Author: Albert Savana

ECOWAS, a community of 15 West African states including Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana, projects an economic recovery in 2021 with a projected GDP increase of 3.5%. Announcement made this weekend by the heads of state of the region who gathered in Accra (Ghana). “After negative growth of 0.8% in 2020 linked to the negative effects of Covid-19, the Conference of Heads of State welcomes the recovery announced in 2021 with a projected GDP increase of 3.5% in 2021. It urges member states to speed up the implementation of economic recovery programs and projects to support the ongoing recovery, ”said…

Casablanca, June 21, 2021. Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment institution, announces the appointment of Ms. Tshepidi Moremong as Chief Operating Officer. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2021. The new COO will lead a multidisciplinary team responsible for fundraising, investor relations, strategy, human resources and administration, communications and governance environmental and social. Ms. Moremong has over twenty-two years of strategic leadership experience in private equity, corporate finance and business development. She joined Africa50 from Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) in South Africa where she was responsible for customer coverage for the rest of Africa outside South Africa, a position she had…

The Central African Financial Market Surveillance Commission (COSUMAF) reviewed market developments during the first six months of the year and decided to issue licenses to seven new market intermediaries whose activities cover all the countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). This is the company Horus Investment Capital SA approved as a brokerage firm; David Clay Azambou Dongmo, Patrick Fomethe Momo, Issongo La-Ngatsesse Kiba and Sondia Gwet marries Nkembe, all four approved as Financial Investment Advisers; the company Okalla Ahanda & Associés as Statutory Auditors with an issuing entity making a public offering and the company LCB…

Adenia Partners, a private equity fund management company in Africa, announced on Monday, June 21, that it has acquired a majority stake in Herholdt’s, one of South Africa’s leading distributors of low-voltage electrical and solar products. . The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. This initiative aims primarily to strengthen the presence of the fund management company in the South African solar market. “We are delighted to begin our trip to South Africa by investing in Herholdt’s, a growing company with an impressive corporate culture. As a responsible investor, we have been particularly attracted by the potential for a…

The net banking income (NBI) of Bank Of Africa (BOA) Niger, a subsidiary of BMCE Bank group, recorded an increase of 7.55% at the end of the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020, announced the leaders of this banking establishment based in Niamey. This NBI stood at FCFA 5.781 billion against FCFA 5.375 billion as of March 31, 2020. This change is caused by the 29.14% increase in the margin on commission which stood at FCFA 2.056 billion against 1.592 billion. FCFA a year ago. During the period under review, the bank kept its overheads…

Meeting on June 19, 2021 in Accra, the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) officially announced the reappointment of Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo as head of the organization for a one-year term. Elected for the first time in September 2020 for one year in succession to the Nigerien Mahamadou Issifou, Nana Akufo-Addo inherits a new mandate in exchange for the withdrawal of her candidacy for the presidency of the African Union for the benefit of the Senegalese Macky Sall – position which returns to a country of the West African region from February…

In the Council of Ministers on June 18, 2021, President Félix Tshisekedi of DR Congo indicated that his country and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed on the content of a three-year program, which will be financed. by the Washington-based institution. According to the Congolese authorities, the validation of this three-year program by the management and the board of directors of the institution “would give access to other funding from other bilateral and multilateral donors”. At the end of May, IMF staff announced that they had reached an “agreement” with the Congolese party on “a financing plan of 1.5…

Debswana Diamond Company has announced the discovery of a 1,098-carat diamond at its mines in Botswana. This is the third largest such diamond ever found in the world. This stone, discovered on June 1, was shown to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi in the capital, Gaborone. It is the largest diamond recovered by Debswana in its more than 50-year history of mining, ”said Lynette Armstrong, acting general manager of the Debswana Diamond Company. The value of the stone discovered could be around 55 to 60 million dollars according to estimates. Established in 1969, Debswana Diamond Company is 50/50 owned by the…

The Democratic Republic of Congo, currently in the trade balance of goods, exports which amounted to 6.550 billion USD at the end of April 2021. Compared to the same period in 2020, they were at 3.8 billion USD of exports, almost double the exported value compared to last year. Thanks to the improvement in copper and cobalt prices on the international market, this increase in exports has led to an increase in liquidity in foreign currency in the Congolese economy. “This is what has made that through currency purchase operations and currency taxation, foreign exchange reserves are increasing today,” said…

The Commission is today announcing an additional € 20 million to finance a new hydropower plant in Rwanguba, which will provide an additional 15 megawatts of electricity. The European Union’s rapid response to the urgent environmental crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has restored up to 96% of power lines and 35% of water pipes damaged in Goma due to the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano on May 22. This has provided half a million people with access to safe drinking water and electricity in two major hospitals. Speaking at the panel discussion on Virunga Park as part…

By Michel BRIZOUA-BI, Lawyer After June 17, there will inevitably come another day, June 18. We will realize that there was no earthquake at the edge of the Ebrié lagoon when a plane landed, that the day in Eburnie always lasts 24 hours neither more nor less, than after the weather of war one day you have to sit down to discuss how to make peace, that after the tears of the sufferings endured, when the calabash reaches its overflow, think about stopping because everyone wants to move forward , that the sounds of our mythical dances the zaouli, the…

Announced in 2015, the work of the Biokala biomass plant, aimed at increasing the energy mix in Côte d’Ivoire with the promotion of renewable energies, will start in September 2021 according to the project stakeholders. At a cost of nearly 200 million euros, this plant, which will produce 337 GW of energy / year from oil palm residues of more than 400,000 tons / year, will generate nearly 20 billion FCA of additional income in the palm sector and provide 1.7 million people with electricity each year, at a rate of 62 CFA francs / kWh. Located in Aboisso, 100…

After 10 years of absence, Laurent Gbagbo, the former Ivorian president, effectively set foot on Abidjan soil on Thursday, June 17 from Brussels, the Belgian capital where he had been living since his acquittal by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Thursday June 17th. It sounds 4:19 pm local time when the regular Brussels Airlines flight from the Belgian capital lands on the tarmac at Félix Houphouët-Boigny airport in Abidjan. On board, Laurent Gbagbo, the former Ivorian president accompanied by Nady Bamba, his second wife, and some members of his college of lawyers, notably Me Altit (main counsel), Me Jennifer Nouarie…

Investors strongly subscribed to the issue of 3-year Treasury-equivalent stimulus bonds (ORD) launched on June 17, 2021 on the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) financial market by the State of Benin, with a coverage rate of the amount put out to tender of 304.40%. At the end of the auction, the UMOA-Titres agency identified 182.642 billion FCFA in aggregate bids from investors for an amount auctioned by the issuer of 60 billion FCFA. From the amount of these bids, the Beninese Public Treasury retained 66 billion FCFA and rejected the remaining 116.642 billion FCFA, ie an absorption rate of 36.14%.…

BMCE Capital Investments will now be able to take a stake in the capital of companies in need of financing, in this context of crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, the investment banking division of Bank of Africa obtained by decree (n ° 1111-21 of May 3, 2021) from the Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Reform of the Administration after opinion of the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), approval for the exercise of the activity of management company of collective investment undertakings in capital (OPCC). On the capital market, BMCE Capital will use OPCCs as an investment…

Announced in Abidjan around 3:45 pm from Brussels (Belgium), the plane of the former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, will arrive with a small delay at the Félix Houphouet Boigny airport in Abidjan. Besides this fact, activists are divided over Simone Gbagbo’s presence at the airport to welcome her husband. In a tweet published on Wednesday, June 16, Me Dadjé Rodrigue, Simone Gbagabo’s lawyer, said he was shocked by a statement by Monnet Léon Emmanuel, advising Simone Gbagbo not to take part in welcoming the ex President. “I learned this evening that Mr. Monnet Léon, the general coordinator of the organization…

Laurent Gbagbo flew on June 17 from Brussels on Brussels Airlines flight SN 299, from which he made a “return to his native country” after ten years of absence. He is accompanied by his second wife Nadiana Bamba known as “Nady” as well as his unwavering lawyer Habiba Touré. For several months, the latter has been busy organizing this trip. In particular, she managed the granting of the passport to the former Ivorian president when the Alassane Ouattara regime had long been reluctant to grant it to her. Arrested in April 2011 at the end of the troubled presidential election…

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has a new attorney general. This is the British lawyer Karim Khan (51 years old) invested on June 16, 2021. He succeeds the Gambian Fatou Bensouda, who came to the end of her term started on June 15, 2012. He became the third prosecutor general of the ICC, which was created in 2002 to try the worst atrocities in the world. Elected for nine years, the attorney general is responsible for initiating investigations and laying charges against suspects. “We can’t invest that much, we can’t raise so much expectation and get so little, so often…

Ten years after its shipment as a bulky package to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Laurent Gbagbo returned to the fold aboard Brussel Airline at around 2 p.m. Seen from the ordinary Ivorian, the event as important as the Big Bang, should be visible from the international space station. The fervor is at its height. But is it really the real Laurent Gbagbo who returns? Left like a hawk with sharp talons, the leader of the FPI returns, like a white dove, an olive branch in his hand. An ideological shift? In any case, the patriotic leader has only one…

The health crisis linked to the coronavirus, the impact of which is significant on economic activities, affects more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which saw their turnover fall by more than 80% at the end of 2020. A difficult situation for the national economy whose SMEs represent more than 90% of the economic fabric and contribute more than 35% of the GDP (gross domestic product). The study conducted by the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts reveals that the tertiary sector, which accounts for 51.5% of GDP and employs 42% of the working population, is the…

As of the end of December 2020, 10 Ivorian public enterprises have achieved cumulative losses of 56.6 billion CFA francs against a cumulative forecast deficit of 26.4 billion CFA francs (approximately 103 million USD), according to the government spokesperson, Amadou. Coulibaly. We can cite, among others, Sodexam (-4.4 billion Fcfa), Petroci Holding (-4.4 billion Fcfa), Poste CI (-4.3 billion Fcfa), Sotra (-1.8 billion Fcfa ) and Sodertour-Lacs (-1.4 billion Fcfa). “This poor performance can be explained, for the vast majority of these companies, especially those in the transport and hotel sectors, by the context of the health crisis. For the…

The Togolese government announced, on June 16, 2021, its intention to sell all or part of the State’s shares in the capital of the company “Mécanisme incitatif de financement agricole (MIFA SA)” to the PIA and ARISE Special Economic Zone, two entities controlled by Olam International and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). This entry of the two new shareholders in the round table, according to an official note, aims to “better mobilize this tool to support the agro-industrial development strategy of our country, in particular within the framework of the development of the Industrial Platform of Adétikopé” inaugurated June 6,…

Discreet but ambitious, Barbados intends to become a key economic player between Africa and the Caribbean region. Indeed, Bridgetown wants to develop its economic partnerships through an investment policy focused on the continent. In this interview with Financial Afrik, Senegalese Modou Diagne, in charge of relations with Africa at Barbados Investment and development corporation, a government agency in Barbados, reviews the strategy implemented by the Caribbean island state in this effect. Many Africans do not locate Barbados on a world map. However, this Caribbean island state will develop an investment policy towards the African continent. You who are Senegalese and…

The National Council of the Order of Architects of Côte d’Ivoire (CNOA) is organizing, from December 8 to 11, 2021 in Abidjan, the eighth edition of the Architecture and Building Fair called “Archibat”. A biennial for professionals in the built environment which, this year, is held around the theme: “The making of the city for professionals”. According to the organizers, this theme was chosen well because, according to Koupo Gnoléba, interim president of the CNOA, “not everyone builds the city”. While the current observation is that “for three decades, the urban environment has changed. But these socio-economic transformations have produced…

Like the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA) where the insurance penetration rate remains very low, covering barely 1.1% of inhabitants, insurance is struggling to become established. in Cameroon, with less than 2% of the population covered regardless of enormous potential. The Association of Insurance Companies of Cameroon (ASAC), based on “the real possibilities” of market development, militates for the generalization of insurance through the establishment of compulsory insurance subscription in order to boost the activity and improve national coverage. In this perspective, it plans to “amplify the action of the State in favor of the development of insurance by…

European digital banking platform provider Layer announced on Wednesday (June 16) its partnership with United Bank for Africa (UBA) to help the bank digitize its banking services. This new partnership involves around 18 million users in 25 countries in Africa and Europe. Essentially, the initiative aims to provide better access to a wider range of financial services to UBA clients. “We have conducted a very thorough evaluation process of digital banking providers / platforms in the global market, considering technological advancements, feature richness, cost effectiveness of ownership and smooth implementation approach. Said Kennedy Uzoka, general manager of the UBA group.…

Another setback for AstraZeneca. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group announced on Tuesday that the treatment against the coronavirus it is currently developing has not proven effective in people exposed to the virus. “The trial failed to achieve the primary goal of preventing symptomatic Covid-19 cases after exposure” to the virus, AstraZeneca said in a statement. Antibody therapy, codenamed AZD7442, was expected to both prevent and treat the disease. It was in phase 3 of development, that is, in large-scale clinical trials to measure its safety and effectiveness. The 1,121 participants were adults over the age of 18 who had not been…

The Sopam SA company of Burkinabé businessman Panguéba Mohamed Sogli announces the seizure of the accounts and property of the Bolloré group in connection with the Komsilga electronic central case against Sagatrans, a subsidiary of the French group. This is a rebounding case relating to the delivery of a power plant signed in 2010 and delivered, according to the complainant, 18 months late and long storage at the port of Abidjan with material damage. The dispute, a collateral to the Ivorian post-electoral crisis from December 2010 to May 2011, has been the subject of a formidable legal battle for ten…

Kounsitel, a little over 18,000 inhabitants, is a peaceful village and one of the seven rural communes of the Gaoual prefecture located in the north-west of Guinea, just over 378 km from Conakry. Anchored in Fouta Djallon, the locality comes under the administrative region of Boké. The annual rainfall oscillates around 1,900 mm, which makes the locality an agricultural area par excellence. In fact, the populations of the Kounsitel sub-prefecture are straddling livestock, which is the main activity of the region, and is also recognized as being the first in Guinea in this area and agricultural and commercial activities. The…

The Kinshasa / Gombe Court of Appeal on Tuesday (June 15) reduced the sentence of the president’s former chief of staff, Vital Kamerhe, from 20 to 13 years of forced labor. He was convicted at first instance in June 2020 for “embezzlement of public funds” and “aggravated corruption” as part of the work of the “100 Days Program” launched by Félix Tshisekedi after his inauguration in January 2019. His co-accused, the Lebanese entrepreneur Samih Jammal, owner of the companies Samibo Congo SARL and Husmal, is sentenced to six years of hard labor on appeal. He was sued for having benefited…