Author: Nephthali Messanh Ledy

Does Niger want to continue with the old demons? 48 hours before the first democratic and peaceful transition of power, several sources announce an attack on Wednesday, March 31, against the presidential palace and an attempted coup. According to local media, heavy weapon fire did indeed sound early this morning (around 3:00 am local time) towards the Presidency and other downtown areas, before the situation came under control a few moments later. The presidential guard repelled the attack and the situation appears to have come under control, it is said. These events are reminiscent of the sad episode of coups…

Togo’s public debt would amount to CFAF 2,555.45 billion as of December 31, 2020, or 59.42% of GDP calculated after the GDP rebasing work completed in October. According to the data at the date considered, the public debt portfolio is less exposed to exchange rate risk. It is made up of 80.50% of debts denominated in non-fluctuating currencies (FCFA and Euro) and is influenced by the fluctuations of certain major currencies such as the US dollar (6.88%), the yuan renminbi CNY (6.35% ), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), IDB and ADB units of account (5.11%). For the year 2020, it is…

The State of Benin has announced that it has retained the Sonatel group as a private partner to pilot the Beninese digital infrastructure company (SBIN), the third mobile telephone operator in the country to operate alongside MTN and Moov Africa, a subsidiary of Maroc Telecom. . This is one of the crucial stages in the restructuring of the Beninese public telecommunications sector started in 2017. “After the implementation of structural reforms in the telecommunications sector, the Council of Ministers decided, during its meeting of March 18, 2020, that the SBIN be authorized, in addition to its mission of managing digital…

Shelter-Afrique, a pan-African housing development finance organization, announced on March 3, 2021 that it had signed in Nairobi a memorandum of understanding with the Togolese government to co-develop 3,000 housing units in Lomé. The deal, he says, is expected to step up the development of large-scale affordable housing projects in the country. According to Togolese Minister of Town Planning, Housing and Land Reform, Koffi Tsolenyanu, quoted in a Shelter-Afrique press release, the housing deficit is a major problem in Togo as in many other African countries. Recalling that the government, to make up for this deficit, launched a large-scale social…

According to the latest estimates made from production data at the end of September 2020, the real GDP growth of the DR Congo should stand at 0.8% in 2020 according to the Central Bank (BCC) which expects an increase of 3.2% in 2021. After reaching 5.8% in 2018, economic activity has already slowed down in 2019 with a growth rate of 4.4%, due to the fall in the prices of raw materials, in particular of cobalt and copper which represent more 80% of the country’s exports. These effects, combined with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, have further dragged growth…

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on Monday March 1 to 3 years in prison, 2 of which were suspended. He was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling in the “wiretapping” case by the courts in his country. Long accused in this case also involving his lawyer Thierry Herzog and the former high magistrate Gilbert Azibert, the 66-year-old former French president thus becomes the second former president convicted under the Fifth French Republic after Jacques Chirac. In December 2020, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) had requested 4 years of imprisonment, two of which were closed against him,…

Nigeria will receive 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine this Tuesday, March 2, according to an announcement made by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in charge of the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in the country. “We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have started training health workers and making sure chain facilities are ready at all levels,” said Faisal Shuiab, the head of the Agency. “We have a powerful chain system that can store all types of Covid-19 vaccine at the required temperature. We are therefore confident that we…

Congo’s public debt reached 100% of GDP in 2020, according to a statement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It “remains unsustainable,” comments the institution, which expects a decline in 2021, to around 87% of GDP. The country has received debt service relief from official creditors for 2020 and the first half of 2021 as part of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (ISSD), recalls the IMF in its statement released on February 26, 2021. “The authorities have made progress in discussing debt restructuring agreements with their external creditors. However, they need to step up their efforts and quickly complete…

Tunisia’s real GDP contracted by 8.2% in 2020 according to data announced on February 26, 2021 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is the most pronounced economic slowdown since the country became independent in 1956, the organization said. This unprecedented economic slowdown is the result of the Covid-19 pandemic which has “hit hard” the country. According to estimates announced by the IMF, the unemployment rate reached 16.2% at the end of September 2020, and inflation has slowed due to the contraction in domestic demand and the fall in international fuel prices. “The current account deficit narrowed to 6.8% of…

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced on February 21, 2021, a cabinet reshuffle in which the strategic Ministry of Energy changed heads. After taking office in June 2020, Abdelmadjid Attar returns his portfolio to his predecessor Mohamed Arkab (57), who thus becomes Algeria’s Minister of Mines and Energy. The one who had already been Minister of Energy from April 2019 until his replacement by Attar therefore regains control of an energy industry which suffers from a lack of investment, the export volumes of oil and gas having fallen by around 30% in 2020. In addition, Ferhat Ait Ali is replaced at…

States in the UMOA zone will be able to issue FCFA 3.768 billion (about USD 7 billion) in stimulus bonds on the market in 2021, according to an announcement made on Monday, February 15 by the UMOA-Titres agency. Set up with the aim of allowing States to finance their massive economic recovery plans following the Covid-19 pandemic, these bonds are “eligible for refinancing with the BCEAO at the level of its traditional counters but also with a Special window known as the Relance window where investors can mobilize liquidity at the minimum bid rate at the BCEAO windows (currently 2%)…

In office for three weeks, US President Joe Biden telephoned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time on Wednesday evening, according to an announcement made by The White House. On the menu, several topics including the business practices that divide their two countries, and the issue of human rights. According to The White House, Joe Biden has expressed his “deep concerns” about Beijing’s “unfair and coercive” economic practices. He also mentioned the repression in Hong Kong, the human rights violations of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, and the increasingly imposing place taken by Beijing in the region, in…

The overall inflation rate stood at 4.3% in January 2021 against 5.4% in December 2020 in Egypt, according to data contained in a report published this Wednesday, February 10 by CAPMAS, the national agency for statistics. Inflation is therefore falling to its lowest level since September 2020. Food and beverages, the largest component of the inflation basket, fell 0.5% and 1.6% year-on-year, the same source said. As a reminder, the annual average of inflation stood at 5% in 2020, its best rate since 2006. This had been commented by the IMF as being a consequence of the investments made in…

Africa attracted a total of USD 38 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, down 18% from 2019, according to recent data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and development (UNCTAD). In the rankings, Egypt maintains its leading position with a total inflow of $ 5.5 billion, down 38% year on year. The leading investment destination in Africa is followed by Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy, with a total of USD 2.6 billion in FDI in 2020, compared to USD 3.3 billion attracted a year earlier. “Falling crude oil prices, coupled with the closure of petroleum development sites…

The Ecobank group announced in a statement released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange that its local subsidiary has obtained a bilateral subordinated loan of 50 billion naira (nearly 132 million USD) over 10 years. “Bilateral financing provides stable medium-term liquidity to Ecobank Nigeria’s balance sheet and has positively improved its balance sheet ratios, in particular the capital adequacy ratio of around 300 basis points. The proceeds of the transaction will be deployed to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and small businesses, ”said the statement from Lomé-based Ecobank Transnational Incorporated. When he took office in July 2020, the chairman…

The government of Togo aims to set up a digital bank to offer digital financial services. This, within the framework of its financial inclusion strategy which aims, among other things, to strengthen the framework for state intervention in favor of financial inclusion and to improve the geographical coverage of financial services. “Our ambition in Togo is to set up a digital bank. It’s not just to digitize financial services, but to set up a 100% digital banking structure to support our economy and allow us to cover our entire geographic territory because we have digital divides. despite the progress in…

The Sunu Assurance group has initiated a process to take over the subsidiary of the Allianz group in Congo-Brazzaville. The operation remains subject to regulatory approval, according to several sources. This acquisition will follow that of the German group’s subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo and the Central African Republic, which has enabled Sunu to strengthen its presence in these different markets. As a reminder, Allianz had already announced its intention to separate from entities considered to be the least profitable in order to refocus on high added value markets. The insurer has also entered into an agreement with…

After the missed 2020 meeting, Togolese economist Kako Nubukpo, well known for his stance vis-à-vis the CFA franc, once again announces the Eco General Assembly. The event will be held in Lomé, the Togolese capital, from April 28 to 30, 2021. “African expertise must be present collectively at the rendezvous of history, because what unites us is more important than what divides us”, writes the dean of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Lomé on Twitter . In his analysis, the former Minister of Foresight of Togo recalls that “the current reforms (of the CFA franc) concern symbolic…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced on December 24, 2020 that it had withdrawn the licenses of eight payment service providers for inability to meet capital requirements and non-compliance with specifications. Taken since November 30, 2020, the decision was published in the official journal of December 4, 2020, said the institution based in Lagos. The companies concerned are Easifuel Ltd, Transaction processing system, Grand Towers, Paymaster, E-Revenue Gateway, Eartholeum Network, Globasure Ltd and 3Line Card Management. In a press release issued in August 2020 announcing the granting of licenses to 3 payment service banks (PSBs), the regulator indicated that…

Headline inflation fell to 3.7% in November 2020 in Uganda, according to data from Bank of Uganda (BoU), the central bank. It had stood at 4.5% the previous month. Core inflation also fell to 5.8% from 6.3% in October, according to the central bank, due to lower prices in services to 11.1%, mainly due to transport tariffs revised downwards. Other inflationary factors also fell in November, according to the Kampala-based issuing institute. The Ugandan authorities’s inflation outlook points to a rate between 5 and 6.5% in 2020, before converging towards its medium-term target of 5%.

The inflation rate stood at 3.4% in October 2020 in WAEMU countries, according to data from the BCEAO. This is its highest level since 2013, after the record 3.3% left in August 2020. By country, Burkina is in pole position with an inflation rate of 4.6% in October against 4.5% in September, thus maintaining the upward trend observed since June. Benin and Mali come second with 4.4%, while Guinea-Bissau has the lowest rate (1.1%) in the region. It should be noted that inflation has not been negative in any of the WAEMU countries since July 2020. Inflation was pulled over…

The gross reserves of the CEMAC banking system (made up of free reserves and mandatory reserves) increased from 2,431.7 billion CFA francs (approximately 4.42 billion USD) at the end of June 2019 to 2,631.5 billion F CFA (around 4.7 billion USD) at the end of June 2020, according to data from the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). This represents an increase of 8.2% over one year, relatively less than that observed between June 2018 and June 2019 (34.1%). According to the central bank, this development contributed to the increase in the share of reserves in the banks’ balance sheet…

The UMOA-Titres Agency announced on November 30, 2020, that the Treasury of Côte d’Ivoire has decided to postpone until December 8, 2020, the simultaneous issues of Assimilable Treasury Bonds (OAT), with maturities of 3 years and 5 years initially scheduled for December 1 and 22, 2020. According to the institution based in Dakar (Senegal), the new issue will have an indicative amount of CFAF 50 billion (approximately USD 91.5 million) and the characteristics will be communicated “later”. “In the name of the Public Treasury of Côte d’Ivoire, the Agency thanks all the investors for the constant support for the initiatives…

The DR Congo had a deficit of 122.2 billion CDF (about 62.2 million USD) as of June 30, 2020, according to a conjuncture note published by the Central Bank of Congo (BCC). The country collected CDF 451.4 billion in revenue, compared to expenditure of CDF 573.6 billion as of that date. “This deficit was entirely financed by resources from Treasury bill issues as well as that drawn from the budget support of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). It should be noted that in the second quarter of 2020, the Treasury used a quota of IMF budget support amounting to CDF…

The Togolese government has ordered the immediate and temporary closure of the premises of the cement manufacturer Wacem (West African Cement), which has become a source of contamination with the coronavirus (Covid-19) “By letter (…) dated October 30, I was informed by the national coordinator of the response to Covid-19 of the discovery of an epidemic focus in Wacem, an industrial company in the free zone. In order to prevent this epidemic center from being the place of spread of the disease in the country, I ask you to immediately close the company for fifteen from this date ”, we…

In Kenya, economic activity fell 5.7% in the second quarter of 2020 year-on-year, according to a report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). Growth was 5.3% in the second quarter of 2019. Although Kenya was somewhat spared the effects of the pandemic in the first quarter, notes the institution, the economy was significantly affected in the second quarter of 2020. “During this period, the country instituted measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus, including restricting movement within and outside certain regions, closing educational establishments, closing certain businesses, especially those that deal with medical services ‘accommodation and…

UMOA countries will soon be on the regional financial market for a third phase of Covid-19 Voucher issuance, according to an announcement made by the Dakar-based UMOA-Titres agency. “The mode of operation of these titles remains identical to the previous ones (including their accessibility to the BCEAO counters with a special device for these titles)”, specifies the institution. The broadcasts will be organized over a period of one month, which will be communicated later. Supported by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), the Covid voucher initiative announced in April 2020 aims to allow States to mobilize financial resources…

English-speaking countries in West Africa denounce the “unilateral” decision to rename the CFA franc to “eco” on the sidelines of a meeting held on Thursday January 16 in Nigeria. The six West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) countries “noted with concern the declaration to unilaterally rename the CFA franc to eco by July 2020”. Finance ministers...

The new sentence pronounced in the conflict between the Dubai Port World group and the State of Djibouti on the termination of the concession contract for the Doraleh container terminal is not likely to calm the fervor between the two parties whose positions do not are still not reconcilable. In a press release titled “Only...

The Togolese government adopted Wednesday, November 13, the draft budget finance 2020 whose budget estimates are in resources and expenses to 1,463.8 billion FCFA against 1378.7 billion in 2019, an increase of 6.2% “due to the increase in cash resources”. “The fiscal outlook is based on a macro-fiscal framework that takes into account national and international economic environments, efforts to be provided under the IMF-supported economic and financial program, which is coming to an end at the end of the year. 2019, “reads an official statement. “In order to structurally transform the Togolese economy, the government intends to focus on…