceuticals company Mylan announced that it has bought the South African group Ascendis Health’s antiretroviral drug manufacturing plant in the framework of its project to provide quality antiretroviral drugs to 7 million people living in South Africa with AIDS. Located in Isando (Gauteng province), the 2.34 hectares plant produces...