Author: Editor

Shareholders of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) participate this Thursday in the 31st general meeting of the bank in Lomé (Togo). This meeting comes after a year 2018 whose results are considered “solid” by the leaders. “The year 2018 marked a turning point for your company,” said Emmanuel Ikazoboh, Chairman of the Board of Directors, from the head table to the shareholders. “This is the beginning of the execution phase of our strategy, which builds on the initiatives we have taken to strengthen the group’s foundation,” he added. Indeed, according to the results announced by the Nigerian, Ecobank has achieved a…

Interview with Babacar Ngom, President of the Investors Club of Senegal (CIS) and Jean-Marie Ackah, President of the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI) What are the immediate measures that African states, in particular those of WAEMU, will have to take to encourage the emergence of national and regional champions? Jean Marie Ackah: Companies that have the potential to be national and regional champions need to be specifically supported by the states as they play a fundamental role in economic transformation and the creation of prosperity for their countries. country. As has been done by the emerging economies…

Belonging to two branches of the New Belt and Road (B & R), Central Asia is both a partner and a commercial gateway for China and Europe, as well as an area of ​​influence for long time for Russia through expatriate transfers, its military bases and culture. For the moment, China and Russia find reasons for rapprochement in their opposition to Western ideas and their struggle against the spread of radical Islamism. However, the balance of power is likely to change, with China being the largest donor of corridor funding in the region. At the beginning of 2019, China’s B…

Axa is doing well. Managing Director Thomas Buberl presented fiscal year 2018 as the year of action and decision. Management has worked to build a “new Axa”, focused on key markets (health, welfare, corporate damages), closer to its customers and less exposed to financial risk, the latter objective having been formulated 10 years ago after the 2008 crisis. Thomas Buberl also worked to reassure shareholders about the good integration of XL. “Axa XL gives us a new commercial dynamic,” he said. The entity’s revenue grew by 10% last year, supported by the coverage of new needs (particularly in terms of…

After Paris, Tokyo, Beijing or New York, Google is launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) research center in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The Mountain View group chose this small English-speaking country in West Africa to launch specific research in the field of AI. “We are obviously influenced by our environment, and we will focus on certain issues of the continent, such as health or agriculture,” said Moustapha Cisse, director of the center, interviewed by Les Echos. Originally from Senegal, the young computer science graduate from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris will head a group of ten…

Algerian billionaire Issad Rebrab, 74, is among the leaders of the economic world arrested in the context of the vast anti-corruption campaign following the political events in progress in this country, the first economy of the Maghreb in terms of GDP. The CEO of Cevital, the largest private group in Algeria, owner of the French...

Meeting Friday, April 19 at the Sipopo Conference Center in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), the Board of Directors of the Bank of Development of Central African States (BDEAC) has granted loans for a total amount of 151 billion CFA francs (€ 231 million) to six countries in the region. The projects to be funded come from different sectors. Among other things, mention is made of the construction of a new passenger terminal at Bata airport in Equatorial Guinea for financing 80 billion FCFA (120 million euros), and the construction of 1,000 social housing units in Gabon. for 45 billion FCFA (68…

Jointly organized by the University of Nouakchott Al Asriya (UNA) and the Research Group on Entrepreneurship in Africa (GREA), the first symposium on Women’s Entrepreneurship was held in Nouakchott from April 11 to 13, 2019 an evocative central theme. “Between DIY and survival, what economic models for women’s entrepreneurship in the Maghreb and the Sahel: Assessments, challenges and perspectives” The scientific meeting, which was attended by distinguished professors and researchers from different countries, dealt with economic models of women’s entrepreneurial practices in the African context, informal entrepreneurial practices, financing of women entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurship and women’s entrepreneurship. social inclusion. Opening…

By Nesrine Aissani, Tunis. It is a fact that we tend to forget too often: The African continent is the only place in the world where there are more women entrepreneurs than men. This is certainly a fact that has not gone unnoticed in the United States. It is in this perspective that the United States has announced funding of US $ 1 billion for African women entrepreneurs. The official announcement surprised more than one person in Africa because the decision to invest in the African continent was issued by the Trump government. I do not need to recall here…

The document entitled “Sublime Côte d’Ivoire”, was presented to the Bank’s Vice-President responsible for Private sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain, at the headquarters in Abidjan Ivorian Minister of Tourism Siandou Fofana on 25 April 2019 presented a strategy document aimed at making Côte d’Ivoire Africa’s fifth biggest tourism destination from 2025 to the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) , and sought its support to implement the plan. The document entitled “Sublime Côte d’Ivoire”, was presented to the Bank’s Vice-President responsible for Private sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain, at the headquarters in Abidjan. “We have come to share this new…

Rebound in Dakar. The urban and peri-urban water leasing contract has been provisionally awarded to Suez. This is the decision taken by the Central Procurement Department (Dcmp) validating, she said, the choice of a bid evaluation committee set up at the Ministry of Hydraulics … The French group temporarily supplants the Senegalese Water Company (Sde),...

Until then Minister of Economy and Finance, Dr. Boubou Cissé, 45, is named Prime Minister of Mali according to a statement of the Presidency of the Republic dated April 22, 2019. Its first mission is to form a new government team in the spirit of the conclusions of the consultations with the political forces of the majority and the opposition. This former World Bank executive, who holds a DEA in Development Economics, has experienced a meteoric rise since his appointment in 2014 as Minister of Industry and Mines in the Oumar Tatam Ly government. In 2016, he inherited the portfolio…

Bolloré Logistics, a global leader in supply chain management, has signed a strategic agreement with logistics solutions group WiseTech Global to roll out the CargoWise One integrated logistics solutions platform globally as of May 2019. CargoWise One, which is used across 130 countries, enables logistics service providers to execute highly complex transactions in areas such as freight forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing, shipping, tracking, land transport, e-commerce, and cross-border compliance, thus allowing to manage their operations on one database across multiple users, functions, countries, languages, and currencies. Bolloré Logistics has been using CargoWise One in Australia and New Zealand for many…

CEG and TDB sign a Green Finance Cooperation Protocol On the sidelines of the Second Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing, China, China Everbright Group (CEG) and the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) signed a Green Finance Cooperation Protocol aiming to establish a comprehensive and long-term strategic partnership to drive green infrastructure finance in clean energy, solid waste treatment, energy saving and emission reduction, intelligent manufacturing and green technology amongst others. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become turning points for all players from all sectors globally to join forces and…

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has signed a 25-YEAR concession agreement with Imizi Ecotourism Development Ltd for the development of a multi-phased conservation and tourism management program in Gishwati-Mukura National Park. The concession agreement will see Imizi develop and operate an exclusive chimpanzee and primate trekking experience under the Wilderness Safaris brand, while RDB will oversee ecology and conservation initiatives including ranger presence, law enforcement, science, engagement of community cooperatives, human-wildlife conflict resolution, research and monitoring. Following the signing of the concession agreement, the RDB Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Emmanuel Hategeka, said: “We expect this new project in Gishwati-Mukura National…

By Amath Ndiaye, Associate Professor University A. Diop Dakar In the current debate on the CFA franc, the argument of an overvaluation of the CFA is often invoked to say that it harms the economic competitiveness of African countries in the franc zone. First of all, for the sake of clarity, it is necessary to distinguish between two notions of economic competitiveness: price competitiveness and structural competitiveness. As you can guess, the first is related to price developments while the second relates competitiveness to structural effects. Price competitiveness is the ability to produce goods and services at lower prices than…

The president of the Council of the Nation, Abdelkader Bensalah, 77 years old, was named Tuesday acting president of Algeria for 90 days, during a meeting of the Algerian Parliament. This appointment comes one week after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The parliament then declared the vacancy of power. The interim will not be...

— The index measures the percentage of high-yield companies in EMs with the weakest speculative grade liquidity score of SGL-4, as a proportion of EM high-yield corporate family ratings. — The inaugural index is weak, weighed down by companies in Asia Pacific. Moody’s Investors Service has launched its inaugural global emerging markets (EM) liquidity stress index (LSI). “The inaugural global EM LSI score is weak at 20.3% and above the long-term average of 18.9%, with the long-term average based on LSI scores between January 2017 and March 2019,” says Laura Acres, a Moody’s Managing Director. “However, the score has fallen…

In Senegal, the planned disappearance of the post of prime minister seems to have stolen the limelight from the list of 32 ministers fell yesterday in the early evening. Beyond the progressive reform that devotes Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, Minister of State, temporarily renewed Prime Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency, this change should let...

Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer, wants to locally process 50% of its cocoa bean production to increase farmers’ income and fight poverty. The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Promotion of SMEs, Souleymane Diarrassouba, proceeded Friday, March 29 Z019 in Abidjan, at the inauguration of the bean mill of the African Society of cocoa (SACO), subsidiary of the Barry Callebaut group, specializing in the cocoa sector, for a cost of 30 billion CFA Francs. It should be noted that with its new processing unit of Abidjan-Marcory, Zone 4, Saco has increased its capacity and has a grinding capacity of…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the disbursement of an EUR100 million revolving global credit facility to Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construçáo África, S.A. (Mota-Engil Africa) to support the company to implement key developmental projects in Africa. Such projects include the construction of trade-carrying and trade-supporting infrastructure required for the acceleration of the integration process in the continent, said Afreximbank in the announcement released in Cairo. According to the Bank, the facility will strengthen Mota-Engil Africa’s capacity to carry out projects critical to reducing transaction costs for businesses, growing intra-regional trade, easing movement of goods, services and people, boosting employment…

 Seedstars is partnering with First Growth Ventures to launch Seedstars Africa Ventures, a sub-Saharan Africa fund targeting $100mn to make early-stage minority investments from USD 250,000 to USD 5 million in the most promising and innovative ventures across sectors and countries. The fund is expected to make its first investments by the end of this year. The partnership between Seedstars and First Growth Ventures was announced on April 4th, 2019 at the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne. Seedstars, the preeminent startup community for emerging markets active in over 80 ecosystems, offers unrivaled dealflow, market access and startup support programs. With activities in over 20 sub-Saharan Africa markets and physical hubs in key countries such…

Afriland First Bank has purchased approximately 150.9 billion CFA francs of government securities from CEMAC States between 1 January and 30 June 2018. According to a report by the Securities Settlement and Retention Unit (CRCT), of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), Paul Fokam’s bank is by far the most active in the public...

The World Bank’s Executive Directors unanimously decided to appoint David R. Malpass as President of the World Bank Group for a five-year term. Bringing deep experience in international affairs, finance and economic development, Mr. Malpass will take up his duties on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Mr. Malpass previously served as Under Secretary for International Affairs in the US Treasury. In this capacity, he has represented the United States on the international scene at various events: G7 and G20 meetings at the assistant level of finance ministers; meetings of the Financial Stability Board, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and…

The National Bank for Economic Development (BNDE) and the Islamic Society for Private Sector Development (SID), a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), proceeded this Friday, April 05, 2019 in Marrakech, Morocco, to the signing of a financing agreement in the amount of 08 (eight) million euros. This agreement was signed on the margins of the IDB’s annual days. The Islamic Society for Private Sector Development (SID) is a multilateral development finance institution, a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) whose main mission is to support the economic development of its member countries by providing financing…

During the 44th annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group (Marrakech, 3-6 April), with the success of their cooperation in the field of agricultural resources, BADEA and G5 Sahel have agreed to broaden their scope of cooperation in the field of infrastructures. Created in 2014, the G5 Sahel is a regional organization that aims to increase the security and development of people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. Because they contribute to the development of the territory and to the occupation of space, the economic activities of the rural populations are one of the prerequisites of civil…

Following the publication of a previous press release on Monday, April 1st, BGFIBank Gabon is once again reassuring its customers, as well as the public, of its scrupulous respect for the accounting procedures and rules governing the management of its clients’ accounts. . Attached to the respect of the law and the procedure, BGFIBank Gabon reiterates its total confidence in the Gabonese Justice. It is indeed in the courtrooms and not in the media that must be emptied litigation. Attempting to witness public opinion by multiplying media outlets can be likened to a form of excitement. However, serene as to…

The Gambia became the last African country on April 4 to ratify the agreement on the Continental Free Trade Area (FTAA). Banjul brings to 22 the number of countries that have ratified the Convention which, therefore, and on paper, comes into force. The next meeting of the African Union will have to take note, unless we are surprised. In the meantime, the ministries of commerce and the specialized bodies continue to negotiate certain aspects related in particular to the rules of origin and the numerous non-tariff barriers between countries of the continent. Hello As a reminder, this free trade agreement,…

Senegal hosts the High Mass of African Economic Intelligence from April 29 to 30, 2019. As a prelude to this continental meeting, Financial Afrik interviewed Mr. Lansana Gagny SAKHO, the Resident Representative of the African Center for Intelligence and Security. Economic Intelligence (CAVIE) in Senegal. Financial Afrik: A few weeks after the re-election of President Macky SALL, Senegal hosts the High Mass of African Economic Intelligence. A mere coincidence or a chance of timing? Chance of calendar yes, but happy coincidence of the dates His Excellency the President Macky SALL engaged since 2012 a voluntarist policy of structural transformation of…

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, at the Bank of Central African States, Cameroon National Directorate in Douala, the unification convention of the Financial Market Supervisory Commission of Central Africa (COSUMAF) with the Markets Commission Financiers du Cameroun (CMF) was signed by the Presidents of both institutions, as well as by the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Economic and Financial Reform Program of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (COPIL PREF-CEMAC), Mr. Gilbert ONDONGO, Minister of State, Minister of Economy, Industry and Public Portfolio of the Republic of Congo. In the presence of the Ministers of Finance…