This year, Botswana’s fiscal deficit would drop to 2.3%, a release from the country’s finance ministry informed today September 18, 2018. According to the information reported by Reuters, this new forecast is higher than the 1.8% previously forecasted. This would be due to a downward revision of the mining revenues which are the country’s main source of revenue. Upon his arrival in April...

During its last administrative board meeting for this year, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic), the American institution that funds its citizens’ investments in emerging countries approved an $895 million funding facility for development projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These resources are to be used to develop four projects launched by the institution in 2018....

Due to ecosystem degradation, Africa loses $68 billion annually, a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), quoted by Sahel Intelligence informs. According to figures published during the seventh extraordinary session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, ongoing from 17-21 September in Nairobi (Kenya), these environmental problems also affect the...

AXA Assurance Maroc SA acquired stakes in Dabadoc, a Moroccan startup that helps find nearby doctors and arranges meetings online. Dabadoc, launched in 2014 thanks to a MAD5 million investment, will use the new funds to develop its presence in North Africa, namely Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia where it is already well established.   Dabadoc, which helps health professionals communicate with...

Last weekend, Cradle Arc announced that its PL33/2005 and PL180/2008 prospecting permits in Botswana have been renewed for two years. This renewal follows a request submitted in January 2018 to the minister of minerals, energy and water resources. The company indicates that provided funding is available, it will carry on with the geophysical surveys realized by the former operators of one of the...

Last Saturday, Egypt’s oil minister Tarek al-Moulla informed in a release that oil and gas exploration agreements had been signed by Shell and Petronas. According to the terms of the agreement, the two companies would invest $1 billion to dig eight oil wells in the Nile Delta. This agreement strengthens the presence of the two companies, especially Shell’s which confirms its prominent...

Blue Garnet Ventures, an investment company that invests in African companies specialized in financial technologies acquired 10% stake in Atura, a subsidiary of the South African firm New Media Labs Ltd. Paul Cartmel, Atura’s CEO, did not reveal the amount of this investment in order not to “create confusion with some potential investors offering better terms”. Atura which develops...

China would grant $11 billion to Angola, Macauhub indicated last week quoting Africa Monitor. According to the media, the fund would be provided as a credit line that would help Angola fund 78 development projects in the infrastructure sector notably. The new agreement concluded by the two countries outside the FOCAC, should be signed during Angola’s president Joao Lourenço’s visit to...

Tunisia plans to issue $1 billion Eurobonds at the beginning of October 2018 to reduce the 2018 fiscal deficit, Reuters reported on September 14, quoting official sources. “We will issue $1 billion Eurobonds at the beginning of October [2018] after the IMF has disbursed another installment of its loan to Tunisia”, the sources explained. Tunisia whose economy was affected...

Every payment above EGP100,000 (about $5,500) to government institutions should be done electronically from January 2019, Egypt’s finance minister announced last September 15.   According to the country’s authorities, this decision is part of the government’s plan to achieve financial inclusion and migrate towards a cashless society. Any citizen who will use cash for transactions...