Author: Albert Savana

Few development banks venture into the field of cultural industries, deemed too risky, too dependent on public taste, and difficult to financially valorize. And yet, transforming African talents into negotiable cultural assets on the international market precisely requires this type of risk-taking. With the financing of the feature film Clarissa, the Afreximbank group clearly assumes...

After three decades within major international firms, Nadine Tinen chose to build a close-knit group of partners from the Big 4, firmly rooted in African realities. At the head of VINKA, a pan-African firm reshaping the consulting market in French-speaking Africa, the former CEO and Territory Senior Partner of PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa (2017-2025) made the choice to structure an agile organization, designed to handle complex issues involving audit, taxation, governance, transformation, and execution. An overview of a collective that now forms the foundation of expertise and the backbone on which the “VINKA model” rests. Geoffroy Kamga: the audit pillar…

International businesswoman Vasundhara Oswal has filed a human rights petition before the High Court of Uganda, accusing senior security officials of illegally and arbitrarily arresting her, and then detaining her for nearly three weeks in October 2024, despite a court order for her release and the absence of any evidence. Among those implicated are several senior Ugandan officials: Assistant Inspector General of Police and Director of Interpol, Joseph Obwona; former Police Commissioner in charge of Interpol, Allison Agaba; Joseph Kyomuhendo, head of the Human Trafficking Division at the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP); and Thomas Baale, a police detective and…

At the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a speech with strong ideological and strategic undertones, calling on Europe to align with the new doctrine advocated by President Donald Trump: reject decline, embrace power, and rebuild the Western alliance. In an address built around historical, cultural, and geopolitical references, the American...

China will eliminate customs duties on imports from all African countries, except Eswatini, starting May 1st, announced President Xi Jinping on Saturday, February 15, 2026 on the sidelines of the 39th African Union summit. This measure comes shortly after the USA renewed the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act), a preferential mechanism allowing around forty...

At the end of the 2025 financial year, the profit of Sanlam Morocco, a limited company specializing in insurance and reinsurance services (Life and Non-Life), increased by 8% compared to the 2024 financial year, announced the leaders of this company based in Casablanca. This profit amounted to 451 million dirhams (49.610 million dollars) compared to...

“In January 2026, consumer prices in Senegal increased by 0.4% compared to January 2025, according to data from the National Agency of Statistics and Demography (ANSD) based in Dakar. According to the ANSD, this evolution is mainly due to the increase in prices of restaurant services and accommodation services (+2.1%), household furnishings, household equipment and...

At the end of the 2025 financial year, the Moroccan group Disway, specialized in the distribution of computer equipment in Morocco, recorded a 9% increase in consolidated turnover compared to 2024, announced the leaders of this company based in Casablanca. Activity indicators in the 4th quarter of 2025 highlighted a turnover of 2.076 billion dirhams...

A total amount of 601.562 million dirhams (66.171 million dollars) in the form of a global dividend for the year 2025 to be distributed to shareholders was proposed by the Board of Directors of Afriquia Gaz company (a subsidiary of AKWA Group, a Moroccan holding company encompassing a dozen companies in the sectors of fuel...

“In January 2026, consumer prices in Benin decreased by 0.2% compared to the previous month, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSTAD) based in Cotonou. According to INSTAD, the general price level stood at 101.6 compared to 101.8 in December 2025. “The monthly decrease in the index is mainly due...

The cumulative gold production of Senegal at the end of the first 11 months of the year 2025 recorded an increase of 514.8 kg compared to the same period of the year 2024, according to data established by the Directorate of Forecasting and Economic Studies (DPEE) based in Dakar. This production stood at 10,413.2 kg...

At the end of its meeting on January 29, 2026, the Board of Directors of the company Maghreb Oxygène S.A, specialized in the production, packaging, and marketing of industrial, medical, food, and specialty gases, proposed to the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) of shareholders the distribution of a total dividend of 3.250 million dirhams (357,500 dollars),...

The consolidated profit of LabelVie group, a leader in the multi-format retail sector in Morocco, recorded a 6.1% increase at the end of the 2025 fiscal year compared to 2024, announced the company’s executives based in Skhirat, a Moroccan seaside town located between Rabat and Casablanca. According to the consolidated accounts as of December 31,...

Starting from March 1, 2026, Liberia introduces a carbon contribution on air and maritime transport As of March 1, 2026, airlines and maritime operators serving Liberia will have to pay a carbon contribution of 25 dollars per tonne of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e). This measure is part of the official launch of the Sovereign Carbon Initiative of the Republic of Liberia, announced on January 27, 2026 in Monrovia. Led by the Carbon Markets Authority, established by presidential decree in October 2025, this initiative establishes a national compliance mechanism inspired by the European emissions trading system. It requires the companies involved to…

Former president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, is embarking on a new phase of his journey on the African economic scene. On Tuesday, February 4, during an event attended by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, he announced the upcoming launch of the Global Africa Investment Summit, a new event dedicated to investment on...

At the end of its meeting on February 3, 2026, the Board of Directors of Attijari Leasing, whose main purpose is to carry out leasing operations on real estate and movable property for professional, industrial, commercial, agricultural, fishing, or service use, proposed the distribution of a total dividend of 6.050 million dinars (2.117 million dollars)...

For its 2025 rating covering the period September 2025-August 2026, Bloomfield Investment has maintained unchanged the long and short term ratings awarded to Orange Côte d’Ivoire a year earlier, announced the leaders of this rating agency based in Abidjan. The long term rating remains AAA with a stable outlook. As for the short term rating,...

The inflation rate for the entire year 2025 stood at 5.3% in Tunisia according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) based in Tunis. Compared to 2024 where it was at 7%, there is a decrease of 1.7 percentage points. In monthly variation, this inflation rate stabilizes at 4.9% in December 2025 compared...

The total revenue of listed companies on the Tunis Stock Exchange (BVMT) recorded a 5.3% increase at the end of 2025 compared to 2024, according to a report by the exchange’s leaders based in Tunis. This report, based on the activity indicators of listed companies during 2025, shows a total revenue of 26.5 billion dinars...

Bank Al-Maghrib’s business survey for the month of December 2025 shows an improvement in industrial activity, announced the central bank based in Rabat. This opinion survey conducted with a representative sample of nearly 400 industrial companies was carried out during the period from January 1 to 28, 2026. The results are based on a response...

At the end of a simultaneous auction of Treasury assimilable bills (BAT) with a maturity of 364 days and Treasury assimilable bonds (OAT) with maturities of 3 and 5 years organized on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) financial market, the State of Mali raised an amount of 50.090 billion...

The rise of Jeffrey Epstein remains one of the most puzzling mysteries of contemporary finance. Neither an heir, nor a major banker, nor the founder of an industrial group, Epstein nevertheless managed, in the span of three decades, to amass a fortune estimated at several hundred million dollars, all while embedding himself in the inner...

The withdrawal of the United States from funding the African Development Fund (ADF) marks a major strategic turning point for the African Development Bank. Under the administration of Donald Trump, Washington chose not to participate in the 2025 replenishment of this main concessional window, citing deep disagreement with a direction deemed excessively focused on climate...

“The State of Ivory Coast raised on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, on the financial market of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA), an amount of 220 billion CFA francs (396 million dollars) through a simultaneous auction of Treasury assimilable bonds (OAT) with maturities of 3, 5, and 7 years. The issuer was looking for 200...

The prospect of a devaluation of the CFA franc in the CEMAC zone remains highly unlikely in the short term, despite increasing external pressures on member states. This is the central conclusion of an analysis published on February 2, 2026 by S&P Global Ratings, which rules out any imminent adjustment of the XAF parity with...

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the profit of the Ivorian Tobacco Company (SITAB), a subsidiary of the British company Imperial Brands, recorded a sharp 74% decrease compared to the same period of the 2024 fiscal year, announced the leaders of this company based in Abidjan. The activity report for the period...

Upon reading the Africa Banking Outlook 2026 from S&P Global Ratings, one certainty emerges: the African banking sector is no longer evolving as a whole, but according to increasingly differentiated national trajectories. Behind an apparent continental resilience, gaps in credit growth, asset quality, profitability, and capital strength widen between Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and...

Upon reading the Africa Banking Outlook 2026 from S&P Global Ratings, one certainty emerges: the African banking sector is no longer evolving as a whole, but according to increasingly differentiated national trajectories. Behind an apparent continental resilience, gaps in credit growth, asset quality, profitability, and capital strength are widening between Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt,...

Arriving in Morocco on Monday, January 26, 2026, on a special flight from Air Senegal, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was accompanied by a high-level ministerial delegation: Cheikh Niang (Foreign Affairs and African Integration), Serigne Guèye Diop (Industry and Commerce), Mabouba Diagne (Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock), Daouda Ngom (Higher Education, Research and Innovation) and Abdourahmane...

“Make Iran Texas again” Iran has announced the organization of naval maneuvers with live ammunition over two days in the Strait of Hormuz, starting on Sunday, shortly after the deployment by the United States of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and other American military assets in the Middle East. This show of force comes amid...