The African Development Bank Group, has approved a US$15 million grant from the African Development Fund (ADF) for a water supply and sanitation project in Malawi, expected to provide jobs and boost the livelihoods of nearly 300,000 people. The Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply Project will improve access to potable and sustainable water supply and sanitation services, directly benefitting 60,000...

In line with its Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) Strategy to boost job creation and entrepreneurship across Africa, the African Development Bank held a breakfast session at the ongoing 24th Nigerian Economic Summit themed, “Education to Employment – Mind the Gap.” The session was a joint event between the Bank, National Universities Commission (NUC), Federal Ministry of Labour and...

The African Development Bank Group, in partnership with the French Development Agency, Association of Power Utilities of Africa and African Network of Centers of Excellence (ANCEE) organized a three-day seminar on “Promoting Gender Equality in the African Power Sector” at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan. The seminar brought together 50 human resource directors from 50 power utility...

Burkina Faso, in view of the rapid technology development and new uses, has decided to strengthen the judicial framework of its telecommunications sector. In that regard, on October 25, 2018, the ministerial council approved a decree modifying the November 27, 2008 law regulating networks and electronic communication services. The aim of this amendment, which will soon be transmitted to the...

Agence de régulation des postes et communications électroniques (ARPCE), Congo’s telecom regulatory agency and the local police disbanded a network of international call fraudsters. Indeed, on October 19, 2018, four residents were arrested in Nkombo, North of Brazzaville, with various sim cards, a Simbox, two modems, and a laptop. Marc Sakala (photo), interim network and service manager at...

On October 25, 2018, the European Union announced a €270 million financial support in favor of many sectors in Tunisia. The agreements related to these funds were signed the first day of the official visit of the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker (photo, on the left) in Tunisia on the invitation of  Béji Caïd Essebsi (photo, on the right side), Tunisia’s...

Last Tuesday in Rabat, the Moroccan minister of finance and economy Mohamed Benchaâboun (photo), announced that the government expects five to six billion dirhams (about $628 million) from privatizing some companies in 2019. During a press conference dedicated to the presentation of the draft finance bill, earlier this week, the official indicated that public companies that were privatized...

In the first nine months of 2018, medium and long-term deposits at Société Tunisienne de Banques (STB) increased by 11.7% (to reach DT2.7 billion) for savings and 24.1% (to reach DT1 billion) for term deposits. The bank made no comment about these performances but, we noted that its outstanding loans to the economy and its investments have increased by about DT1 billion and DT500 million...

Last October 24, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), signed a partnership agreement with Atlantic Microfinance For Africa (AMIFA) for the development of AMIFA’s products and services and the promotion of microfinance in Subsaharan Africa. The agreement signed in Rabat should help AMIFA, a subsidiary of Groupe Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) since 2014, develop its microfinance...

The African Development Bank is championing a new regional and global effort to transform the African Savannah from a “Sleeping Giant” to the cradle of the continent’s green revolution. “This sleeping giant needs to wake up,” the Bank’s Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Jennifer Blanke, told an audience at a 2018 World Food Prize side event in Des Moines,...