Côte d’Ivoire plans to invest CFA3,805.4 billion (about $7.2 billion) in the education sector between 2018 and 2020, the Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly (picture) revealed. “Over 2018-2020, the budget allocated to the education sector is CFA3, 8054 billion. So, Côte d’Ivoire deserves to be supported by its partners,” he said during the 3rd Global Partnership for...

DR Congo could be the mining market which will grow the most in the world in 2018, according to BMI Research, a research firm, and a subsidiary of Fitch Group. “We expect DRC's mining industry value to witness an average growth of 17.7% in 2018, outperforming other comparable mining markets,” said the firm as reported by Mining Review. According to BMI, this performance will be...

For the first time since 2008, Egypt’s GDP rose to 5% during the first quarter of the 2017-18 fiscal year, Ahmed Kojak, the deputy finance minister, revealed on January 31, 2018.   Moreover, 100,000 jobs were created during the period under review. This represents 80% of the jobs created during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 fiscal years, the official said. He added that considering this...

In Egypt, independent solar power producers are worried about the permit granted to some distribution companies to build solar plants. The private suppliers, which have been allowed by the New and Renewable Energy Autority (NREA) to build these plants of up to 500 KW, are worried because their main customers have been authorized to build those same plants, making them direct...

By June 2018, the Ivorian government will launch thirty rice processing units with a yearly processing capacity of 250, 000 tons each. This was announced by Yacouba Dembélé, managing director of the national office for rice development (ONDR), during a workshop on the rice value chain held in Abidjan from January 29 to February, 1st, 2018. The initiative is aimed at boosting rice...

Alioune Badara Mbengue (picture), the governor of Louga in Senegal, invited commercial banks to support the return of Senegalese in the diaspora by financing their projects. “Banks should support emigrants by helping them get back home and set companies to create jobs, and feel confident at home,” he said. He suggested this during the opening of a branch of Bank of Africa (BOA)...

International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), has signed a financing agreement of $3 billion with Egypt. This will be used to fund the import of basic commodities import such as oil and gas products and foodstuffs the country highly relies on, Sahar Nasr, the country’s minister of investment, said in a...

Bumbuna Hydroelectric Phase II project will provide 143 MW additional power to Serra Leonean grid, the country’s deputy minister of energy, Osmond Hanciles, revealed. “Initially, SELI Hydropower [ed.: the company in charge of work] intended to implement the Bumbuna II produce so that it would produce 365 megawatts electricity, and supply to major historic towns in Tonkolili District....

By the end of 2017-18 season, Nigeria should produce 10 million tons of corn, down by 7% compared to previous season (10.75 million tons), according to the country’s Maize Association. “Apart from imports, which is the major challenge to corn production in Nigeria, the two-year-old armyworm attacks ravaging farms has discouraged farmers from producing. Those unable to compete with imported...

Thies livestock producers, gathered in annual general meeting, discussed problems affecting their activity, in particular “land grabbing” which lead to a gradual reduction of grazing area. An issue that they blame on farmers and forest administration. “In Thies, breeders have always raised land issues. They report a lot cases of land grab. There is no more grazing area in the region. That...