Author: Albert Savana

President Ouattara caps commodity prices and subsidizes fuel at the risk of offending liberal orthodoxy. A costly but essential strategy for the preservation of social peace. The effort is substantial. The State of Côte d’Ivoire (Ba3 by Moody’s and BB- by S&P and Fitch) has granted subsidies of around 500 billion CFA francs (USD 778...

The Central Bank’s key rate has briskly crossed 200% and the Zimbabwean dollar has lost 72% of its value against the dollar in 7 months 1 USD = 361.9 ZWD] Zimbabwe sees its inflation rate peak at 256.9% in July against 191.6% in June. The former Southern Rhodesia, freed from Apartheid by Robert Mugabe in...

The uninhibited liberal Abdoulaye Wade and the Melenchonien socialist Ousmane Sonko would they form an alliance between the carp and the rabbit? After two democratic alternations in 2000 and 2012, Senegalese democracy is moving up a notch with, a first in the history of this country which has been voting since 1848, a virtual balance of power between the opposition and the power. The result of the vote puts the country of Teranga in the same configuration as Ghana, another great West African democracy with since the 2020 elections, a parliament comprising 137 deputies for the ruling party (New Patriotic…

Conakry had until August 1 to propose a “reasonable” deadline for the transition. An agreement had indeed been reached on July 20 between Guinean Bissau President Umaro Sissaco Embalo, current president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Colonel Mamadi Doymbouya, head of the National Committee of the Rally for Development (CNRD)...

Mr. Amadou Hott, Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, signed two financing agreements with Dr. Sidi Ould TAH Director General of the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA). These agreements relate to the Emergency Access Roads Program and the Urban Modernization Project of four municipalities, for a total amount of 75 million dollars, or...

The volume of Islamic banking services in Egypt stood at around 429 billion Egyptian pounds EGP (more than 27 billion USD) in 2021, according to a report by the National Islamic Finance Association (Eifa). Up 17.4% from 2020, this level represents around 5% of the country’s total banking market size. According to the report presented...

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, is the subject of a complaint from a Malian civil society organization before the economic and financial center of Bamako, an entity attached to the Ministry of Justice. The complaint relates to the awarding of a passport market under the former regime. On...

The Gabonese Reinsurance Company (SCG-Ré) will be listed on the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC) in 2022 in accordance with its expansion plan. The initial public offering of the subsidiary of the Gabonese Strategic Investment Fund (FGIS) in the equity compartment is in line with its development program, the objective being to cover the countries...

True to its history of non-alignment since the time of the post-independence revolution and the Cold War, Guinea simply did not vote for the United Nations Security Council resolution, submitted on Wednesday March 2 by the Europeans ” demanding that Russia immediately stop using force against Ukraine”. Of the 193 members of the Organisation, 141 countries voted in favor of the text, 5 countries including Russia (Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria) voted clearly against the text, while 35 countries including Russia’s allies, such as China and Venezuela, preferred to abstain. The historical economic relations between Guinea and Russia, and the…

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the treasury bonds launched on March 1, 2022 by the government on the local financial market yielded CDF 35.07 billion (USD 17.5 million) out of the initial solicitation of CDF 30 billion (USD 15 million). . Official data indicates that out of three contending bidders, two were served at...

Meeting on Monday, February 28, the board of directors of the National Institute of Social Welfare (INPS) adopted a 2022 budget, an increase of 18.28% compared to the 2021 budget. It is planned 240.1 billion CFA francs (approximately 410 million USD) in revenue against 221.8 billion CFA francs (approximately 378 million USD) in expenditure, i.e....

The Algerian hydrocarbon company, Sonatrach, achieved an export turnover of more than 35 billion USD in 2021, against 20 billion in 2020. Data communicated in an interview with the chairman and general manager of the company published on 27 last February. These are, according to Toufik Hakkar, the results of the increase in primary hydrocarbon...

Mining company Kamoa Copper plans to produce 9.2 million tonnes of copper per annum (Mtpa), up from 7.6 Mtpa, under a debottlenecking plan for Kamoa-Kakula to increase combined plant design processing phase 1 and 2 concentration of approximately 21% once steady-state production is achieved at both concentrators. Co-chairmen Robert Friedland and Yufeng Miles Sun explained...

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has spoken out on the ongoing war in Ukraine, in a press release dated February 27, 2022. The organization condemns “the invasion of Ukraine by Russia”, and which “creates human victims, in particular among civilians”. In the document signed by the commission, ECOWAS calls on “both parties...

The Russian-Ukrainian war, which began on February 24, 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, does not only have an impact in Europe. Its repercussions are also expected in Africa where the leading economy, Nigeria, could fear a rise in the inflation rate, which is already difficult to control. A major consumer of durum wheat...

The actors of the regional financial market were in Lomé, Thursday, February 24, for a workshop organized by the Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF) with the aim of finalizing the draft regulatory texts before their presentation to the Council of Ministers of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA). Held face-to-face and...

After several weeks of uncertainty and concern, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced early this Thursday, February 24, at 3 a.m. GMT, a special military operation in Donbass, a separatist region in eastern Ukraine which he recognized independence at the start of the week. Already, the condemnations fuse. In his surprise statement, the Russian president urged...

Senegal’s trade balance deficit narrowed by 35 billion FCFA (52.5 million euros), on a monthly basis during the month of December 2021 compared to the previous month, according to data from the Forecasting Department and economic studies (DPEE) based in Dakar. This deficit is estimated by the DPEE at 147.8 billion FCFA against 182.8 billion...

The American bank Citigroup will launch its commercial banking services in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt due to the presence of large multinationals in these countries. “We will be in the markets with a caveat that we are not going to go to very small or small businesses, but rather focus on bringing the...

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) today assigned the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) an Aa2 rating with a positive outlook for its long-term foreign currency borrowings. This extremely high rating coincides with the 48th anniversary of the creation of the Bank by eighteen visionary member countries of the League of Arab States (LAS). The main objective of the Bank is the strengthening of economic, financial and technical cooperation between the Arab and African regions, and the concretization of Arab-African solidarity on the basis of equality and friendship. Since the start of its operations in 1975, the Bank has…

The Democratic Republic of Congo should benefit from the upward trend of its main mining export products on the international market during the week of February 21 to 26, 2022, like copper sold at more than 10,000 USD per ton. against 9,825.80 USD per ton the previous week, with a positive price difference of 180.3...

Egypt and Sudan each condemned, on Monday, February 21, the start of electricity production from the Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) by the Ethiopian authorities. A project which, since its launch in 2011, has been a dispute between Ethiopia and its neighbors located downstream of the Nile. In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry set the...

The activities of the Gabonese subsidiary of the French group TotalEnergies are on the rise again after a stagnation following the outbreak of the health crisis linked to the Coronavirus. A revival of activities which resulted in a turnover of 655 million dollars in 2021 against 435 million dollars for 2020, which represents an increase...

After a first postponement in October 2021 for reasons not previously mentioned, the cybersecurity summit co-organized by Togo and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will be held on March 23 and 24, 2022 in Lomé, according to an announcement made this Monday, February 21. Initially scheduled for October 25 and 26 in...

The road and rail infrastructure development project of the Douala-Ndjamena corridor linking Cameroon to Chad with a total investment of 471 billion FCFA, or 816 million dollars is on the right track. The World Bank (WB) has approved financing of 311 billion FCFA (538 million dollars) consisting of a loan of 181 billion FCFA (313...

The turnover of the Société Générale Industrielle de Filtration (GIF FILTER) SA, specializing in the manufacture and marketing of fuel and oil filters, recorded a sharp drop of 1.427 million dinars (435,645 euros) in end of the 2021 financial year compared to the same period of 2020, announced the managers of this company based in...

The central bank of Rwanda announced on February 17, 2022 that it had raised its key rate by 50 basis points to 5%. A decision taken by its monetary policy committee meeting on February 15 and which analyzed recent economic developments in the country. “To ensure that inflation is contained at an adequate level while...

As the 6th summit between the European Union and the African Union opened in Brussels on Thursday February 17, Emmanuel Macron delivered a panegyric on his African policy the day before. But his counterpart for the African Union, Macky Sall, expects more from Europe than a semantic change. By Christine Holzbauer. Relations between Africa and Europe must be overhauled in order to achieve a true partnership for the benefit of Africa. The speeches by Macky Sall and Emmanuel Macron on the eve of the 6th European Union/African Union summit (February 17-18), in Paris, set the tone for what this “new…

The ultra-high-grade Kipushi Mine, with an average grade of 36.4% zinc in the first five years of production, will be returned to commercial production under a new agreement signed by Kipushi Holding, a 100% subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines, and Gécamines, the Société Générale des Carrières et des Mines de la RDC. Both parties made the...

The Egyptian economy recorded a growth of 9% in the first half of the financial year 2021/22, after achievements of 9.8% and 8.3% respectively in the first and second quarters of the period under review. Announcement made by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly who was facing the press on Wednesday February 16 in Cairo. At this...