Author: Contribution

An open letter to Ajay Banga on thirty years of stagnant governance and the need for structural accountability By Aboubakr Barry Mr. President, “When I strive to examine my own conduct… I divide, so to speak, into two persons… The first is the spectator… The second is the agent, the person I properly call myself.” In 1759, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, articulated this idea in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith’s “impartial spectator” is the disciplined act of stepping outside oneself to honestly judge one’s own conduct. More than two and a half centuries later, this wisdom…

Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE Between international visibility and real market transformation In New York, at Nasdaq, the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) embodies a financially ambitious Africa. But behind this new visibility, a decisive question arises: are African markets transforming or simply better valuing themselves? The BRVM Investment Days held at Nasdaq on April 21, 2026 marked an important step in the international projection of African markets. The continent is no longer satisfied with being a potential investment destination; it now structures a discourse, highlights its performances, and seeks to sustainably capture the attention of global investors. This evolution reflects a rise…

On April 23, 2026, the Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement and the Compagnie Générale Maritime (CMA-CGM) officially inaugurated its regional Africa office in Abidjan, marking the transfer of its continental activities from Marseille. A first for the French maritime transport giant, which now chooses to anchor its strategy closer to its African markets. This decision is not just a logistical adjustment. It is a strategic act that reshapes the trust map in West Africa and reveals, in its apparent sobriety, the silent battle between Dakar and Abidjan to become the true center of gravity for multinationals. In my upcoming book “Governing through…

By Christ KIBELOH, Writer, Novelist, and Essayist The world fixates on our subsoils with surgical greed, but what about the truth in our eyes? As an observer of silent structures, I refuse to see the Congo Basin reduced to a simple equation of minerals and cash flows. We are presented with global energy transition, cobalt, and rare earths as the keys to a decarbonized future. But a question remains: what is the value of this technological clarity if its price is darkness and the depletion of humanity at its source? The ontology of uprooting: the invisible cost The current extractivist…

By Echraf M. Abdoul Wahab Ouedrago. On April 17, 2026, Mauritania announced the candidacy of Mrs. Coumba Bâ for the position of Secretary General of the Francophonie. Due to the obligation of reserve, I declined several requests from former colleagues of the OIF, media, and friends seeking my opinion on this candidacy of a compatriot. As the days passed, I wished, however, to provide this small personal testimony, the result of our past collaborative opportunities, hoping not to encroach on the work of her campaign team. Although from the same country and almost the same region (Boghé and Kaédi being…

By Amath Ndiaye, Economics Professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University – Dakar. According to the latest quarterly budget execution report, in 2025, Senegal shows an improvement in public finances, with a decreasing deficit and dynamic revenues. However, behind these encouraging results, a major constraint is evident: the growing burden of debt, with debt servicing absorbing a considerable portion of public resources. Between budget adjustments, economic growth slowdown, and the need for external financing, the country is facing a delicate equation to sustainably revive its economy. Overall satisfactory budget execution in 2025 In 2025, Senegal can boast of a tangible improvement…

At the upcoming Africa Forward Summit, taking place in Nairobi on May 11th and 12th, the Nova Garage initiative asserts itself as a continental platform dedicated to African entrepreneurship and innovation, with a clear ambition: to bring forth a generation of projects capable of making an impact on regional and international markets. By hosting the first edition of Nova Garage in May 2026, Nairobi confirms its role as a hub of African innovation at the heart of Silicon Savannah, an ecosystem that has become one of the most dynamic on the continent thanks to its hundreds of startups and strong…

By Serge KOUAMELAN, Executive Director of APBEF-CI At the heart of agricultural financing in West Africa lies a paradox, an improbability, even a fallacy that no one can ignore anymore: we produce, we store, but we do not finance. In the UEMOA region, agriculture represents 16 to 40% of the GDP, depending on whether we refer to countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal on one side, or Burkina Faso and Mali on the other. At the same time, it can mobilize up to 80% of the active population in some countries in the region. However, less than 5% of bank…

By Thierno Seydou Nourou Sy Banker Founder of Nourou Financial Consulting (NFC) Dakar, Senegal www.nouroufinancial.com In the West African Monetary Union (UMOA), factoring and leasing are not new concepts or legally non-existent instruments. They are recognized by the community framework and are included in the classification of financial institutions. Several banks and specialized institutions offer them. The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and member states have laid down structuring regulatory foundations. The question is no longer about their existence. It is about their scale and macroeconomic impact. While these instruments are slowly progressing in our region, the rest…

Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE* In a context of reshaping global energy balances and tensions on supply chains, Africa is at a strategic turning point. Between historical opportunity and the risk of renewed dependence, the challenge now is to transform its resources into a real lever for sustainable economic sovereignty. Africa at the heart of the new global competition The 21st century will not only be one of energy transitions, digital revolution, or technological changes. It will also be a time of increased global competition for strategic resources, logistical corridors, value chain mastery, and supply security. In this global reshuffling, Africa is…

By Paul-Harry Aithnard, Roseline Abé and Aniéla Koffi Managing Director of Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire & Executive Regional Director UEMOA · Managing Director of EDC Investment Corporation · Head of the Ellever Program One year after the first Gender Bond in the UEMOA, it is time for African finance to fully grasp this tool. In finance, there is a category of anomaly that economists struggle to explain without discomfort: that of high-performing assets that the market systematically underfunds. In West Africa, women-led companies belong to this category. Resilient, job creators, anchored in the real economy, they nevertheless remain on the fringes…

By Thierno Seydou Nourou SY, President and Founder of Nourou Financial Consulting The latest report on recent economic developments and prospects in Senegal highlights a paradox that deserves to be at the heart of public debate: the country is improving its major macroeconomic balances, but at the cost of a gradual weakening of its real economy. At first glance, the results are solid. Growth is estimated at 6.7% in 2025, inflation remains contained, the budget deficit is greatly reduced, and external accounts improve significantly. But a closer look shows that this performance is mainly based on the production of hydrocarbons,…

Whenever a conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, energy markets react with remarkable speed. Oil prices change in a matter of hours. Maritime routes suddenly become a central strategic issue. Governments quietly reassess their reserves, supply chains, and vulnerabilities. Markets rediscover, almost overnight, a reality they tend to forget in times of calm: energy remains deeply intertwined with geopolitics. This pattern is nothing new. From the oil crises of the 1970s to more recent supply disruptions, periods of geopolitical tension regularly remind us that energy flows rarely evolve outside the turbulence of international politics. Pipelines cross borders. Tankers pass…

By Alpha Barry* At a time when multilateralism is facing an unprecedented credibility crisis, the next Secretary-General of the United Nations must be more than just an administrator: they must be an authority for dialogue, a conscience of balance, and a trusted actor. In this perspective, the candidacy of Macky Sall, former President of Senegal, deserves great attention. The world is not only experiencing an accumulation of crises. It is facing a crisis of confidence in the mechanisms meant to prevent, contain, or resolve them. Wars are escalating. Geopolitical rifts are deepening. Multilateral institutions remain essential, but their political and…

By Paul Villerac, Economist specializing in development issues. Since April 4, 2026, Cameroonian social networks have been saturated by the dissemination of a supposed presidential decree announcing the appointment of Franck Emmanuel Biya as Vice President and Minister Delegate for Defense. The document, constructed to imitate the forms of official communication, quickly sparked comments, indignation, and speculation. But upon verification, nothing confirms its authenticity. No institutional publication confirms it, and Franck Biya, known for his discretion, holds no official responsibilities in the state apparatus or armed forces. Taken in isolation, this episode could simply be another case of digital manipulation…

By Éric Topona If there is one source of satisfaction for the People’s Republic of China, since Donald Trump returned to the White House, it is undoubtedly the lack of interest of the American president in soft power. Among the first measures taken by Donald Trump as part of his budget austerity policy, the suspension of Voice of America’s activities was one of the most spectacular and astonishing. Certainly, it was a godsend for Beijing and its informational expansion strategy, particularly in West Africa.A recent note from the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), entitled The Global South: an…

By Jos Blaise Mbanga Kack There are moments when one would be tempted to smile. But the subject is too serious to be left to the bursts of the podium. Through repeated slogans to exhaustion, Africa ends up confusing incantation and strategy. The consecrated expression – “local transformation of products” – has become a totem. Yet it deserves to be dissected, supported by figures and structures. Transforming on the spot, very well. But transforming for whom? With what capital? Under what strategic governance? And above all, in what value architecture? Let’s imagine pressing a button: industrial chains are established in…

Professors Sanni Yaya, Jude Eggoh, and Blaise Gnimassoun are mobilizing a network of over 200 scholars and researchers around the world (see list below) in support of Romuald Wadagni’s candidacy. We, the signatory academics of this platform, deeply believe that there are moments when a nation does not simply choose between men, but between trajectories. Benin is at a crossroads today. After a decade of profound transformations, our country has shown that it can break with fatalism, restore the credibility of public action, and lay the foundations for solid and inclusive development. However, this trajectory, promising as it may be,…

By Moussa Sylla During its December 2024 session, the Council of Ministers of the UEMOA adopted Regulation 06/2024/CM/UEMOA on external financial relations of the Union. This third version replaces Regulation 09/2010/CM/UEMOA. Chronology of the RFE The regulation 06/2024 is a major regulation within the UEMOA zone. It governs the execution of international transfers, the repatriation of export revenues, the opening of accounts for non-residents, and the opening of foreign currency accounts for residents. An importer who wishes to pay its suppliers abroad is required to comply with the provisions of the regulation and its implementing instructions. This requires the submission…

By Dr. Abderrahmane MEBTOUL, Professor at universities, international expert. When analyzing the economic power of a country, several indicators coexist and do not always tell the same story. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the wealth created in a country. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), on the other hand, compares the cost of the same basket of goods and services between several economies. Gross National Income per capita further refines the reading by giving an idea of the average standard of living, without reflecting inequalities, hence the usefulness of complementary indicators such as the Gini coefficient or the Human Development Index (HDI).…

From March 26 to 29, 2026, Yaoundé will host the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO). As a reminder, the Ministerial Conference is the supreme decision-making body of this organization. This major event in international trade is being held for the second time on the African continent, following the Nairobi conference in 2015. However, this meeting takes place in a particularly tense international context, overshadowed by the repercussions of the war in the Middle East, which accentuates economic uncertainties and geopolitical fractures. These tensions are compounded by the increasing fragmentation of value chains, the rise of strategic…

By ANDELY-BEEVE Jr. Founder and CEO of Le Mentor SME Ratings, an agency for economic intelligence and SME rating in the Republic of Congo. In Congo-Brazzaville, SMEs drive the economy but remain invisible to those who should finance them. There are officially more than eleven thousand very small and medium-sized enterprises in the country, in addition to an artisanal sector that officially employs 300,000 people and probably two to three times more in the informal sector. They employ, they produce, they circulate value in local economies that have never been sustainably irrigated by oil revenues alone. And yet, formal financing…

By Kenneth Johnson, President of the Europe-Africa Committee and the International Organization of Merit The recent decision of the African Football Confederation (CAF) to cancel Senegal’s victory on the green carpet in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, played in 2026, has sparked deep and legitimate emotions across the African continent and beyond. This decision comes after a competition followed by billions of spectators, where several key moments, especially during the final, were widely discussed for their arbitrary nature. These images and actions remain etched in the collective memory and fuel a real sense of frustration and injustice. This is…

What the PEFA scores had predicted — and what needs to be done now By Aboubakr Kaira Barry, Managing Director, Results Associates, Bethesda, Maryland, USA In 2019-2020, international evaluators handed Senegal a detailed report card on the health of its public finances. This report card was called a PEFA — an assessment of the performance of public expenditure management and financial accountability. The scores were concerning. And almost no one followed up on them. Four years later, the new Senegalese government discovered around 7 billion dollars of hidden debt. The IMF services then considered that these false declarations were a…

Viewpoint of the agency HARVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT. By Franky BUNANG, Deputy General Manager and Denis NZIFACK, Economic Analyst. Since the outbreak of the conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran, we have witnessed a surge in the price of Brent crude oil. The black gold now hovers above $100 per barrel, an increase of nearly 40% since the start of the war.At first glance, this surge should be a boon for the CEMAC, a historically oil-rich region. However, a fundamental analysis challenges this reasoning. The production of the region is estimated at 38.3 million tons in 2025, down…

Amazon. Nabou Fall is an executive coach, international speaker, and strategist in conscious leadership, soft skills, and human performance. She supports leaders, executive teams, and organizations engaged in transformation, transition, or growth contexts to strengthen their posture, clarify their vision, and exercise aligned and sustainable influence. As the CEO of NFA Group, a pan-African ecosystem dedicated to human leadership, she designs and implements strategic programs for institutions and companies in Africa and internationally. A TEDx speaker, committed to inclusive education, she works towards democratizing human skills, notably through her YouTube channel Nabou Fall Officiel. “There is no strong economy without…

By Aboubakr Kaira Barry, Managing Director of Results Associates, a consulting firm based in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. Guineans are experiencing a cash shortage that seems to defy all logic. Currency exchange dealers in Conakry tell their customers that they have run out of francs. Banks are limiting withdrawals. Merchants and transporters claim that cash has become hard to come by, even for the smallest transactions. The government argues that the population is hoarding cash. In 2025, the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea (BCRG) acknowledged that about 94% of issued banknotes are circulating outside the banking system. Despite…

Emotional finance at the heart of African women’s realities Director of Institutional Affairs – Syndication & Sales (Institutional Client Services Sales & Syndication) at Hudson & Cie, Linda-Carole Grah explores the world of “emotional finance”, the daily life of African women. “African emotional finance” is a concept rarely named, but it governs a large part of our choices March 8th remains for us, women, a privileged moment to take a break, revisit our journey and remind ourselves that it is essential to go beyond the classic indicators used to measure the economic empowerment of African women. Because this empowerment is…

By Rene Awambeng, Senior Executive Officer, Premier Invest 9 March 2026. The escalating conflict involving Iran has once again exposed Africa’s vulnerability to global commodity and logistics shocks. Brent crude pushing toward $120 per barrel, disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and soaring war‑risk insurance costs have combined to deliver a powerful external shock to the continent. While oil‑exporting countries may briefly enjoy higher revenues, the overwhelming reality for most African economies—still heavily dependent on imported refined fuels, fertilizers, and food—is rising inflation, currency pressure, and deteriorating household welfare. Nowhere is this more acute than in the fragile economies…

By Serge Kouamelan, Executive Director of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions of Ivory Coast (APBEF-CI) I could have posed a question and considered this article as a contribution to a debate. But it is no longer time to debate, especially when we look with decency at the world today, and recognize that female leadership stands out for a more human and collaborative approach, relying on empathy, active listening, and kindness to unite teams and manage conflicts, without lacking authority. Allow me to convince you, if it was necessary, with the following few lines. Africa has one of…