In Benin, the State’s global budget for 2018 should reach FCFA1,862.918 billion ($3.3 billion), thus down by FCFA147.668 billion compared to 2017 (FCFA2,010.586 billion). This was revealed last Wednesday by Agence Bénin Presse (ABP) which cites Gratien Laurent Ahouanménou, technical economic advisor of the parliament’s president. According to M. Ahouanménou who was expressing...

Ghana’s cocoa board (Cocobod) has initiated reforms to clear all its debts which stand at about Ghc19.6 billion ($4.45 billion). This was revealed to Reuters by Joseph Aidoo, chief executive of the board since February 2017. According to the official, the debt which was owed by the previous management results from uncontrolled spending, and bad utilization of syndicated loans. “Peculiar to...

Tunisia’s national telecommunication authority (INT) indicated that 10 days only after the launch of the consumers-dedicated website, last October 9, 32 complaints about service quality were recorded. Such a number, in such a short period, attests that users truly needed their own space to express their complaints about failures of telecom operators, without them being buried by the...

In a press box released on the Senegalese news website Ndarinfo, lawyer and teaching-researcher Ngouye Faye pleaded for the creation of a land management agency in Senegal. A solution which should allow the government to better tackle the land governance issue, and enable populations better secure their properties. “Land is becoming more and more of a good in Senegal and local modes of access...

Mining firm Avesoro Resources has concluded a conditional agreement to acquire the Balogo and Youga gold mines in Burkina Faso, for $65.9 million.  To this end, Avesoro will take over MNG Gold Burkina, Cayman Burkina Mines, MNG Gold Exploration, AAA Exploration and Jersey Netiana Mining, the projects’ owners. Under the contract’s terms, out of the agreed amount, $51 million...

In Togo, trade volumes soared throughout the decade ended in 2015. Indeed, trade’s share in the GDP soared by 91% in 2006 to 95% in 2015, according to the Aid for Trade at a Glance 2017. This improvement was more or less driven by a significant rise of commercial flows. Service exports jumped by 178% while imports also soared, but less considerably (43%). Services which represented 20% of...

Tunisia’s housing bank, Banque de l’Habitat, has obtained the approval of the Financial Markets Council to increase its capital by 68 million Tunisian dinars (TD), thus bringing it to 238 million TD ($95.5 million).   The capital increase will take place partly through the issuance of 6.8 million new shares, at a unit price of 15TD. This operation which should help raise 102...

Russia has signed with Nigeria a contract to build and operate nuclear power plants in order to palliate the Western African’s power deficit issue, Bloomberg reports. The agreement includes conduction of a feasibility study for the construction sites, evaluation of capacity and financing, as well drawing a schedule to develop the project.   The signing of this new agreement...

In 2016/17, the global coffee output stood at 122.45 million bags, thus 4.8% more than last year, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) revealed.  In detail, the institution explains that exports of the Arabica variety soared by 7.9% to 77.52 million bags, while Robusta exports slumped by 0.2% to 44.93 million bags.  Moreover, ICO reveals, the beans exports reached their highest...

Dutch group Heineken, second largest brewer in the world, will inject CFA20 billion in Côte d’Ivoire by the end of the year. This sum will serve to double the output of its Ivorian subsidiary Brassivoire which currently has a production capacity of 1.6 million hectoliters of beer a year. The announcement was made yesterday by Brassivoire’s managing director, Alexander Koch.  ...