Author: Editor

TDB racks up four nominations and two awards at the 2019 African Bankers Awards The race for the 2019 African Bankers Awards came to an end on the night of the 11th of June in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, at a high profile gala dinner of bankers and financial sector stakeholders. TDB President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse brings home the ‘African Banker of the Year’ award, one of the top two most prestigious of the competition. The Bank also jointly received with Crédit Agricole the 2019 ‘Infrastructure Deal of the Year’, for its co-financing of the ground-breaking Coral South Floating Liquified…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday in Malabo received the award for the African Bank of the Year at the African Banker Awards 2019 ceremony held on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank. Amr Kamel, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Business Development and Corporate Banking received the award on behalf of the Bank. The award to Afreximbank was one of two big ones that went to development finance institutions as Admassu Tadesse, President of Trade Development Bank, was also named African Banker of the Year. The organisers, in explaining the award to Afreximbank, said that, in the past 18…

Congo Business Network is planning an online session on June 15, 2019 on Cisco WebEx from 5 pm to 7 pm Kinshasa time. The theme of this discussion is: How to find financing for drinking water, energy or health projects in the DRC? The objective of this session is to allow Pako Tshiamala to educate and inform participants on what they need to do to find funding for drinking water, energy or health projects from $250,000 to $1,000,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo from Grands Défis Canada, a Canadian investment fund. According to the program, Pako Tshiamala, Regional Consultant…

Your Excellency, President OBIANG NGUEMA MBASAGO of Equatorial Guinea – our host President; Your Excellencies Heads of State and Governments (names), Governors of the African Development Bank, honorable Ministers, Ambassadors and Heads of Diplomatic Missions, members of the Board of Directors, senior management and staff of the African Development Bank, partners, members of the press, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group. This annual event is always a unique opportunity to share with you the Bank’s perspectives on the state of Africa’s economy, provide updates on the Bank’s work and…

10 June 2019 – Global broking business Brokerslink has announced the appointment of Tiago Mora as the new Regional Manager for Middle East and Africa. Tiago Mora is MDS Re Director and has been with MDS Group for 12 years. He has spent a number of those years developing the Group’s operations in Africa and running the Angolan business. He replaces Ana Cristina Borges who is relinquishing her responsibilities with Brokerslink to become Board Director of MDS Portugal. In the role of Regional Manager, Tiago will focus on the development and expansion of Brokerslink’s presence across the region. He will…

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 10 June 2019 (ECA) – The regional forum, taking place on 24 and 25 June in Dakar, Senegal will focus on issues related to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its impact on the regions of West and Central Africa. The forum, which is jointly organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Senegalese Government, the African Union Commission and the European Union, will be a space for regional and multi-stakeholder dialogue on issues related to the implementation of the AfCFTA in the French-speaking Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and…

Nana Akufo-Addo is the king of rhetoric. In December 2017, the African youth outside Ghana discovers in a virulent speech in response, apparently, to the French President, Emmanuel Macron: “We can not continue to make policies for us, in our countries, in our regions, on our continent on the basis of support that the Western world, France or the EU would like to give us. It will not work, it did not work yesterday and it will not work tomorrow, “the Ghanaian launches in Accra. This particularly virulent tone against France earned him a reputation as “standing president” among African…

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, on Friday met and discussed with a European Union delegation the role of non-state actors in ensuring the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The EU delegation was led by the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EU-EESC), Luca Jahier. Trade, investment, economic growth and migration were at the core of the discussions that came a day after the AfCFTA came into force. The Executive Secretary highlighted the role of the AfCFTA as an exciting and promising stimulant for economic growth in Africa, infrastructure investments as…

The admonitions of the IMF would they be right of the Guinean authorities? As a reminder, during his last mission in Conakry, experts from the Bretton Woods institution were surprised by the absence of the $ 90 million paid to the State for the award of the 4G license to Orange. Faced with the steamroller...

TDB’s lowest-cost-ever global Eurobond is 3.3X oversubscribed TDB’s senior unsecured 5-year USD 500mn Eurobond issued this past May 16th, makes history as TDB’s lowest-cost-ever global Eurobond. With a reoffer yield of 5.000% and a 4.875% coupon, the bond was oversubscribed 3.3 times, and closed with an order book of USD 1.65bn. With a 50bp tightening throughout the book building process on a yield basis, TDB achieved a rare negative new issue premium, a remarkable achievement given the current rising interest rate environment. Citi, Commerzbank, Emirates NBD Capital, MUFG, SMBC Nikko, and Standard Chartered Bank were the Joint Lead Managers on…

The Aga Khan Academy Mombasa today celebrated its 13th graduation ceremony for 85 exceptional students who join a growing legacy of global young leaders, driven by the academy’s unique curriculum and approach to education. The graduation marks a proud milestone of 1,000 such leaders across both the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa and its sister school, the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad, India. One key mission Aga Khan Academy Mombasa is to create ethical leaders working towards a shared goal of sustainable development to improve the lives of those living not only in Kenya, but also across the globe. The Academy places…

This May 25th, The Africa Day . The Continent is celebrating a new era of growth and economic development. The Energy Sector is definitely a key success factor.   By Mamadou Goumble* In 2019, Africa is well positioned to leapfrog the developed nations by adopting and embracing new and innovative green energy solutions. In recent years, green energy has become more affordable and cheaper than conventional energy sources. The price levels achieved in various renewable energy programs, such as the Scaling Solar program, is strong evidence of this. In the future, renewable energy will become the dominant source of energy leaving conventional…

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today assigned a first-time Baa2 foreign currency long-term issuer rating to the African Local Currency Bond Fund (ALCB Fund). The outlook is stable. The ALCB Fund is focused on developing domestic capital markets in Africa by investing in private sector bonds issued domestically in local currency. It was created by Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW, Aaa stable) in 2013, which acts on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, with the development mandate of pursuing financial inclusion and capital market deepening. KfW is the main shareholder, owning 87% of the Fund’s shares,…

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today assigned B1/Not Prime local currency long-term and short-term deposit ratings and B3/Not Prime foreign currency long-term and short-term deposit ratings to Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (Stanbic Uganda). Stanbic Uganda’s B3 foreign currency deposit rating is constrained by Uganda’s foreign currency deposit rating ceiling of B3. Moody’s also assigned a counterparty risk assessment of Ba3(cr)/Not Prime(cr) and a counterparty risk rating of Ba3/Not Prime. The outlook assigned to the deposit ratings is stable. The Local Currency Deposit rating of B1 assigned to Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (Stanbic Uganda) is a notch above Uganda’s sovereign issuer…

President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar has urged the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to partner with the government in its effort to make the country the “window into a modern Africa”. Speaking yesterday in Antananarivo when he received an Afreximbank delegation led by Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the Bank, President Rajoelina said that the government had put in place an “Initiative for Emerging Madagascar” which articulates its plans to turn the country into a modern industrial nation. That document had been endorsed by key internal and external stakeholders as necessary for the country’s development, he stated. It captured the government’s vision to become…

Wari and Mara Phones announce the signing of a strategic partnership to enable delivery of financial and commercial services to Wari clients more effectively through the Mara Phone. The two African companies aim to collaborate together and develop in the 54 countries of the continent. They both look to preload Wari’s offerings, bundling their services with the Mara Phone to all Wari clients through all of Wari’s locations and distribution channels. This pan-African collaboration between two major national actors will be highly impactful given that Wari and Mara Phones are committed to doing good and doing well for years now.…

Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment platform, launched the first edition of its Innovation Challenge at the 2019 Transform Africa Summit holding in Kigali from 14 to 17 May. Through this initiative, Africa50 will crowdsource innovative solutions to help increase access to high-speed internet in under-served areas in Africa. The call is open for ICT developers, innovators, engineers, entrepreneurs to submit workable solutions, via an online platform, to be assessed by the Africa50 investment team and its partners. The winning solutions will receive cash prizes and/or will be considered for project development funding. Projects will be rolled-out in Rwanda as the…

The KCB Group, a banking leader in Kenya, plans to acquire a bank in Rwanda and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said its managing director. The GM, Joshua Oigara, who spoke with the press last Friday, did not reveal the identity of the two banks in question. KCB is also planning to...

Good news for Tunisia. Dutch oil and gas exploration and production group Mazarine Energy and ETAP announce the discovery of an oil well in Sidi Marzoug. The site would have a capacity of 2000 barrels per day. According to the release, during the production test, the SMG-1 well revealed reserves, at a rate of 2000 barrels of oil per day and 5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The well was drilled by the CTF (Tunisian Drilling Company) to a total depth of 3880 m, the statement said. According to the same source, the assessment of the discovery…

The Togolese deputies voted Wednesday, May 8, a constitutional revision providing for the limitation of the number of presidential terms. The law allows the current president, Faure Gnassingbé, to run for the next two elections, in 2020 and 2025. The new law also establishes a first-past-the-post system in two rounds (against one today) for the election of the president. of the Republic. The constitutional reform was approved in a secret ballot by the 90 deputies present (out of 91), two thirds of whom belong to the ruling party, the main opposition coalition boycotting the December elections. In Togo, a draft…

The banking sector of Côte d’Ivoire finances the economy well. According to Guy Koizan, president of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions of Côte d’Ivoire (Apbef-ci), the sector has achieved a continuous growth of credit to the economy at 7056 billion Fcfa, or an average annual increase of 18%, in 2018. These loans went to households, to businesses, ie to economic agents in general. Regarding banking, according to figures provided by the President of the Apbef-ci, during the traditional ceremony of “official return 2019” of the association, the sector recorded a rate of banking of 19.07%, or an…

Sindika Dokolo is since May 7, 2019 back in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Married to Isabel Dos Santos, this Congolese, heir to a wealthy family, who made his fortune in the mines, lived in exile for more than five years. The son-in-law of former Angolan President Jose Edouardo Dos Santos was on a crusade...

According to the World Bank, there is a small revolution in African gold production in 2018. Thus, Ghana has dethroned South Africa, falling to the third continental place behind Sudan (2nd). The former Gold Coast released 158 tonnes of its mines in 2018, up 15%. South African gold production has been on a downward trend for several years (142 tons in 2016 compared to 119 tons in 2018). South African gold production declined in March for the eighteenth consecutive month, prolonging a longer series of contractions since the financial crisis. These figures come as AngloGold Ashanti began selling its latest…

The European Commission has just announced the names of the fteen inspiring young people from around the world who will enrich the debates at the 2019 European Development Days (EDD). These Young Leaders, aged between 21 and 26, have been chosen from among 404 applicants from 99 countries for their exceptional skills, expertise and active contributions to nd solutions to development issues. They will share their vison on how to address inequalities to build a world which leaves no one behind, the main topic of this year’s edition of the EDD. The Young Leaders Programme aims to ensure that young…

The EurAfrican Forum is a networking and discussion platform underpinned on the power of Diasporas for connecting people, cities, regions and continents The EurAfrican Forum (www.EurAfricanForum.org) organization announced today the presence of the President of Mozambique, His Excellency Filipe Nyusi, for an institutional speech on the first day of the event, July 4, 2019, on the same day that António Vitorino, Director General for the International Organization for Migrations – UN Migration Agency (IOM) will address about the migration dialogue between Europe and Africa. After the 2018 edition where the launch theme was «Crafting Coalitions for Change», this year the…

The second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2020) scheduled to take place in Kigali from 1 to 7 September 2020 will target the execution of Intra-African trade deals worth more than $40 billion, Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), announced today. Prof. Oramah was speaking in Kigali at the signing of the hosting agreement for IATF2020 by the Government of Rwanda, Afreximbank and the African Union. Soraya Hakuziyaremye, Minister of Trade and Industry of Rwanda, signed for the Government while Prof. Oramah signed for Afreximbank and Amb. Albert Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union, signed…

“Although insurance will never cover all the risks associated with a peril in each country, the ARC approach allows for the risks to be managed in a way that multiplies the benefits from limited resources available to Government.” – Mohamed Beavogui The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Agency and the Government of Mozambique have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide mid to long-term solutions against the recurrent episodes of drought, floods, and tropical cyclones in the country. The MoU serves as “a framework to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between the ARC Agency and the Government, and to define the…

This international primary school will be the primary section of Enko La Gaieté Campus The African international schools network Enko Education announced today the launch of a new primary school in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Following parents’ demand, this will be the primary section of the famous international school Enko La Gaieté Campus, the first school of the Enko Education network. Since its inception in 2014, Enko La Gaieté Campus has sent its graduates to prestigious universities such as Yale College in the USA, African Leadership University in Rwanda and Ecole Polytechnique in France. The school wanted to offer more to parents…

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Dalberg Group are proud to announce a landmark convening focused on advancing initiatives that recognize the role of data science in addressing systemic challenges linked to unemployment and the future of work in Africa. Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population with projections of more than 375 million young people in the job market by 2030. Within a few decades, this demographic dividend will increase the size of Africa’s workforce to more than a billion people, making it the largest in the world. However, the gap between the number of work seekers…

Dear friends The executive has been working on creating a business environment more favorable to domestic and foreign private investment in all branches of our economy. We understand the need to diversify our economy, but remain cognizant of the fact that oil is the engine of our economic activity. In recent times we have changed our policy of managing energy resources such as oil and gas to better serve the interests of the country and investors. This new era in oil and gas is the result of Angola having adopted a totally transparent management of the tenders. Creating a national…