Early morning today January 7, 2019, Gabon witnessed a failed coup attempt. Around 4 AM, many soldiers took control of the national radio broadcasting station and announced the creation of a “national restoration council”.   According to the statement read live by the putschists, this operation called "opération dignité" (dignity restoring operation) was motivated by the...

In a release published January 5, 2019, the Central Bank of Ghana announced the revokement of the licenses of Premium Bank and Heritage Bank. The governor of  Bank of Ghana, (BoG), Ernest Addison (photo), explained that there were irregularities as far as the licence, the source of capital and the transactions of Heritage Bank are concerned.   The main shareholder of Heritage...

FinanceCom, the financial holding which is the head of groups like Bank Of Africa, acquired more shares in Balima that is listed on Casablanca stock exchange. According to a market announcement, the holding revealed that Argan Capital, its investment arm, has acquired 391,390 shares in the real estate firm. At MAD96.45 each, the investment, which was made as a block trade, amounted to MAD36.74...

In Niger, the general tax directorate and the telecom firm Orange Niger finally reached an amicable settlement in regard to the tax dispute between them since November 29, 2018.   According to sources close to the firm, Orange Niger agreed to pay part of the fund the directorate required from it as part of Orange Niger’s debt toward the tax office.   Indeed, the general directorate...

On January 1, 2018, Tunisia’s 2019 fiscal law containing the new tax provision on ADSL connection came into effect.This law reduces the value-added tax applied to ADSL connection from 19% to 7%. For households, this is good news since it means a decrease in the prices for this service.By adopting this measure, the government wants to facilitate internet access to consumers, reduce the digital...

On January 3, 2018, three ex Credit Suisse bankers were arrested in London for their involvement in a corruption case related to a $2 billion loan granted to Mozambican state firms.   These arrests were made five days after that of former Mozambique’s finance minister, Manuel Chang, who was arrested in South Africa over the same case. According to the indictment presented by...

On January 2, 2019, Isaac Munyakazi, Rwanda’s state minister of primary and secondary education announced the opening of the first programming school in the country. During an interview with the local media The New Times, the minister indicated that the first group of sixty young tech passionates selected in the whole country would attend classes this year. These future students are those who...

The market capitalization of Casablanca stock exchange has decreased by MAD 50 billion ($5.21 billion), according to figures published on January 2, 2019, by the Moroccan specialized website Le Boursier.  This drop is mainly due to the decline of the price of the stock of many important listed companies like the real estate company Alliance (-58%) Addoha (- 48%) and Dar Saada (-35%), the...

This year, Mauritius was the best African country for doing business, according to a ranking published by the American magazine Forbes. This island of the Indian ocean is the 39th  best country for business in the world in the ranking that compared 161 countries based on fifteen criteria. These criteria are notably, property rights, innovation, taxes, corruption, freedom (personal, economic...

Nigerian telecommunications operators announce great realizations that will thoroughly transform the local market this year. These ambitions were revealed by the president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, and his peer of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, during an interview with the...