Author: Amadjiguéne Ndoye

Ethiopia to receive funding of $ 907 million from the World Bank to fight Covid-19 and invest in electricity. The agreement was signed with Ethiopia’s finance minister on Friday April 23. Funding consists of $ 700 million in loan and $ 207 million in grant. According to a ministry statement, $ 200 million of the funding will go to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) impacted by the pandemic in an effort to alleviate their funding problems, $ 207 million will be used for the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines. The remaining $ 500 million will be invested in efforts to increase…

South African bank African Bank has just announced the appointment of Kennedy Bungane (46) as CEO and Executive Director of the Bank and its holding company, African Bank Holdings Limited (“ABH”). His appointment takes effect from April 14, 2021. He was a member of the executive committee of Standard Bank of SA and of the executive committee of the Absa Bank group. Kennedy joined Barclays Africa in 2012 as Managing Director of Barclays Africa Limited and Head of Strategy for the Absa Group where he led the sale of Barclays Africa Ltd to the Absa Group and the formulation of…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, has signed partnership agreements with leading health technology company Philips and the Co-operative Bank of Kenya to help small businesses in the health sector. health in Africa to acquire essential medical equipment and strengthen their response to Covid-19. The partnerships, signed this Wednesday, April 14, are part of the IFC-led Africa Medical Equipment Facility, designed to provide risk-sharing facilities to help small businesses access up to to $ 300 million in loans and leases. The facility covers healthcare providers in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. The…

South Africa received a $ 1 billion loan from the China-based New Development Bank (NDB), according to an announcement by the South African presidency on April 11. The support will strengthen the South African economy hard hit by the recession and the coronavirus pandemic, through the funding of job creation programs currently underway as part of the country’s economic recovery plan. The loan is part of the $ 10 billion emergency aid mechanism set up to help BRICS countries during the pandemic. The funds will help finance job creation, especially under the presidential job boosting program that aims to create…

Nigerian Access Bank has acquired a majority stake in Grobank in South Africa. The transaction is valued at around $ 60 million and will allow the South African bank to consolidate its capital. With this acquisition, Access becomes the first Nigerian bank to enter the South African market and thus extends its presence in 9 African countries. The South African acquisition is the third in eight months, following the takeover of Transnational Bank of Kenya in July 2020, and Zambia-based Cavmont Bank in January 2021. “We have a full retail banking license in South Africa (…). We will be pursuing…

“Documents attesting to a large-scale plot orchestrated by relatives of Angolan President João Lourenço” against Isabel dos Santos, have been filed in the High Court of Justice in London by the private Israeli intelligence agency Black Cube, according to a press release on behalf of the Angolan businesswoman, published this Monday, March 29. This new evidence would concern audio and video recordings questioning the “Luanda Leaks” revelations published in January 2020. In defense of the daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo Dos Santos, this case is based on a “targeted attack by the Angolan intelligence services, operating under the…

Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation, announced in a recently released report that Sharia-compliant multilateral development banks (MDBs) will benefit from the growth of Islamic finance and the associated increase in application for highly rated sukuk. This further growth of the World Islamic Bank will strongly influence the demand for multilateral development banks, which will also benefit from the growth of the Islamic Bank in North and Sub-Saharan Africa through syndications and retrocessions, supporting the plans. expansion The lack of high-quality liquid assets has been a constraint for Sharia-compliant financial institutions, which suffered low or negative…

The Tunisian Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) and the French Development Agency (AFD) on Thursday (March 25) signed a partnership agreement of 4.6 million euros in favor of female entrepreneurship in Tunisia. The funding granted in the form of a grant is part of the JET (Youth, Entrepreneurship and Digital in Tunisia) initiative launched during the visit of French President Macron to the country in January 2018. Through the ENLIEN project, ADS has supported five entrepreneurial initiatives, in particular the Souk El Kahina project, initiated by EndaInter-Arabe, Start’Act de Carthage Business Angels and Wiki Startup, several cohorts of the…

The African Leaders’ Forum on Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds announced the launch of its Pan African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AGIIB) initiative, during the fifty-third session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance , planning and economic development, organized by ECA. The new investment initiative will focus on the green infrastructure market in Africa. AGIIB has mobilized around $ 20 billion from G7 and G20 investment partners and seeks to raise $ 3-5 billion from institutional investors and African governments. The initiative is emerging as a pan-African green infrastructure investment bank and will act as a world-class international…

South African insurer Old Mutual said Tuesday, March 23, a drop in its revenues for the year 2020 linked to Covid-19. The company restored its dividend even as the pandemic took its toll on the business, which resulted in a total annual loss of 5.7 billion rand ($ 385 million). The loss is driven by higher provisions for excess claims. The company has also seen its sales drop and its credit losses increase. But Old Mutual also had to increase its disruption and rescue reserves to $ 53.5 million in the second half – an increase that was more than…

Telecommunications company Airtel Africa has announced a $ 200 million investment from The Rise Fund, TPG’s global impact investing platform, in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV), a subsidiary of mobile money operations Airtel Africa, with potential for IPO within four years. The investment will see the AMC BV business valued at $ 2.65 billion and operate Airtel’s mobile money business across all of its 14 mainland markets once the inclusion of the remaining mobile money operations. under AMC will be terminated. The Rise Fund will hold a minority stake in AMC BV upon completion of the transaction, with Airtel…

The African Union announced this Thursday, March 18, that it had given the green light for the vaccine against the Covid-19 AstraZeneca and recommended the continuation of vaccinations on the continent. For the organization, the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks. John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a press conference that “the benefits always outweigh the risks” and countries should “move forward” with the vaccination. He said “adverse reactions would be monitored and reported for future vaccine evaluations.” A positive opinion that comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the vaccine.…

The French Development Agency (AFD) will allocate $ 6.95 million to finance digital financial inclusion in Africa, to promote gender equality in digital financial services. The funding will target, among other beneficiaries, 20 to 25 million women over five years. The project is part of the African Facility for Digital Financial Inclusion (FADI), supported by the French Development Agency (AFD) and hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The goal of the facility is to ensure access to the formal economy for an additional 332 million Africans, 60% of whom are women, by 2030. Of the funding of $ 6.95…

The World Bank has announced the launch of funding projects to provide 30 African countries with vaccines against Covid-19, without disclosing the amount of support under discussion. The first countries concerned include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Niger, Mozambique, Tunisia, Eswatini, Rwanda and Senegal. According to the institution, the funds are already available, and for most African countries. Funding will be in the form of grants or on so-called highly concessional conditions. Already in February, the World Bank financed its first operation to support the vaccination plan of African countries against Covid-19 and help with the purchase and…

African telecommunications group Liquid Telecoms announces that it has successfully raised more than $ 840 million through a bond and term refinancing facility launched a few days ago. The deal of $ 600 million senior secured bonds and $ 220 million South African rand-denominated secured term loans has attracted more than 230 investor orders, including anchor orders the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund. “The order book, which totaled US $ 3.2 billion, was oversubscribed more than five times, which helped generate a coupon rate of 5.5% compared to the group’s starting coupon of 8, 5%…

The Cameroonian fintech start-up Diool continues its development and attracts new investors in this fundraising of 3.5 million USD intended to finance its operations. The funding brings its overall secure investment to 4.6 million USD. Founded by Serge and Phillipe Boupda, Diool specializes in the aggregation of financial services. The startup, launched in 2015, began operations as a mobile top-up project providing small retailers with a way to sell prepaid top-ups from a single app to their customers. Through its platform, Diool offers small merchants the means to accept payments from their customers and to reimburse their suppliers more easily,…

Allianz Nigeria plans to roll out a cyber insurance policy before the end of the first half of 2021, announces Adeolu Adewumi-Zer, the CEO of the company. The insurer, which awaits regulatory approvals, recently published a risk barometer based on a survey of 193 Nigerian companies questioned which shows that cyber incidents are the second perceived risk in 2021, just behind Covid-19, while ‘they were only considered the eighth most important risk. The new insurance will cover data loss and reputational risk as well as cybercrime. “As the Covid-19 pandemic significantly accelerates the need for work from home, cybersecurity is…

The rating agency Fitch Ratings has confirmed the default rating of the long-term issuer (IDR) of Mauritius’ largest bank, Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited (MCB) at “BBB-” with a negative outlook. The rating takes into account the significant impact of the pandemic on the Mauritian economy which suffered from a two-month nationwide lockdown at the start of the crisis and the country’s prolonged border closures. Measures that have heavily impacted the tourism sector and related industries, which together represent a significant percentage of the country’s GDP. For Fitch, the Mauritian economy is expected to grow slowly, with real GDP growth of…

Lebanese bank BLOM Bank announced on Sunday (January 17th) that it had sold its 99.4% stake in its Egyptian subsidiary BLOM BANK Egypt to Bahraini bank Bank ABC for an amount of $ 427 million. The transaction, subject to regulatory approvals in Bahrain, Egypt and Lebanon, is expected to close in the first half of 2021. The transaction includes all physical and non-physical assets of Blom Bank Egypt as well as accounts clients. The bank had started talks with ABC in December. Once validated, the acquisition will allow BLOM Bank to subscribe to Banque du Liban (BDL) capital increase requirements…

The initiative to create a Great Green Wall in the African Sahel region has succeeded in attracting new funding to the tune of $ 14.2 billion on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit for biodiversity jointly organized by France, the Nations United and the World Bank organized Monday January 11 in Paris. The amount allocated is for the period 2021-2025, a success given that the expected amount was around 10 billion dollars for the next five years. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani, current President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan-African Agency of…

After seeing their rating plummet to “BB-”, impacted by South Africa’s “BB” sovereign rating from “BB-” in November, five South African banks have just received the excellent rating “ AA + ”from the rating agency Fitch Ratings. They are Absa Bank Limited, FirstRand Bank Limited, Investec Bank Limited, Nedbank Limited and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. This long-term national rating, backed by a stable outlook, reflects an improvement in their creditworthiness compared to the best credits in the country, according to Fitch. Debt ratings were also upgraded a notch. Fitch has also taken similar rating action on the…

Far from being spared from the COVD-19 pandemic which continues to wreak havoc on economies around the world, African countries have suffered significant damage to their economies due to lockdowns as part of a containment strategy. Through this interview with the editorial staff of Financial Afrik, Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus and co-founder of Bloomberg News, outlines the means at Africa’s disposal to reorganize its economy and forecast its prospects in relation to the global economy With the smallest number of detected coronavirus cases in the world, how is Africa economically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic? As a region of 54…

AM Best confirmed the excellent “A” financial strength rating and long-term credit rating of the issuer “A” of the reinsurance company African Reinsurance Corporation (ARC) (Nigeria). The outlook for these credit ratings is stable. The ratings reflect the strength of ARC’s balance sheet, which AM Best ranks as the strongest, as well as its strong operational performance, favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The agency believes that “ARC’s balance sheet strength is based on its highest risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s capital adequacy ratio (BCAR).” ARC’s capital position is expected to remain stable thanks to strong…

Solar energy start-up, Oolu Solar, raised $ 8.5 million in Series B capital. The transaction was led by independent renewable energy developer RP Global. Other additional investors also participated in the funding round, including Persistent Energy Capital (PEC), Shell’s impact investor, All On, Gaia Impact Fund and DPI Energy Ventures. The startup specializes in providing affordable energy to rural and peri-urban areas in West Africa. With this investment, Oolu plans to expand its commodity offering to meet the needs of its customers and further develop its operations. The company operates in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The operation…

Egypt has just approved the construction of the country’s first dry port. The facility, announced in the city in the city of October 6 (urban area of ​​Cairo), will be Africa’s largest dry port. The implementation of the project is entrusted to a consortium comprising: DB Schenker, a division of the German rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG which focuses on logistics and supply chain management; Elsewedy Electric Co S.A.E, formerly known as El Sewedy Cables, an Egypt-based limited company engaged in the manufacture of integrated cables and electrical products; and 3A International. The project requested the participation of the European…

Guinea Bissau will receive funding of $ 12 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) intended to support the economic recovery in Guinea-Bissau within the framework of covid-19. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has recorded 2,444 positive cases since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the High Commission for Covid-19. The Covid-19 has severely impacted the cashew nut marketing campaign, the country’s main export product, a sector that employs more than 80% of Guineans directly or indirectly. For the year 2020, Guinea-Bissau will record negative economic growth of -2.9% in 2020 and internal state…

Pan-African group Liquid Telecom has appointed Wole Abu as CEO of Liquid Telecom Nigeria. He will also be in charge of the Data Center for Africa (ADC) in Nigeria, effective January 2021. Former CEO of Pan African Towers (PAT) before joining Liquid Telecom, Wole Abu held the position of Vice President of Sales at Airtel Nigeria, where he also held several managerial positions in the human resources departments, engineering, operations, finance, legal and marketing respectively. He has, during his rich career, also managed startups and mature companies. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering with Honors from the University of Benin…

The French Development Agency (AFD) has granted 715.6 million euros ($ 866.6 million) in funding to Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation announced on Wednesday (December 9th). The aim is to strengthen the transition to a green recovery and to invest in human capital. The agreements, signed on the sidelines of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to France, are part of the 2019-2023 strategic partnership for social and economic development between Egypt and France, worth 1 billion euros ($ 1.2 billion). “Part of the funds will finance the energy sector support program worth $ 181.5 million, and a…

Pan-African reinsurer Continental Re has announced the appointment of Ogadi Onwuaduegbo as regional director, Anglophone West Africa. His appointment will be effective in January 2021. Ogadi has over ten years of business development and brokerage experience gained in Nigeria and the UK. A licensed insurer, Ogadi holds an MSc in Management from Robert Gordon University, UK and a BSc Actuarial Science and Insurance from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He has worked for reputable organizations such as Marsh Limited, London and Afro-Asian Insurance Services, London where, until recently, he served as Senior Broker and Commercial Producer for Nigeria. “We have…

Egyptian bank Banque Misr (BM) has been assigned a “B +” rating from Fitch Ratings due to the Egyptian authorities’ limited capacity to support when needed. The outlook remains stable and is backed by the country’s sovereign rating. Egyptian banks will come under further pressure from risks to their operating environment, Fitch said, leading the agency to put down a negative outlook. On the other hand, the short-term risks weighing on the credit profiles of Egyptian banks, and in particular on their financing and their liquidity in foreign currency (FC) due to the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, are diminishing.…