Author: Albert Savana

Global broking business, Brokerslink, announces the appointment of Twan Hoste as General Manager as it continues to invest in infrastructure, digitalisation and strengthening the range of support and services it provides to its growing network of partners and affiliates. Twan will be responsible for driving Brokerslink’s growth strategy, focusing on bolstering relationships with the network’s independent brokers in 120 countries, investment in operating infrastructure and developing digital solutions to support the network’s partners and affiliates. He will have overall management responsibility of Brokerslink’s senior team and report to the Brokerslink board. Speaking about importance of Brokerslink in today’s global risk…

The Tunisian Ministry of Equipment, Housing and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment have published a call for expressions of interest to select the municipalities that will benefit from the historic centre regeneration programme (PRCA). To mark the occasion, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Agence française de développement (AFD) have reaffirmed their commitment to support and assist local authorities working to protect and preserve their historic urban heritage. Between them, AFD and the EIB will provide €12 million (TND 39 million) of financing to the PRCA programme in equal contributions. The objective of the programme…

Bolloré Transports & Logistics Côte d’Ivoire, a subsidiary of the French multinational of the same name, will pay its shareholders on December 18, 2020, for the 2019 financial year, an overall net dividend of FCFA 5.443 billion (8.165 million ‘euros) at term compared to 2018, announced the leaders of this Abidjan-based company. Compared to the 54,435,300 shares that make up the share capital, this corresponds to a net dividend per share of 100 FCFA against 184 FCFA in 2018, i.e. a decrease of 84 FCFA. The dividend that will be paid represents 50% of the nominal value of the share,…

French President Emmanuel Macron’s congratulations to his Guinean counterpart Alpha Condé do not match the classic “for your brilliant re-election” which the elected heads of this world send to each other in such circumstances. On the contrary, the Elysee Palace in a letter dated November 30, 2020, sends “wishes for success” to the Guinean president following the “confirmation of re-election by the constitutional council”. And the French president to say that he measures the expectations of the Guinean people, evoking the economic recovery and national reconciliation, “after the violence, the divisions and the questions which have punctuated these elections”. And…

The African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) today officially launched in Cairo the operations of “MANSA”, a pan-African due diligence repository for financial institutions, companies and SMEs, developed to address perceived risk to do business in Africa and with Africans. MANSA is a single source of primary data required for Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks on African entities, including financial institutions, businesses and SMEs, in accordance with best practices. The platform will also serve to address key trade-related challenges facing the continent, including the lack of market information, the high cost of doing business in Africa, and…

In the second quarter of 2020, the average number of salaried employees receiving remuneration from their employer in the modern non-public administration sector in Senegal registered a decrease of 37,344 compared to the first quarter of 2020, according to the results of a recent survey on the employment, remuneration and working hours (EERH) carried out by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) based in Dakar. These employees stood at 304,003 compared to 341,347 in the same period of 2019, a decline of 10.9%. “This development is related to the decrease in the workforce in almost all sub-sectors, including…

Unsuccessful in his appeal in Pennsylvania by a judge he had nevertheless appointed, defeated by the popular vote (80 million votes for Biden against 74 million for him) and crushed by the choice of the large voters (306 for the Democratic party against 232 for the Republican Party), Donald Trump continues to reject his defeat. “If you look at what’s going on. You really have to watch what’s going on. They find huge gaps in the votes. No one believes these numbers. These digits are incorrect numbers. Many incorrect figures have already been reported, ”he said angrily on Thanksgiving Day,…

The Portfolio Management Professionals, in the presence of the Central African financial market regulator, COSUMAF, held their first physical meeting this Thursday, November 26, 2020 at the Starland Hotel in Douala. The executive office was set up and the roadmap and priority projects were drawn up with the assistance of the Finance Value Cabinet headed by Mr. Said Amaghdir. The ASGPAC, headquartered in Douala, Cameroon, brings together all CEMAC actors authorized by COSUMAF to collect public savings. The members to date are Africa Bright Asset Management, Asca Asset Management (Attijariwafa Bank Group), Corridor Asset Management, EDC Asset Management (Ecobank Group)…

In the first volume of his memoir entitled “Terres Promises” (Fayard), which has already sold more than 900,000 copies, former US President Barack Obama provides comparative psychological portraits of several of the world’s greats. From Vladmir Poutine, “short and stocky”, accustomed to being surrounded by a crowd of servants, to Benyamin Nethanayu, man with the...

Diego Maradona: the hand of God or the victory of Bolivarianism against capitalism Diego Armando Maradona, who died on November 26 at the age of 60 in still unclear circumstances, will undoubtedly remain on June 22, 1986, a scorching day in Mexico City where the hand of God, validated by a Tunisian referee, intervenes in an improbable football match before leaving the sequel to the most beautiful goal of the 20th century. Argentina had just defeated England in revenge for the Falklands War four years earlier. In his book “Mi Mundial, mi verdad” (My world, my truth), Maradona confides, late…

Between indignation over the alleged slavery origin of the expression “Black Friday” and a frank desire to profit, like any economic agent, from good deals, the heart of the African middle classes waltzes. But from Dakar to Nairobi, to access the offers of the big virtual clearance sale of the year, which takes place each year, on the last Friday of November (except in France where the event was declared this year on December 4 due to Covid-19), you must have a compatible internet bank card (billed up to 60,000 CFA francs per year at some banks) or a Paypal…

Generational economics and structural transformation in the age of Covid-19 in West Africa was on the menu at the first meeting of African think tanks and experts. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA / West Africa sub-regional office) organized this virtual meeting to analyze the economic prospects of the 15 ECOWAS countries from the perspective of the Post-Covid 19. The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (through the Ministry of Budget and Finance) strongly participated in the success of this event, which also made it possible to seriously reflect on the methods of capturing the demographic dividend.…

Orange announces the launch of its 5G network in 15 French municipalities, from December 3, 2020, while the anti-Huawei decree, taken by the whole West (USA, European Union and Australia) in a flawless alignment, under the dictation of Donald Trump, could evolve, it is said, with the defeat of its designer in the US presidential...

Central Africa’s financial market, a sleeping giant, is no less resilient. Far from the major financial highways, this market formed between oil states, endowed with immense mineral resources, is slowly beginning to take shape between Libreville and Douala. Things are moving as shown by the ranking of portfolio management companies authorized by the Central African Financial Market Surveillance Commission (COSUMAF), at the end of September 2020, delivers unprecedented results. Thus, Harvest Asset Management chaired by Marc Kamgaing, is the very first entity in terms of funds under management with CFAF 41.6 billion, ahead of ASCA Asset Management (a subsidiary of…

All it took was a dialogue between Ghana and the Ivory Coast, between them producers of 70% of the cocoa bean, for international prices to soar. In the same way as this nascent cartel which should, in our opinion, also include Cameroon, why not urge the signatory countries of fishing agreements with the European Union to join forces to negotiate better? Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal are individually signatories of agreements with the 27 EU countries united in a bloc, with a single team of negotiators and a single imperative: to obtain the maximum amount of fish for the minimum cost.…

The Central Bank of the People’s Republic of China will be one of the very first in the world to issue its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or central bank cryptocurrency. The bill concerning this innovation, the Digital Yuan, submitted to public criticism for a month, between October 23 and November 23, aims to position the Middle Empire in the war against the dollar for control of the internet of money and, beyond, to be the currency of global transactions. According to article 19 of the bill in question, “The unit of the Renminbi is the Yuan and the…

China’s historic 2020 participation in the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) marks an important moment in China’s increasing multilateralism. However, while the DSSI gives African governments short-run fiscal space, it also accentuates medium-term debt distress. An ambitious DSSI+ architecture that enhances the transparency and consistency of China’s participation, ensures equal treatment across creditor types, and brings to the fore debt forgiveness is needed to address solvency crises in addition to liquidity ones. Such a DSSI+ framework of sovereign debt measures could raise the creditworthiness of borrowers post-restructuring. China (A+/Negative) has significantly expanded its economic and financial ties with African…

Bloomfield Investment Corporation has maintained unchanged the “A + with a stable outlook” rating awarded to NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire, the executives of the Abidjan-based rating agency said. This structure also kept the short-term rating “A1 with a stable outlook” unchanged. The rating is valid from August 2020 to July 2021. To justify its long rating and the outlook attached to it, Bloomfield refers to the bank’s high credit quality, adding that the protective factors are good . However, agency officials believe that the risk factors are more variable and more important in times of economic pressure. In the short…

Development Partners International (“DPI”) through its ADP III fund, CDC Group, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) have joined forces in a ground-breaking deal to create a major new player in the pan-African pharmaceuticals industry. The three founding investors have committed an initial $250 million of capital that have been used to fund the acquisition and combination of Adwia Pharmaceuticals, an Egyptian generic drugs manufacturer, and Celon Laboratories Pvt, an Indian oncology and critical care specialist. The platform will leverage its manufacturing and R&D centre of excellence in India to strengthen…

The pre-tax profit of the company Bernabé Côte d’Ivoire, specializing in the marketing of hardware products, recorded a decrease of 17.48% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, announced the leaders of this company. based in Abidjan. This result fell from FCFA 587.346 million as of September 30, 2019 to FCFA 484.691 million as of September 30, 2020, i.e. a decline of FCFA 102.655 million in absolute value. Turnover, for its part, stood at 29.175 billion FCFA against 31.038 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2019, a decrease of 6%. According to the leaders…

While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), although having reached its minimum threshold of ratification, is struggling to get out of the rut (because, it is argued, of the coronavirus) China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in a virtual conference on November 15, 2020, launch the largest free trade area in the world in terms of GDP and populations, with 2 billion inhabitants, or 30% of the world population. Important point to sign, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), under negotiation for ten years, was achieved without…

IT services group Atos on Monday announced the launch of Atos OneCloud, an initiative that will help it accelerate the migration of its customers to cloud computing, through a one-stop shop for offerings. “Atos OneCloud is the answer to further accelerate the digital transformation of our customers towards secure and carbon-free cloud environments,” said group CEO Elie Girard, quoted in a statement. IT services group Atos on Monday announced the launch of Atos OneCloud, an initiative that will help it accelerate the migration of its customers to cloud computing, through a one-stop shop for offerings. Atos will support this initiative…

The inflation rate in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) countries registered a slight decrease of 0.4 percentage point in September 2020 compared to the previous month, according to data from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). This rate would come out, over one year, to 2.9% at the end of September 2020, after an achievement of 3.3% in August 2020. According to the issuing body, “the deceleration in the rate of increase of the general level prices in September 2020 is printed in particular by the Food and Alcoholic Beverages components, whose overall contribution to…

Faced with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, President Macky Sall of Senegal addressed the issue of Islam in what will be one of the highlights of the Peace Forum opened on November 12 in Paris in the context of a sort of vaccine diplomacy in vogue in recent days at the Elysee. “We need to expand the spectrum of discussions and take into account each other’s realities to build common values. It is quite possible ”, declared the Senegalese Head of State at the outset, weighing his words carefully. And to continue. “We don’t necessarily have the same values, we…

Captain Jerry John Ralings, former President of Ghana, died on Thursday, November 12 from the aftermath of Covid-19. Interned at Korl Bu hospital nearly a week ago following his infection with the virus, Ghana’s rebirth father is said to have died of the disease at the age of 73. He had ruled Ghana between 1981 and 2001. Withdrawn, but deeply involved in the settlement of political disputes both in Ghana and in other African countries, the former air pilot of the Ghanaian army symbolized for his country, the model of democracy.

The State of Senegal will proceed on November 25, 2020 to the payment of half-yearly interest and to the partial repayment of the capital of its bond called State of Senegal 6.30% 2015-2025 for an amount of 3.740 billion FCFA (5.610 million euros ). The Senegalese government authorities had successfully launched, between October 30 and November 20, 2015, a bond loan by public offering on the financial market of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) for an amount of 50 billion euros. FCFA. This operation required the issuance of 5 million bonds at a unit price of 10,000 FCFA. The…

Gabonese village chiefs designated by the technical term of “command auxiliaries” will receive a salary according to the budget forecasts of the Ministry of the Interior currently under consideration by the National Assembly. The village and canton chiefs have been deprived of their salaries for a year. In 2021, some 28.6 billion FCFA will finance the collection of household waste and cover the emoluments of command auxiliaries. In this jackpot, FCFA 18.4 billion will have to be directly allocated to the salaries of village chiefs. In addition to its desire for greater social inclusion, Gabon’s 2021 Budget marks a major…

The International Bank for Trade and Industry of Côte d’Ivoire (BICICI), a subsidiary of the French banking group BNP Paribas, made a loss of 3.612 billion FCFA (5.418 million euros) at the end of the 2019 financial year. , announced the leaders of this banking establishment based in Abidjan. This financial year under review contrasts sharply with that of 2018 when this bank made a significant profit of CFAF 9.793 billion. The loss of 2019 is unprecedented, especially since over the past five years BICICI has only made profits with ups and downs. From 10.834 billion FCFA in 2014, the…

The ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank (EBID) has secured two lines of credit worth 95 million euros from the banking consortium AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH (AKA). Thus, George Agyekum Donkor, President of EBID and Marck WENGRZIK, Managing Director (CEO) of AKA, ratified the agreement via a symbolic virtual conference on Thursday, November 12, 2020. This unprecedented loan agreement marks the start of the agreement. a mutually beneficial partnership between bIDC and AKA. The loan agreement includes a credit line in the amount of 45 million euros for a period of ten years and a one-year revolving credit line of 50 million…

The speculative fund “Black Swan” Universa Investments is, as its name suggests, specialized in the improbable shocks of the black swan type, these inexplicable events which come to severely disrupt the foreseeable trends of a stock exchange like the crisis of 1929, that of 1987 or even that, more recent, of subprimes. The investment strategy of this fund is simple: assure its clients that their losses will be minimal in times of economic prosperity, but that if a sudden shock occurs in the markets, the gains can reach astronomical sums. The fund posted a return of 4,144% in the last…