Author: Jean-Mermoz Konandi

The African Development Bank has just approved, on October 16, a new financing of 329.47 million euros, or 216,12 billion FCFA, as part of the vast urban transport project of Greater Abidjan. This second tranche aims to strengthen road infrastructure in the western and northern parts of Abidjan paving the way for the cities of Dabou and Adzopé, areas of extension of the Ivorian economic capital. Thus, the ADB notes, this envelope will be used to transform 88 km of roads threatened with saturation in urban highways and thus double the flow capacity of the traffic. Concretely, it will be…

Oragroup begins the process of joining the BRVM with the issue and sale of 13.88 million shares in the regional market as of October 29th. A “strategic choice” for a pan-African banking group that has great ambitions as explained in an interview Binta Toure NDoye, the director general, this October 19 in Abidjan. What is the strategy behind your upcoming IPO? Our stock market listing, which is the largest on the BRVM stock market since its inception, represents for us a very strategic moment of our institution. 2018 represents the 10th anniversary of the entry into our capital of ECP…

After an interruption in the late 1970s, Ethiopian Airlines announced the resumption of its service to Mogadishu the Somali capital. This return will begin as early as November 2nd due to 3 weekly flights from Addis Ababa, a frequency that should then move to “several daily flights” because of the strong Somali diaspora spread around the world. “Flights will play an important role in strengthening interpersonal and economic relations between the two neighboring and brother countries. The flights will also allow the important Somali diaspora from the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa to travel to their…

The Belgian Michel Arrion, former ambassador of the European Union, is the new executive director of the ICCO, the international organization of cocoa, replacing the Ivorian Jean Marc Anga The new director was “appointed by consensus at the end of the September meeting of the International Cocoa Council, the governing body of the organization” for a five-year term, the ICCO statement said on October 1. The governance of Jean-Marc Anga was marked by the transfer of the ICCO headquarters from London to Abidjan in April 2017. Michel Arrion has been the representative of the European Union, particularly in Nigeria, Rwanda…

The IMF welcomed a resilient Ivorian economy this October 3 despite the social and budgetary difficulties that marked the year 2017 and provides “good performance” over the next two years, said Céline Allard at the head of a mission came discuss the fourth review of the three-year economic and financial program supported by the institution. “Despite the endogenous and exogenous shocks of the year 2017, the Ivorian economy has shown resilience and good economic performance is expected for 2018 and 2019,” the mission said in its statement. “The performance of the IMF-supported program has been solid in the first half…

The Ivorian government has set October 1 the purchase price “edge field” of cocoa at 750 CFA per kilogram (1.14 euros), an increase of 50 francs compared to the last campaign. This announcement, which officially opens the 2018/2019 campaign, takes account of anticipated sales and the evolution of market prices, said Lambert Kouassi Konan, chairman of the board of the CCC (Coffee Cocoa Council) on Monday in Abidjan. “We are forced to be cautious as the upcoming campaign opens in a still difficult context marked by falling prices,” he said, with prices having declined since the month of August after…

Afriland First Bank has selected Temenos, the bank software publisher, as part of the renovation of its IT infrastructure. The bank intends to take advantage of this offer to support its digital transformation with the ambition of “becoming the most innovative African bank”. The agreement binding the two parties was sealed on 27 September in Geneva. “Temenos’ digital banking platform will enable us to be at the forefront of innovation and provide our clients with world-class services,” said Jean Paulin Fonkoua Kake, President of Afriland First Bank. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Temenos is the global leader in banking software. The…

The Cargill, Wilmar and Touton groups have put forward offers for the takeover of the assets of SAF Cacao, the Ivorian cocoa giant, in judicial bankruptcy because of an abysmal indebtedness, reports Reuters on September 27th. “The most serious candidates are Wimar, Touton and Cargill who have made offers that will be analyzed on Monday by the creditor banks and the other lender, the CCC (Conseil Café Caca, ed),” said the agency a source of CCC. Singapore’s Wilmar and French Touton have made bids for the group’s coffee and cocoa grinding units, including Choco Ivoire. The American Cargill has set…

The Ivorian banker Martin Essoh Djedjes, former boss of BIAO (now NSIA Banque), continues his career in agribusiness where he created ITPA (Ivorian agricultural products processing), an integrated agro-industrial complex with palm plantations. oil. The company will create its first industrial palm oil production unit, a turnkey project whose implementation has been entrusted to CIOA, a French engineering firm. Expected in Taabo, in the south of the country (about 200 km north of Abidjan), the oil mill will have a production capacity of 15,000 tonnes of oil per year from ITPA’s own plantations and also from planters in the area.…

Côte d’Ivoire is expected to raise the minimum cocoa purchase price for the new campaign that opens early next week. Sources close to the industry have told Bloomberg that the new price should oscillate between 750 and 800 CFA per kilogram, around 1.2 euros. This trend, in comparison with the 700 CFA francs fixed during the campaign which is ending, is explained by a slight improvement of prices on the world market. But we are still far from the 1,100 CFA francs set during the 2016-2017 campaign, when prices had reached record levels before collapsing at the end of 2016.…

The Ivorian government announced on September 26 that the 2019 budget is forecast at CFAF 7,334.3 billion (€ 11.18 billion), an increase of 8.6% over that of 2018. The budget, which increases by CFAF 578.1 billion, aims to “accelerate the achievement of Côte d’Ivoire’s emerging objectives”. It will strengthen the actions of the government for “the structural transformation of the economy” and “the improvement of the living conditions of the people,” said Minister Sidi Tiémoko Toure at the end of the Council of Ministers of this Wednesday. Social actions will include access to drinking water, electricity, sanitation, employment and the…

As part of a mission to raise awareness of the African diaspora regional market instruments, the BRVM met this Friday, September 21, 2018 in Harlem Senegalese diaspora living in the United States. It is the Association of Senegalese Americans (ASA), created since 1988 and has more than 7,000 members, and the association of nationals and supporters of Casamance in the United States. “This awareness-raising campaign is of paramount importance to the BRVM when we know what represents the flow of remittances from the diaspora to African countries,” said Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE, Managing Director of the BRVM. “For example, in 2017,…

The boss of the Swiss group declined the political offer of some of his compatriots who saw him as the ideal man to embody the renewal of the political class advocated by President Alassane Ouattara recently. “I have a long-term commitment to Credit Suisse, its customers, employees and investors (…). After three years at Credit Suisse, my job is not done and I intend to continue it “, the boss said in a statement on September 6, to stop speculation about his intention to invest the Ivorian political field with a view to the 2020 presidential election. “I am both…

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, parent company of the Ecobank Group, has made new appointments in its top management following an internal recruitment process. Paul-Harry Aithnard, until now Group Director in charge of securities, wealth management and assets, is appointed Managing Director of Ecobank Ivory Coast and Regional Director for the WAEMU zone. He will take over from Charles Daboiko when he retires in November. A graduate in Finance and Business Administration from HEC Business School of Montreal, he has twenty years of experience including 10 within the group. At the head of Ecobank Gambia, Josephine Anan-Ankomah is now the Group Executive…

Saf Cacao, one of the largest Ivorian exporters of cocoa, in liquidation following contracts in default, will finally have no escape route. The Cocoa Coffee Council (CCC) emphasizes that it finally has no choice but to demand “the judicial recovery of 75.6 billion CFA francs, or (133 million dollars)” to the company that could not find an agreement with its creditors, a banking pool, to try to revive its activities, reports Bloomberg who quotes official documents. These banks, which hold a debt of 150 billion FCFA on Saf Cacao, or 228.7 million euros, had nevertheless pleaded for the company to…

Ivory Coast has already sold, since mid-August, 1.7 million tonnes of cocoa on its next crop of cocoa to start in early October next informs Reuters on August 22. The country which has suffered the full blow for two years the setbacks of falling prices intends to yield all its harvest before the beginning of the season to guard against the instability of the market and thus maintain a guaranteed price to its farmers, between 750 and 800 CFA francs per kilogram, against 700 CFA francs for the campaign which is ending. “We think that by selling the entire crop…

Côte d’Ivoire registers first airline pilot. Trained for two years in a partnership successively at INP-HB, the Yamoussoukro National Polytechnic Institute, then at Airways College, a French aviation school, this promotion has just been accredited by ANAC, the Ivorian civil aviation authority. It is about 15 young Ivorians who will join the teams of Air Côte d ‘Ivoire, the national company, at the origin of this partnership intended to meet its needs in human resources. The carrier, in full expansion, currently operates a dozen aircraft (four aircraft type Bombardiers Q400 and six Airbus Family A320) and serves about twenty destinations…

Côte d’Ivoire is actively preparing for the full implementation of WTO (World Trade Organization) procedures to simplify and speed up customs border procedures under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) . During a workshop to report on a study conducted by Nathan Associates Inc. on July 6 as part of USAID’s LPFM II project, a mapping of royalties and associated costs was developed in the to support the country in implementing the necessary reforms. Adopted in 2013 and entered into force in February 2017, the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) aims to reduce non-tariff barriers and accelerate the movement of goods across…

The Ivorian Prime Minister Gon Coulibaly launched on July 30 the works of the fourth bridge of Abidjan. An important infrastructure that will decongest the traffic to Yopougon, the most populated city of Abidjan with more than one million inhabitants. The large commune of Yopougon, in the northern part of Abidjan, can push a sigh of relief. The construction of the 4th bridge to facilitate access to the rest of the city is finally launched. The book, which includes a set of road infrastructure, will open a new alternative to connect Yopougon to others in Abidjan. And beyond, it is…

Ivorian Niamkey Isidore TANOE is the new president of APSGI, the Professional Association of Management and Intermediation Societies of UEMOA. He was elected June 18 in Dakar at the general assembly of the organization to replace Kadidiatou FADIKA-COULIBALY. Chief Executive Officer, since 2002, of Atlantique Finance, SGI of the Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) group in West Africa, Niamkey Isidore TANOE has twenty years of experience in finance. Formerly of First Marathon Securities in Montreal, Canada (he was a Broker and then Portfolio Manager), he also worked at BRVM and Citibank in Côte d’Ivoire. He is a graduate of HEC Montréal…

DP World will build and operate a 1,000-hectare logistics platform on the outskirts of Bamako, the Malian capital. A concession contract was signed as part of this project by Suhail Al Banna, DP World’s Director General for the Middle East and Africa, and Moulaye Ahmed Boubacar, Mali’s Minister of Equipment and Transport, 23 July in Dubai. It will be a multimodal platform, the Mali Logistics Hub (MLH), which will have inland depots for containers and container freight stations to facilitate the country’s external trade via the port of Dakar, which is also operated by DP. World. Planned both on the…

Emmanuel Essis Esmel, the former head of CEPICI, the Ivorian investment promotion agency, entered the government on July 10 as State Secretary to the Prime Minister in charge of Investment Promotion private. Graduated from ESCA (the Abidjan Business School), he has 35 years of professional experience in the national and international private sector. He began his career in 1982 as an assistant auditor and then senior in the firm Arthur Andersen, before holding, in 1998, the position of deputy general manager of the former Cosmivoire (Sifca group). From there, he began his international career in 2000 when he took the…

The French group Suez announced this July 24 to have won four new contracts on the African continent of 95 million euros, or 62.3 billion FCFA, for access to drinking water and services. sanitation in Egypt, Uganda, Nigeria and Morocco. In Egypt, SUEZ and its partner Arab Contractor will build an energy recovery unit for sludge from the East Alexandria wastewater treatment plant, with a capacity of 800,000 m3 / day. A € 65 million project for Suez. In Uganda, the group, in partnership with Sogea Satom, is responsible for the design and construction of a drinking water production plant…

JCDecaux, the world leader in outdoor advertising, signed on 23 and 24 July two contracts with respectively SOTRA, the abidjan company of public transport, and the upmarket of Cocody, in Abidjan. These contracts won by the local subsidiary, a joint venture with the Bolloré Group, encompass the design, operation and maintenance of advertising street furniture for a contractual period of 20 years at no cost to both entities. In Cocody, JCDecaux Côte d’Ivoire will install a hundred street furniture. These include “90 street furniture for information (MUPI) and public health automatic maintenance, which will be the first of its kind…

Ivorian Gervais Atta has just taken control of the Comoros Development Bank (BDC) where he took office on 23 July. He was debauched from the Malagasy bank BNI Madagascar where he spent two years as director of business development and marketing. In his new clothes, his mission will be to carry out the restructuring and development of the BDC, which is being revived by a French firm that aims to turn it into a financial group focused on Africa and the Indian Ocean. A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Banque de Paris (CFPB) and an MBA Executive from the…

SGBCI, the general banking company in Côte d’Ivoire, presented this July 19, through its regional market room based in Abidjan, a new offer on “cocoa price risk coverage” for SMEs and small businesses. exporting cooperatives of coffee and cocoa from the local market. The objective of this solution is to allow customers to “adapt to the fluctuations of cocoa prices in the global market and thus secure their exports” succinctly explained the bank in a statement. This offer, which is associated with financing as part of the cocoa campaign, provides an alternative to these small pouches of export, more exposed…

While Côte d’Ivoire, the largest economy in the WAEMU zone, has the densest banking market in the region with 25 credit institutions, the country still has to rely on a sector that is far from being as efficient as could think so. In a report by the rating agency Moody’s, which Financial Afrik publishes a summary, the Ivorian banking sector is described as “relatively underdeveloped” and must accelerate the reforms in a context where the top five borrowers account for one third of credits. A “relatively underdeveloped” banking environment With around 30% of total UEMOA banking assets, Côte d’Ivoire is…

The Burkinabe giant BTP EBOMAF (Enterprise Bonkoungou Mahamadou & Son) will execute a contract for the construction of 224 km of road infrastructure in Côte d’Ivoire. The announcement was made Wednesday by the Ivorian government after the weekly cabinet meeting. As part of this project financed by Afreximbank, the Ivorian state will provide a guarantee of 179.73 billion FCFA, or 274 million euros. The government, however, did not communicate on the details of this market even less on the conditions of attribution. The construction company continues its expansion in Ivory Coast where it won its first contract in 2015. A…

Maintaining accelerated growth but above all ensuring that it is sustainable over time in a context of climate change, this is the challenge facing Côte d’Ivoire according to the latest World Bank country report presented this July 12 . The country runs the risk of compromising its economic progress and tipping millions of its citizens into poverty, if it does not provide an adequate response, alert the report entitled “To ensure that tomorrow will never die: the Coast d’Ivoire in the face of climate change “. The country is indeed exposed to the climatic disturbance all the more since it…

The Ivorian president has appointed a new government team whose management has again been entrusted to Gon Coulibaly. Ten new personalities are entering the new team open to all parties members of RHDP, the ruling political coalition. Below, the list of the members of the government made public this July 10: 1- Mr. Amadou Gon COULIBALY, Prime Minister, Head of Government, Minister of Budget and State Portfolio 2- Minister of State, Minister of Defense: Mr. Hamed BAKAYOKO 3- Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mr. Marcel AMON-TANOH 4- Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research: Mr. Abdallah Albert Toikeusse MABRI 5- Minister…