Author: Editor

Just back from the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Beijing, President Alassane Ouattara announced, according to Ivorian officials, 18 agreements signed with China, equivalent to $ 3.4 billion. US, or 1,900 billion FCFA for financing various socio-economic projects in Côte d’Ivoire. The Ivorian president believes that his visit to China has been most fruitful. This funding will essentially allow Côte d’Ivoire, which according to officials has joined the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative, the construction of road infrastructure, including the Tiébissou-Bouaké highway; hydraulic with the increase of the supply of drinking water; sanitary facilities with the construction of hospitals…

With a banking rate not exceeding 15% on average, Sub-Saharan Africa is indeed the geographical region having the percentage of individuals with the lowest bank account on the planet!

First consequence following the takeover of Saham Assurances by the South African group. The tandem Nadia Fettah -Moulay Mhamed Elalamy returned the apron. The resignation of the President and Chief Executive Officer was confirmed by the Board of Directors meeting on September 5th. At the same meeting, the Board approved the appointment of Said El Alj as President of Saham Assurance. The one who is also president of Sanam, shareholder of Saham Assurance, will be accompanied by Christophe Buso, general manager. These expected changes fill an interim period that will go until the effective takeover of Saham Assurances by Sanlam.…

On 5 September 2018, the High Court of England and Wales issued an injunction prohibiting the Djibouti port company, Port of Djibouti SA (PDSA), from terminating its shareholding agreement with DP World. The High Court also prohibited PDSA from dismissing the directors of the joint venture Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT) appointed by DP World under this agreement. PDSA shall not interfere with the management of the CSD until further notice of the Court or resolution of the dispute by an arbitral tribunal sitting in London. PDSA mainly belongs to the Djibouti government and its CEO is the president of the…

More than 50,000 low-income Senegalese women will have access to basic financial services such as savings through a new COFINA Senegal technology project and WSBI as part of the Mastercard Foundation program to help the work of small savings. ladder. Described in a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations, the African finance company COFINA will join MaTontine, a fintech specializing in poverty reduction through the widespread adoption of digital financial services, targeting traditional savings groups in French-speaking Africa tontine “. “The project will enable disadvantaged segments of the population, especially women, to gain a stable culture of savings and…

Wednesday 5 September, 16 African banks including RAWBANK, the first banking institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and China Development Bank (CDB) signed an agreement for the establishment of the China-Africa Inter Bank Association in Beijing (CAIBA) RAWBANK (www.Rawbank.cd), the only Congolese bank to have been selected as founding member of this cooperation, hence assumes its leading role in the Congolese banking sector alongside international and African banks. This agreement marks the official establishment of the first China-Africa financial cooperation multilateral mechanism. Based on the presentation by H.E Xi Jinping, President of China, aimed at enhancing China-Africa relations…

The new Managing Director and Regional Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akin Akinwuntan, officially took office this Wednesday, September 5, 2018. The banker is committed to providing banking services tailored to clients. Nigerian households will be entitled to a more user-friendly Ecobank and a leading banking innovation that will make banking easier, more convenient and a better overall experience, said one who will have the difficult task of replacing Charles Kié. The Ecobank Group aims to serve 100 million customers by the end of 2020 and expects to receive several million in Nigeria.

AccorHotels announced the acquisition of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts on September 3, 2018. With this acquisition, the Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts network of 84 hotels (20,000 rooms) will join the AccorHotels portfolio of more than 4,500 hotels, resorts and hotels. residences and 10,000 private homes around the world. Mövenpick’s current network and future openings will strengthen AccorHotels’ presence in Europe and Asia and accelerate the Group’s growth in strategic regions such as Africa and the Middle East. Areas where Mövenpick has a significant reputation with 69 operational hotels or in the pipe representing 18,000 rooms. With this acquisition, AccorHotels becomes…

Societe Generale Group (SG) will receive a “digital factory” in Morocco on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 in Casablanca. Called Societe Generale African Business Services (SGABS), this “Digital Factory” aims to quickly gather around thirty experts dedicated to digital innovations grouped in multidisciplinary teams (Agile coaches, process path facilitators, security, infrastructures, developer, tech lead …) and should cover the West and Central Africa regions. The new “digital factory” plans to conduct about 8 experiments per year and then deploy them standard and industrial to entities in West and Central Africa. The ceremony will be chaired by Alexandre Maymat, Head of Africa…

Mali’s presidential elections were played in two rounds, on 29 July 2018 and on 12 August, with the overwhelming victory of President Ibrahima Boubacar Keita (IBK) at the expense of his longtime challenger, Soumaila Cissé, leader opposition leader. But, while the electoral dispute is about to be emptied in the midst of fierce disputes, here is a new case, the appearance of various facts, bursts. Members of the Mission of the International Observers of the Parliament of the African Civil Society (MOIPSCA) are literally sequestered in a hotel in Bamako due to unpaid and exceeding mission expenses. Embarrassing case.…

The Norwegian oil and gas group Panoro Energy has announced in a press release the discovery by its Gabonese subsidiary of an oil field on the well called Ruche and located north-east of the Dassafu Marin production area. Drilling activities reached 3400 meters in depth and highlighted a hydrocarbon reserve in a 25-meter reservoir of oil. Further technical studies are needed to assess the significance of discovery. This is the 9 th for Panoro Energy off the coast of Gabon since 2011, says CEO John Hamilton. By Antoine Lawson

Grain to grind for African opponents often skeptical about the reliability of the electronic voting system. An 11-year-old has managed to hack a replica of the US e-voting system. It was early August, during the Defcon, the largest hacking conference in the world. The hackers focused on official websites to announce the results. In ten minutes, the young Audrey Jones, 11, hacked the site and “Bob da Builder” (Bob the builder), famous cartoon character, was elected by universal suffrage. The ease with which gifted children have been able to thwart safety devices is sobering. For example, of the 39 children…

The results of Douja Promotion Groupe Addoha billionaire Anas Sefrioui are well below expectations. The Moroccan real estate group, quoted on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, indicates in a note that its consolidated turnover for 2018 would be lower than that of 2017. The first half of the current year is down 15% compared to last year, “consequently affecting consolidated net income and operating cash flow”, we read in the text. Presales, which will be recognized in sales over the next 18 months, are nearly Dh900 million (€ 90 million) for medium-sized projects and Dh800 million for projects in Africa, of…

The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (KF), the King Salman Humanitarian Relief and Relief Fund (KFF) ), and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have launched a “Fund for Life and Livelihoods” of up to $ 2.5 billion. The Innovative Fund combines donor grants with traditional market-based financing (or loans) provided by the Bank to provide significant concessional financing resources for socio-economic projects in the 33 least developed member countries of the IDB. Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of the IDB, said, “The LLF aims to help…

The global energy industry has been experiencing a radical transformation in recent years Speaking on Africa’s hydrocarbon development, Niall Kramer, CEO, South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA) said, “Growing a gas economy in South Africa and regionally is imperative. We need to do this to partner and to enable renewables but fundamentally to provide the catalyst for the sorely needed growth, business activity and jobs that give us the opportunities for inclusive growth. The wherewithal that oil and gas can bring is potentially large, but to know that we must explore for indigenous gas and import LNG. Policy attractiveness…

From our special envoy, Nephthali Messanh Ledy. Arrived in China on Saturday, Faure Gnassingbe will kill two birds with one stone, even three. Participate in the work of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FCSA) in Beijing, sponsor the business forum of Togo in Xiejang and especially, promote the National Development Plan, the new five-year roadmap of his government. Togo is strongly represented at the beginning of this month in China as part of this forum, which is held once every three years between the Middle Kingdom and the countries of the African continent. At the head of the delegation, President…

By Christian Kazumba *. Real tax havens for businesses! This is the way the current rumor or people who are not very well informed often present our sub-Saharan countries. Six years spent on the continent, at managerial positions, taught me to take all the necessary steps in relation to what constitutes, according to my feedback, a totally preconceived idea. More convincingly, professional and rigorous studies show that this is exactly the opposite. According to the World Bank, the tax burden on SMEs in Africa represents, on average, 47% of their commercial result, compared to 42% in Europe and 36% in…

A media darling, Romuald Wadagni, Benin’s junior finance minister, says he approves of his government’s decision to tax certain uses of the Internet. Paradoxical? The downloading of videos and WhatsApp communications are particularly concerned, explains Minister Romuald Wadagni who specifies that this tax does not apply to emails, navigation on Google and simple uses. These remarks were made by Romuald Wadagni, who was also chairman of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) council of ministers, on August 28, during an exchange session. Justifying his support for a measure to say the least unpopular, the Harvard graduate believes that…

MaTontine’s innovative digital solution will help to make small-scale savings work BRUSSELS, 5 September 2018 – More than 50,000 low-income Senegalese women will gain access to basic financial services like savings thanks to a new tech-savvy project by COFINA Senegal and WSBI as part of the Mastercard Foundation programme to help small-scale savings work. Outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations, African financing company COFINA will partner with MaTontine, a fintech enterprise focused on reducing poverty through the widespread adoption of digital financial services, targeting traditional savings groups in French-speaking Africa – commonly known as “tontine”. COFINA Senegal Chief Executive Officer Amadou Boudia Gueye said: “The project…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has met in Cairo with leaders of the Egyptian Banking sector to present a new trade facilitation programme which it has developed to transform Africa’s trade   The Afreximbabnk Trade Finance Facilitation Programme, which compromises a Trade Confirmation Programme and a Trade Confirmation Guarantee Programme, is being offered in response to the increasingly stringent compliance and regulatory requirements being imposed by international banks on African banks for trade confirmation lines.Those requirements have resulted in the international banks reducing or withdrawing trade lines to African banks and in confirming banks having risk capital and capacity constraints to support trade finance transactions.   The Trade Facilitation Programme is, therefore, structured to enhance the confidence of counterparties in the settlement of international trade transactions for intra- and extra Africa trade and to improve…

More than 1 billion people live in absolute poverty worldwide and are unable to afford the basics of food, safe drinking water, health, education and housing. Around 400 million of these live in countries that are member nations of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). That’s at least 400 million people who live on less than US$1.90 a day.

Before taking leave from Cameroon, the resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kadima Kalondji, gave his opinion on the supposed exceedances of the disbursement ceiling of Cameroon under the Economic and Financial Program (PEF). A false controversy, certainly, but has the merit to install the economic debate a stone’s throw from the presidential elections of October that will see President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, face a big favorite to a dozen challengers. In the meantime, the debate is about disbursement overruns. “It is still too early to decide on disbursements”. This is the substance of Kadima…

The Rwandan utility regulator confirms that it has been approached by the US transport operator to start operations in the country. Despite difficulties (frequent tensions with taxi companies), setbacks (leaving late February in Morocco) and competition now well established (EasyTaxi, Little Cab, Africab …), Uber continues to deploy its expansion strategy in African land. Already well established on the continent (more than 2 million users), the US giant of the connection between passenger cars with driver (VTC) and their customers, has expressed interest in the upcoming start of its activities in Rwanda. The information, not confirmed by the California operator,…

Following the re-evaluation of BERNABE CI’s ratings, the Bloomfield Investment Corporation Rating Committee decided to maintain a long-term rating of A + (investment grade) with a stable outlook. In addition, the Committee decided to maintain the A1 rating (investment grade) in the short term with a stable outlook. The Committee notes that the commercial and operating performances are rather mixed in general, with regard to the strategic decisions made and which have the visible impact of a fall in turnover. However, it notes the improvement in the level of cash concomitantly with the reduction of the level of indebtedness. The…

On November 14, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) will celebrate its forty-fifth anniversary. As part of the celebrations marking this commemoration, a photography competition called “BOAD Footprint” on projects financed by the Bank in the 8 WAEMU countries “is organized from 27 August to 05 October 2018. At the end of the competition, 45 preselected photographs with a prize of one hundred thousand CFA Francs (100,000 FCFA) for each author, will be the object of an exhibition organized by the Bank on the sidelines of the Forum that it organizes. 14 and 15 November 2018 in the premises of…

By Dr. Ayodele Odusola, The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa presents a paradox. Conventionally, capital is supposed to go from low-yielding to high-yielding countries. Over the 2006-2011 period, the region recorded the highest rate of return on FDI at 11.4 percent, compared to 9.1 percent in Asia and 8.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. The world average was 7.1%. However, the share of global net FDI allocated to Africa has been very low during the last decade of illustration, the share of sub-Saharan Africa in global net FDI between 2010 and 2016 was 1.87%, against…

After its recently concluded annual review of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), S&P Global Ratings (S&P) affirmed the company’s ‘A’ for Financial Strength and Counterparty Credit as well as its “Stable’ outlook. The rating is based on ATI’s increased market penetration, expanding shareholder base, and an expectation of continued expansion and stabilization of its preferred creditor status. In the report S&P notes “ATI’s expansion and relevance in the region is bolstered by its strong shareholder support. It currently has 23 paid-up shareholders, including the African Development Bank, and its shareholder base has grown from seven initial member countries to…

Africa50, the pan-African investment platform, announced on Tuesday that the Republic of Mauritius became its 30th shareholder. Dharam Dev Manraj Gosh, Mauritian Minister of Finance and Economic Development, signed the Share Subscription Agreement on behalf of the Government, committing Mauritius to take the necessary steps for ratification of the agreement, as required under the Articles of Association of Africa50. “Mauritius is a leader in infrastructure development and one of the most investor-friendly countries in Africa. I look forward to a very fruitful collaboration. Africa50 now has four SADC member states as shareholders and looks forward to welcoming all other African countries to our platform…

These are two “good friends” linked by “sincerity and mutual trust”. For Chinese ambassador Tang Weibin in Côte d’Ivoire, this is the secret of “mutually beneficial” cooperation. President Alassane Ouattara is expected at the end of August in China for signing several large contracts. This year, Côte d’Ivoire and China are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Indeed, on March 2, 1983, “Côte d’Ivoire and China have united despite the long distance that separates them thanks to the far-sighted vision of their respective leaders,” welcomed the Chinese ambassador in Côte d ‘Ivoire.…

Following the disappearance of Seydina Tandian, WARA’s Board of Directors, held on August 23, 2018, decided to appoint Anouar Hassoune as WARA’s Interim Managing Director. Anouar Hassoune (43 years old, former student of HEC, Sciences Po Paris, Ecole Normale Supérieure and economics associate) is a shareholder, director and, until now, Chairman of WARA’s Standards and Methods Group. Anouar Hassoune worked for two international rating agencies before co-founding WARA, at the call of Seydina Tandian. Anouar served from 2008 to 2011 as Vice President of Moody’s Investors Service where he provided financial ratings for Islamic and sovereign banks in a number…