East Africa’s economic cooperation now includes electricity
Regional integration has been a significant driver of East Africa’s economic boom in the past decade. Keen to extend this synergy, Ethiopia and Rwanda have announced plans to trade electricity between...
View ArticleManaging oil shocks should remain Africa’s short-term priority
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth rate has slowed in recent months and this owed largely to the oil price slump. Its economic outlook, though, remains favourable at an estimated 4.5 percent this year –...
View ArticleSafaricom intensifies 4G roll-out, drives internet usage in Kenya
Five months ago, Safaricom introduced the first 4G network in Kenya with a promise to extend coverage across the nation within three years. Today, the company has fitted about 6 percent of its over...
View ArticleMalaria vaccine reaches final testing stage, raises hopes for millions of...
For more than two decades, scientists have been working on a malaria vaccine for children, but saw little progress. However, in recent times, efforts have yielded more positive results, the most...
View ArticleZambian bankers applaud new mining tax structure
Zambia recently set its royalty tax rate for open cast and underground mining at 9 percent, a downward revision from the earlier planned rate of 20 percent. This move has been applauded not only by key...
View ArticleFresh $1.4bn loan to Seplat indicates oil industry remains attractive to...
Last week, five Nigerian banks—United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Standard Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank—pulled resources together to provide indigenous oil producer,...
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Ghana’s first digital library hosted at the back of a van
Mobile network operator Tigo Ghana, in partnership with social enterprise Street Library Ghana, has established a mobile digital library to boost digital inclusion for children in rural Ghana. But the...
View ArticleWhat South Africa stands to lose from Xenophobic violence
The recent wave of xenophobic attacks in Africa’s second largest economy may be over, but the consequences will likely linger on for quite some time. Our analysis of the current state of affairs...
View ArticleUganda removes oil and mining taxes to attract investors
Uganda, yesterday, announced it has removed taxes on its oil, gas and mining industries in order to attract more private sector investment. Finance Minister Matia Kasaija told attendees of an oil...
View ArticleGhana barred from drilling for oil in disputed waters with Ivory Coast
Since its first commercial oil production in 2010, Ghana has been eager to develop its hydrocarbon potentials. However, a recent injunction from an international tribunal, forbidding the West African...
View ArticleTotal’s $1bn divestment to further enhance local participation in Nigeria
Total has completed the divestment of its stake in onshore Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 to Aiteo Eastern E&P, a Nigerian indigenous oil producer, for $569 million. This deal will significantly improve...
View ArticleNamibia bans Botswana meat over rising cases of foot and mouth disease
The Namibia government has stopped neighbouring Botswana from exporting meat products to Angola via Namibia in fear of the Foot-and-Mouth diseases (FMD). “The Namibians did not allow passage of meat...
View ArticleEthiopia to house East Africa’s tallest building
The largest commercial bank in Ethiopia, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), has inked a deal with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to build its headquarters in Addis Ababa,...
View ArticleWorld Bank to support Nigeria’s plan to address its identity management...
The World Bank’s department for Digital Identification for national development has sent a delegation to Nigeria to assess the ongoing projects aimed at solving the country’s longstanding...
View ArticleWill subsidy removal eliminate fuel queues?
After five months of deliberations, the Nigerian National Assembly has passed a N4.49 trillion ($23 billion) budget for the 2015 fiscal year last week. While the delay in payment of subsidies may have...
View ArticleChina to invest $26bn in Equatorial Guinea
Last week, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed a deal to invest $26 billion in Equatorial Guinea. The ICBC, China’s biggest lender, said most of the fund will go to providing...
View ArticleEaton Towers to exploit booming African telecom industry to launch $350m...
Eaton Towers, an emerging African telecom operator, has raised $350m to fund its expansion across the continent. The company, which builds and operates telecom towers for mobile phone networks, has...
View ArticleThe discerning traveller
The act of travelling goes beyond moving from Point A to B. The purpose behind a trip itself informs every aspect needed to make decisions. This can be seen in the case of the average business...
View ArticleOver-dependence on foreign aid takes toll on Rwanda’s economic outlook
Emerging uncertainties in the global economy are gradually taking a toll on Rwanda, East Africa’s freest economy. Its latest growth outlook has been pegged at 6.5 percent for 2015 and 2016, down from 7...
View ArticleWhy increased global trading is good for Africa
“Trade is the best cure for prejudice. It is an almost general rule that, wherever there is good citizenship, there is trade, and that, wherever there is trade, there is good citizenship.” – French...
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