Author: Contribution

By Ghislain KAPSSU, Managing Partner – Kompt Capital West Africa S.A. For several decades, the debate on financing infrastructure in Africa has focused on large structuring projects: hydroelectric dams, highways, ports, airports, or national energy networks. These assets naturally play an essential role in the continent’s economic transformation and attract the attention of international donors, multilateral development banks, and capital markets. However, this focus on mega-projects tends to overshadow another issue, equally crucial for economic and social development: that of local infrastructure. A deficit that is not only measured in billions of dollars When discussing the African infrastructure deficit, the…

By Abd’El Kader NDIAYE, President of CNES Senegal talks about sovereignty. Senegal talks about rebuilding. But Senegal forgets its businesses. Since the advent of the new regime, one observation is clear: public authorities are neglecting the private sector at all levels of the hierarchy. This silence is all the more deafening as the current situation demands attention. Economic operators are facing, alone, a triple burden: the state’s domestic debt, whose payment promises pile up without follow-up; social unrest, fueled by the non-compliance with the commitments of the National Pact for Social Stability; and the total lack of visibility for our…

By Seydina Alioune NDIAYE, Economist, Investment Banker, SENQUANT Briefing. In trading rooms and among financial analysts focused on the case of Senegal, the debt crisis is not only playing out on the front of external debt, but increasingly on that of domestic debt: Total Return Swaps (TRS) have become a central concern. The issue is no longer just technical; it touches on the transparency of debt, the cost of public financing, and the sustainability of the active debt management strategy. An increasingly domestic debt crisis After the scandal of the “hidden debt” and the closure of access to international bond…

By Aboubakr Kaira Barry, CFA, Managing Director, Results Associates · Bethesda, Maryland, United States. KEY POINTS ▸ In Nigeria, money is primarily created by commercial banks and, to a lesser extent, by the Central Bank of Nigeria. ▸ Between 2015 and 2024, the money supply grew at a rate of 20% per year while real GDP per capita declined by 0.6%, fueling inflation and eroding living standards. ▸ Reforms by the CBN are necessary, but price stability cannot be achieved without fiscal discipline, stronger public financial management, and stricter institutional safeguards. ▸ Sustainable reform requires constitutional budget rules, improved budget…

By Chérif Salif Sy* What we call “monetary policy” in Africa is a convenient fiction, a screen that covers the raw reality of power relations between peripheral states and financial centers in the North. Suzanne de Brunhoff posed this in the early 1970s: money is not a neutral instrument that the state can use at will to smooth out cycles. It is an objective constraint, the material embodiment of the law of value on the global market. In Africa, this constraint takes different forms depending on the areas, but it produces the same effect everywhere, subordination. Whether it’s the Franc…

Opinion | Energy Transition & Sustainable Finance in Africa By Thierno Seydou Nourou Sy, Banker. President and founder of Nourou Financial Consulting (NFC). Dakar, Senegal. www.Nouroufinancial.com Is sustainable finance in Africa truly financing the transformation of our economies? Behind the trendy concepts – ESG, green bonds, climate funds, sustainable taxonomies – it is this uncomfortable but necessary question that must guide our decisions today. Africa finds itself in a unique situation in contemporary history: it represents about 3% of global CO₂ emissions while hosting nearly 18% of the world’s population. The G20 countries, on the other hand, are responsible for…

By Abdoulaye DIOP, President of the UEMOA Commission It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death on June 1, 2026 in Dakar of Professor Moustapha Kassé. A renowned economist, he left a mark on the students we were with his competence and scientific rigor. As the first dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, his commitment and daily actions contributed to the development of the teaching of economic and management sciences. A demanding and generous educator, Professor Kassé trained generations of Senegalese and African economists, executives, and decision-makers…

By Ghita LAMRIKI, Director of Studies, Géraldine MERMOUX, Managing Director Associate and Lossani ZINA, Associate Director. FINACTU Group. For the first time in history, over the period 2021-2023, Africa has spent more money on repaying its debt than on educating its children[1]. And the trend is not good: in 2024, 18% of the continent’s public revenues were used to repay debt: three times more than in 2010. No other continent reaches these levels. Behind these figures, a concrete reality: every billion paid in interest is a billion that does not finance a school, a hospital, or a road. This burden…

Testimony of Tidiane WANE, polytechnic engineer at the Presidential Palace Master Abdoulaye WADE, Centenarian on May 29, 2026. Machallah. May God grant him many more years of health. President Wade worked for his country and for Africa. We, the youth of the turbulent years (1988-2000), can testify to this. The master of SOPI, the change, initiated us to Democracy and the fight for self-assertion. Since we were students at the Lycée and then at the University, we have closely followed Master Wade’s epic battles against the excesses of the socialist regime established since independence in 1960. Master Wade fought with…

“The CEO of SGI IFI, Issa Malgoubri, argues that the true sophistication of structured finance lies in the transparency and robustness of risk, not in its complexity. This analysis directly applies to the Senegalese political crisis of 2026, which is testing the credibility of the country’s sovereign signature after an IMF audit in 2025 significantly revised the national debt upwards.” By ISSA MALGOUBRI, CEO of SGI IFI Why useful sophistication always begins with risk transparency, and how a political shock can redefine a state’s debt, market, and structuring strategy. Complexity is not a sign of authority. In structured finance, authority…

The African Cotton Foundation (ACF) reaffirms its unwavering commitment to sustainable, competitive, and inclusive growth of the African textile value chain. As global supply chains evolve and investors seek resilient sources of supply, the next strategic step is clear: Africa must strengthen its local transformation capacities and accelerate value creation on the continent. The main mission of the ACF is to improve the livelihoods of farmers and agricultural communities, while protecting the environment in which they live and work. Cotton remains one of Africa’s most strategic agricultural raw materials (more than 1.2 million tons produced annually), generating income for millions…

Dr Abderrahmane Mebtoul, University Professor, international expert, chartered accountant at the Higher Institute of Management in Lille (France) 1974. “Cryptocurrencies” are virtual digital assets based on blockchain technology through a decentralized ledger and encrypted computer protocol. A crypto asset is not a currency, its value determined solely by supply and demand, not relying on a trusted entity like a central bank. 1.- In 1976, Austrian Friedrich von Hayek, Nobel Prize in Economics, predicted in his work the denationalization of currency, an alternative economy where the State loses the monopoly of monetary issuance, an idea taken up in the 1990s by…

Too vast to be ignored, too novel to be understood By Maryam Garba-Sani* Simplicity, in the absence of complexity, prompts humans to complicate things. Let’s take the example of a mirror: used as a medium of exchange or for a specific purpose, it produces a different effect than when we simply look at ourselves. After checking our appearance, we start to question internally, wondering if we are truly real. One of the themes that runs through this writing is rooted in this observation. Innovators are more interested in product innovation than process innovation. Some argue that standardized processes work better;…

By Dr Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE The Regional Forum on the Coffee Value Chain in Africa, held in Marrakech on 5–6 May 2026 with the support of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — OIC — and the Islamic Development Bank — IsDB —, highlighted a strategic imperative: Africa must move beyond the export of raw commodities and build stronger value chains capable of generating local transformation, jobs, brands and productive sovereignty. Beyond coffee itself, the issue is the continent’s ability to capture more value from what it produces. African coffee stands at a crossroads. It is an emblematic product for several economies…

By Douty Fadiga – Managing Partner, ReY Advisory Angola is gradually shifting the focus of its financing model: from a state dependent on external debt to an economy where domestic capital markets are becoming a true engine for capital allocation. BODIVA (Bolsa de Dívida e Valores de Angola, the Angolan stock exchange) is at the heart of this transition, with a clear ambition: to make domestic capital markets a pillar of the economy’s financing, with the goal of reaching nearly 50% of GDP in the medium term, thanks to a credible pipeline of IPOs, the increasing presence of domestic investors,…

By Yasmine Aboubacar Sedikhe SY The 21st century will not be dominated solely by states that control natural resources, energy infrastructure, or trade routes. It will be shaped by those who master knowledge architectures: data, artificial intelligence systems, computing capabilities, scientific infrastructures, and cognitive models capable of organizing the world. A silent mutation is underway. Power is no longer measured solely by the ability to produce; it is now measured by the ability to define the frameworks for interpreting reality, structuring knowledge flows, and imposing technological, cultural, and informational reference points from which societies think, decide, and innovate. In other…

By Abderrahmane Mebtoul, State Doctorate 1974-Professor of Universities International Expert New Delhi will host the 4th India-Africa Summit on May 31, 2026 under the theme “IA SPIRIT”, dedicated to partnership, innovation, resilience, and inclusive transformation. India is currently the most populous country in the world with approximately 1.477 billion inhabitants. Its nominal GDP is expected to reach $4,153 billion in 2026, with a per capita GDP estimated at $2,813 according to the IMF. Despite a slight slowdown compared to 2024, growth remains particularly strong, with forecasts ranging between 6.6% and 7.8% in 2025, making India one of the most dynamic…

Open Letter to Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund By Aboubakr Kaira Barry, CFA, Managing Director, Results Associates, Bethesda, Maryland • May 8, 2026 “When I attempt to examine my own conduct… I divide, as it were, into two persons… The first is the spectator… The second is the agent, the person I properly call myself.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759 Dear Managing Director, In 1759, Adam Smith articulated the idea of the impartial spectator – the disciplined act of stepping outside oneself to judge one’s own conduct honestly and without bias. More than two and…

By Lansana Gagny SAKHO, Adm.A., C.M.C. While the word “sovereignty” invades the African economic debate, three Asian models – South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia – impose an obvious fact: sovereignty is not proclaimed, it is built. A comparative analysis of a continent at a crossroads. There are words that end up betraying what they claim to defend. In the contemporary African debate, the word “sovereignty” is one of those. It is repeated to reassure, to affirm a will for control. But by being invoked without being defined, declaimed without being measured, brandished without being built, it has become a refuge word…

Loic Mpanjo Essembe, Managing partner, MEL INVESTMENT BANKING Africa is not only suffering from a lack of capital; it is mainly facing a deficit in financial architecture. The continent needs to finance infrastructure needs estimated between $130 and $170 billion annually, while actual investments remain around $80 billion, leaving a significant gap to be filled. At the same time, the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that improving the efficiency of domestic mobilization could unlock up to an additional $1.43 trillion of internal resources, proving that the problem is not just the absence of funds, but their poor structuring. This reality…

By Elvis Ngbondo-Sakpo Sub-Saharan Africa is not lacking in capital. It mainly lacks a system capable of effectively transforming these resources into productive and sustainable investments. Behind this paradox lies one of the great economic challenges of the continent: that of financial architecture. Recent regulatory developments in the CEMAC and UEMOA regions illustrate a clear willingness on the part of monetary authorities and states to better capture locally produced wealth. In CEMAC in particular, the gradual increase in the repatriation rate of foreign exchange from extractive industries reflects an increased search for monetary sovereignty and macro-financial stability. But a question…

By Moubarak Moukaila, Director of Sustainable Development Financing Producing locally, distributing intelligently, prioritizing the essential West Africa is burning. Not only due to climate change – although the desertification projections by 2070 are alarming – but under the weight of an unsustainable energy dependence. In the UEMOA area, less than half of the population has access to electricity, with stark disparities: around 20% in Niger compared to nearly 75% in Senegal. While electricity demand is increasing at a rate close to 11% per year, supply is only increasing around 4%. This gap is no longer a temporary tension. It is…

By Habibou Dia, Director of Communication · Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Republic of Senegal. Food security is a fundamental issue related to the right to survival and the right to development of developing countries, and it is particularly urgent for Senegal. As an important agricultural country in West Africa, Senegal has fertile valleys and a long agricultural tradition, but it still depends on imports of large quantities of broken rice to meet its national needs. How to feed a growing population on limited land? How to move from food dependence to food autonomy? These are the…

Dr. Ing. Beaugrain Doumongue* Between information inflation, sophistication of analytical tools, and the illusion of omniscience of digital devices, many organizations continue to miss the essential point: the exact point where strategic information is actually formed. Prisoners of a disembodied approach to intelligence, they accumulate data without ever capturing the deep dynamics that structure their environment. A methodological blindness that, if not corrected, condemns to a late, incomplete, and often erroneous reading of contemporary power dynamics. From the deficit of strategic contact to the boundary layer Most economic intelligence devices still rely on a double illusion. The first is to…

By Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHEAfrica is not lacking in ambitions, needs, or project ideas. It often lacks projects that are sufficiently prepared, structured, bankable, and de-risked to attract public, concessional, private, and institutional financing. The real challenge is to transform the continent’s priorities — ports, airports, toll roads, power plants, desalination plants, logistics corridors, industrial platforms, or digital infrastructure — into truly financeable projects. This is why Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) must become a pillar of the new African financial architecture. One of the paradoxes of African development lies in this contradiction: the continent has massive infrastructure needs, attracts the interest…

By Gaston Kelman, writer. Twenty years ago in 2007, I prophesied in my book entitled Les hirondelles du printemps africain that Mauritania would be one of the most promising swallows heralding the African spring. For the kindest, I was just an iconoclast, a provocateur who wanted to shock at all costs. It was a time when people held their noses when they heard the name of this country, of which the only references granted to it – condemnation without trial and without possibility of appeal – were modern slavery – biased analysis – and very real terrorism. At that time,…

By Professor Amath Ndiaye, FASEG-Cheikh Anta Diop. By refusing to adjust domestic energy prices despite a sustained oil shock, Senegal is choosing a short-term social cushion. But this choice, politically rational, is becoming increasingly costly economically. As the barrel approaches $100, the budget bill explodes and dangerously reduces the state’s room for maneuver. A social cushion… at the cost of budget drift In a context of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, maintaining administered energy prices helps contain inflation and preserve household purchasing power. This choice is all the more understandable as energy is a transversal good, the effects of…

By Basilie NZAME, Expert in financial control and regulatory compliance. Former Auditor at DeloitteFrance, Mazars Angola & DRC On September 30, 2025, the BCEAO officially launched the Interoperable Instant Payment System Platform, the PI-SPI. For the first time in the WAEMU area, an Orange Money customer in Senegal can send money in real time to a bank account in Mali, or to a Moov Money wallet in Ivory Coast, without friction, without delay, without human intermediary. The CEMAC had taken the lead as early as 2018 with GIMACPAY, operated by the Central African Interbank Electronic Banking Group under the impetus…

By Nicolas Kazadi, National Deputy, former Minister of Finance of the DRC. The interview given by Sandrine Ngalula Mubenga to Forbes Africa deserves to be read carefully. It shows a dynamic electricity sector in the DRC: more operators, more projects, more solar energy, more regulation, more data, and above all a clearer awareness of the national energy urgency. It must be acknowledged: under President Félix Tshisekedi, a real effort has been made to put electricity back at the center of the economic agenda. According to the figures mentioned in the interview, installed capacity would have increased from 2,972 MW in…

By Dr. Moussa K. Fall, Economist, Cofounder & Dean Marselya Tech The BCEAO indicates that in 2025, the countries in the zone borrowed 15,105.2 billion FCFA from the local financial market. The debt is rising and could quickly exceed sustainable levels in several UMOA member states. The BCEAO must intervene and buy back the short-term debts of the member states from regional banks; regional banks, in turn, must see their purchases of sovereign bonds restricted. They must grant more credit to the private sector to revitalize economic activity in the zone. Regional banks in the UMOA zone are heavily involved…