Author: Nephthali Messanh Ledy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down Nigeria’s economic growth rate for 2018, with a new forecast of 1.9 percent, according to its latest report on the World Economic Outlook. In December 2017, the organization announced a growth rate of 2.1% of GDP, thanks in particular to reforms undertaken by the government. She had nevertheless drawn attention to the fragility of Nigeria’s economic situation, despite a recent exit from recession. In terms of inflation, the IMF announces a forecast of 12.4%, after the 16.5% recorded in 2017, and 13.5% for 2019. A forecast that it attributes to the tightening…

Tito Mboweni, former minister of labor under Nelson Mandela and former governor of the Central Bank, was appointed Tuesday, finance minister of South Africa, replacing Nhlanhla Nene, targeted by a corruption investigation. “Mr. Mboweni brings to this position a vast experience in the fields of finance, economic policy and governance,” said Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president in a message broadcast Tuesday night. “He is assuming this responsibility at a crucial time for our economy, as we intensify cooperation among all social partners to increase investment, accelerate growth and create jobs on a large scale,” he added. “Thank Mr. Nene…

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) adopted and sent to the National Assembly, a draft budget law, management 2019, balanced in revenue and expenditure to 10,352.3 billion Congolese francs (about 5.923 billion dollars), down 0.01% from 2018 (10,353.2 billion). In terms of revenue, Kinshasa expects to mobilize 9,604.9 billion against 8,927.9 in 2018, an increase rate of 7.6%. In the appendix, the government expects $ 169.7 billion and $ 577.8 billion in special account receipts. On the expenditure side, the nomenclature is almost the same: 9,604.9 billion under general budget expenditure, against 8,927.9 billion in 2018, an…

Albert Zeufack, World Bank chief economist for Africa, said on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 that Congo is “coming out of recession, notwithstanding the conclusion of a program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is lagging behind to be recorded “. Speaking from Washington via a video conference organized by the institution on the occasion of launching its report on Africa’s economic prospects, Zeufack said that “the road is full of pitfalls, but it is necessary to huge efforts in reforms to maintain this growth “, which the rate is estimated at about 4% in 2018 according to the government,…

The Togolese government adopted on Wednesday (October 3rd) a bill authorizing the transfer of a state stake in the capital of the Holding of Electronic Communications (togocom), to the private sector. With a registered capital of one billion CFA francs (about $ 1.75 million), this company announced since July 2017 will eventually be formed of 3 subsidiaries that will be born from the ashes of the incumbent operator Togo Telecom , and its subsidiary Togo Cellulaire. It also controls the results of wholly-owned subsidiaries, subsidiaries whose capital amounts to 500 million CFA each. Called “Fixed / Mobile Infrastructure”, the first…

The 2019 management budget bill is up 11.5% compared to 2018, due in particular to the increase in cash transactions, which went from 475.6 billion FCFA in 2018 to 576 , 8 billion in 2019. It balances, in fact, revenues and expenses to 1.461 billion against a forecast of 1.311 billion for 2018, according to an announcement made Wednesday, October 3 by the Council of Ministers has adopted. As in the past, announces the government, the budget forecasts for the year 2019 are based on the guidelines of its economic and social policy, and “on the macro-fiscal framework consistent with…

The Togolese government is returning its jacket. Public banks announced in 2015 to be merged will finally be privatized, as initially planned, in 2011. This option, announced the Council of Ministers of 3 October 2018, “is consistent with the government’s desire to gradually withdraw from the productive sectors to make way for the private sector as part of its policy of partnership with the private sector” on the one hand, and secondly, “because of the current opportunities in the banking market and the opportunity cost that would be the first option for the state”. The first option was, in effect,…

Niger reinstates, as of 2019, the tax on international calls suppressed in recent months, according to the draft budget adopted by the executive. This is a response from the government, whose Minister of Finance, Hassoumi Massoudou, notes that the commitments to which the telephone companies “have subscribed, have not been fully honored.” In particular, they pledged in 2018 to make investments to improve the coverage and quality of their services. Estimated between 50 and 88 F CFA per minute of communication on incoming international calls, this tax had brought about 20 billion to the Nigerian state. Its suppression was condemned…

Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum company NNPC is targeting 2.3 million barrels a day in 2019, compared with 1.7 million currently, according to Malam Mele Kyari, head of crude oil marketing. According to the company, this is an objective “born of the willingness of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to balance the market, since oil prices have reached their highest level in the world. four years “. Note that the fall in the price of a barrel, late 2014, had plunged the country into a recession that is not over, despite the improvement announced with the rise of prices.…

Togo welcomed, in 2017, 566,764 tourists who generated 44.7 billion F CFA of hotel receipts, against 425 669 tourists with 37.987 billion of receipts in 2016, according to a message from the Minister supervising, Gabriel Ihou, published at the occasion of the World Tourism Day. Over the same period, “Togo has achieved a good performance of more than 46% in terms of growth in business tourism and congresses, making it the second largest destination in the world for this type of tourism,” says Minister which quotes the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). For him, this is the fruit of the organization…

The Valley where the bank of the future is invented is in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Yves Eonnet and Hervé Manceron, co-founders of TagPay in their book “Fintech: the banks counterattack”. For the authors, African banks have taken advantage of the technological revolution, in a context where “the rise of fintechs is shaking up the banking sector in developed countries”. Thus, the traditional bank is reinventing itself in digital and human bank, indicates a press release published Wednesday, September 26th. In their book, continues the source, “the authors analyze more particularly what has made the keys to this success, showing…

The Central People’s Bank (PCO) is about to add 4 new banks to its African portfolio. The Moroccan group has indeed seen its offer retained by the French BPCE which will give up its African subsidiaries in Cameroon, Madagascar, Congo and Tunisia. The agreement was concluded on September 25 in Paris and comes to crown exclusive negotiations initiated between the two parties. It opens the way for the acquisition of 68.5% of the capital of the International Bank of Cameroon for Savings and Credit (BICEC), the third largest banking player in the country. In Madagascar, 71% of the assets of…

Arrived Monday, September 24, 2018 in New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, is announced to take part in the works of the 2nd edition of the “One Planet Summit” which is held Wednesday. Focusing on the theme “Accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, putting finance at the service of climate action”, this meeting is jointly organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations António Guterres, Jim Yong Kim from the World Bank, and Michael Bloomberg, the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action. It will also bring together all the…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Sunday (September 23rd) in New York with Christine Lagarde, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on the progress of Egypt’s economic reform program $ 12 billion over three years by the international organization. “The Egyptian economy is showing strong signs of recovery and its economic growth is among the highest in the Middle East,” said the IMF Managing Director. “We agreed on the importance of taking advantage of Egypt’s macroeconomic gains to advance the authorities’ local structural reforms,” ​​she said. These reforms, according to Christine Lagarde, will contribute to more sustainable,…

At the head of Orabank Togo since late April 2018, the Cameroonian Guy Martial Awona was officially presented Thursday, September 20 in Lomé, during a cocktail organized in honor of his predecessor Cheick Tidiane Ndiaye. Several challenges await him. The former chief executive of Orabank Gabon will, mainly, maintain the Togolese subsidiary to the rank of the first bank of the place. With a record net income of 8 billion CFA francs in 2017, Orabank Togo holds about a quarter (22.5%) of market share in terms of deposits (317.4 billion CFA francs). and loans (292 billion) at 31 December 2017,…

Togo held this Friday 7 September in Hangzhou, China, its first joint business forum with the Middle Kingdom. An event that aims to present businesses in Ziehjang Province with the business opportunities offered by the country. Presiding over the opening ceremony, the head of state, Faure Gnassingbé, did not fail to praise the local authorities present in the conference room. “The choice of Ziehjang Province for the first edition of this forum is not fortuitous,” he said. “Yesterday mother of paddy fields, then clutch the president, today Chinese capital of e-commerce, this province is the symbol of the Chinese economic…

By Nephthali Messanh Ledy, Special Envoy. Togolese head of state Faure Gnassingbe was received by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday (September 6th), a few hours before his departure for the city of Hangzhou, where his country holds a business forum on Friday. The second of its kind between the two leaders after the tête-à-tête of July 2016 during the Togolese state visit to China, this bilateral meeting focused in particular on the cooperation between the two countries, and the strengthening of the community of destiny “re-entered the speeches this week. In their exchanges, Faure Gnassingbe did…

By our special envoy in Hangzhou, Nephthali Messanh Ledy. Arriving in China in particular in the framework of the Forum on cooperation between the Middle Kingdom and Africa, the Togolese delegation led by President Faure Gnassingbé does not expect to be satisfied with the $ 60 billion pledged to the continent by Xi Jiping. Indeed, the country is organizing this Friday in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, a Business Forum focused on the National Development Plan (PND), and intended to pave the way for Chinese investors to implement it. Located at the bottom of Hangzhou Bay, 200 kilometers southwest…

The Togolese government and the World Bank signed on Wednesday, August 22, a loan agreement of 30 million dollars (about 16 billion CFA francs) to finance infrastructure projects and urban development. According to the Minister of Economy and Finance of Togo, Sani Yaya, the envelope “will be used to finance the project to improve access to basic urban infrastructure in the cities of Lomé, Kpalimé, Tsévié, Atakpamé, Sokodé. , Kara and Dapaong “. It will contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of participating cities in planning and urban management, he added. It should be noted that this project is part…

Gabon’s public debt was estimated at CFAF 4,772 billion in the first quarter of 2018, which represents 52.4% of national GDP. “In our projections, we will be able to reach a level of about 40% of GDP in three years,” said Hugues Mbadinga Madiya, the general director of the debt quoted by New Gabon. “The decline in budgetary resources has generated significant cash flow difficulties. In recent years, therefore, there has been a problem of liquidity of the debt. This often translates into an accumulation of arrears, “he said, adding that the rapid upward trend in the debt ratio can…

During their last summit held Tuesday (July 31st) in Lome, the heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) indicated that they took note of the reports of the meetings of the Presidential Task Force for the single currency program, and formulated new directives for its effectiveness. Several recommendations were made...

The Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) adopted Monday, July 30, the Lomé Declaration on Peace , security, stability and the fight against terrorism and violent extremism in their spaces. This is, in fact, the 8th point of the final communiqué adopted at the end of this summit initiated by Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé. “The Heads of State and Government discussed the general security situation in West and Central Africa and noted the risks created by the mounting security challenges, particularly with regard to terrorism,…

Invited this week at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé pleaded for cross-ownership between the New Development Bank (NBD) and the ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank (EBID). . It was during a brief address on Friday, July 27 that the current President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made his appeal. In his speech, Faure Gnassingbé invited the member countries of the two organizations “to come together to study the possibilities of cooperation and partnership”. In this perspective, he continued, “a win-win partnership with the new BRICS development bank in 2016 could be forged…

It is August 3, 2018 that the case of a probable financial support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Congo will be debated by the board of directors of the institution. After two postponements in less than a month, President Sassou Nguesso finally holds the good end? Indeed, according to the schedule of activities,...

With a penetration rate of 3.7% in 2017, the insurance sector in Morocco is neither exposed to the risk of specialization, nor to the risk of a probable fall in turnover, according to the 2017 report on the stability published by ACAPS, AMMC and Bank Al-Maghrib. “The Moroccan insurance market is still dominated by four...

It is in a context marked by the trade war, mainly between the United States of Donald Trump and China of Xi-Jiping that the BRICS opened, Wednesday, July 25, 2018, their 10th summit in Johannesburg. The theme of the meeting reflects the ambitions of the member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) for the continent. “Brics in Africa: cooperation with emerging countries for inclusive growth in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. Each of these emerging powers has its own African agenda. Last arrival in what until then was limited to a race for raw materials, Russia set…

Sentenced to pay more than 4 million euros to the Accor group after his expulsion from the Mercure Sarakawa hotel in Lome, the Togolese state does not intend to stop there. According to the information, not only has Lomé not yet paid the least amount to the French group, but it has sentenced it to pay a sum of 27 million euros to compensate for numerous contractual breaches. ‘Accor in the management of the hotel (the judgment of the Lomé Court of Appeal dates from February 15, 2017). A new episode that is not the kind to put an end…

The president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Christian Adovelande, announced on Thursday that the institution has mobilized 630 billion FCFA in 2017, including 550 billion FCFA invested for the benefit of the economies of the region. “The activity remained strong in 2017 with a level of intervention for the benefit of the economies of the zone for 550 billion CFA francs, an increase of 30% compared to the situation 2016,” he said in Abidjan, at the same time. after a meeting with President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, adding that the bank’s interventions concerned, inter alia, sectors such…

Togo and Ghana are at risk of engaging in a legal battle over oil exploration in a bloc between the two countries, according to a report by the Ghana Public Interest and Liability Committee (PIAC). Indeed, the regulator says it has noted “the adverse claims of the Togolese authorities concerning its maritime border with Ghana, especially on the ultra-deep Keta East block,” before urging Accra “to take urgent measures to delimit the maritime border. And “resolve the dispute that is still at an early stage”. Moreover, the exploratory companies committed by the Ghanaian government would be even often intimidated by…

Appointed a few weeks earlier, Landry Malan took over as CEO of Ascoma Benin at the end of June 2018 in Cotonou, replacing Frenchman Michel Glazman who was retired. The former senior customer manager of the Ivorian subsidiary of the French broker takes the reins of a company that claims the second rank in global market shares. “In a decade, our brokerage has become a major player in the insurance sector with 15% of premiums and nearly 25% of health insurance beneficiaries,” said Michel Glazman, the outgoing director at the occasion of the celebration of the ten years of existence…