Author: Francis Mwema

Senegal is becoming one of the most exciting oil and gas plays to emerge in recent years in sub-Saharan Africa´s largely underexplored oil and gas sector.

The country may be a relatively new player in terms of production coming on stream, but in fact, oil and gas exploration has been taking place in the country as far back as 1961.

It was only until major world-class offshore oil and gas discoveries were made in 2014-2016 that global energy investors began to truly realize the huge potential of the MSGBC Basin, which comprises the offshore waters of Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry.

Prior to the large-scale discoveries, Senegal was already maneuvering into a good position to capitalize on its hydrocarbon wealth thanks to the leadership of H.E. President Macky Sall who was a former Director General of the state-owned oil company PETROSEN.

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When it comes to the forex market, failing to plan is planning to fail. The more strategies you master, the more likely you are to consistently profit.

The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, experiencing a daily trading volume of more than $ 6 trillion.

Forex trading is the process of speculating on currency prices to potentially make a profit. Currencies are traded in pairs, so by exchanging one currency for another, a trader is speculating on whether one currency will rise or fall in value against the other.

The value of a currency pair is influenced by trade flows, economic, political and geopolitical events which affect the supply and demand of forex. This creates daily volatility that may offer a forex trader new opportunities.

The daily forex trading in South Africa is estimated to be around $19 million and the South African rand is …

The Ghanaian government is calling for a strategic partnership with the United States of America to set up a post Covid-19 economic transformation agenda which will mutually benefit the two countries.

This is according to the Ghanaian Trade and industry minister Alan Kyerematen, who says that this will enable the country to attract more investments from the USA to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area

Ghana is currently USA’s 83rd largest goods trading partner with $1.8 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2019. Goods exports totaled $840 million; goods imports totaled $943 million. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Ghana was $103 million in the same year.

The Ghanaian Trade minister also explained that the country’s economy was being diversified from cocoa, gold and oil to pharmaceutical, energy and telecommunications, amongst others.

Speaking at the virtual 2021 US Ghana Business Forum which opened yesterday, Mr. …

The Dubai-Africa trade is slowly gaining momentum at awakening speeding with Africa presently emerging as one of the most important markets for the United Arab Emirates.

In the latest analysis by the new Dubai Chamber, the Dubai-Africa trade has shown significant growth in Dubai’s food and beverage trade, excluding tobacco, that has reached $13.9 billion during the period of 2015-2020.

This sector has been identified as a key factor expected to drive bilateral trade in the short-term.

According to the new Dubai chamber report, In 2020 the value of food and beverage trade (excluding tobacco) between Dubai and Africa amounted to $2.4 billion in food and beverage trade, marking a growth rate of 18 percent compared to the previous year and the highest level since 2017.

ALSO READ: Emirates to expand flights from South Africa to 28 weekly

Dubai’s food and beverage trade with Africa accounted for around 13% of …

In a statement issued today, the United Arab Emirates [UAE] flag carrier Emirates has announced its plans to Increase flights from South Africa to 28 weekly flights starting next month.

This is good news to investors, business community and tourists as Emirates will provide more options for those wishing to visit Dubai or travel to one of the airline’s other 120 destinations across the world.

Furthermore, IATA’s latest world transport statistics showed that Emirates was the largest airline in the world during the unprecedented year of 2020. Over the 12-month period, the UAE national airline carried 15.8 million passengers.

While still a far cry from the numbers of 2019, Dubai-based airline Emirates handled nearly 1.2 million passengers at its hub over July and August.

This is close to triple the digits of 402,000 customers during the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the airline has used the incentive of the pandemic …

The memorandum of understanding on agriculture cooperation between Rwanda and the Central African Republic (CAR) which was signed last week on Friday, offers a world of opportunities for peoples of both countries, according to the Rwandan Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources

In an interview with a local media outlet on Tuesday September 7 2021, Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze said their agreement of understanding with the Central Africa Republic that was signed in Bangui, covers many agriculture-related areas in a bid to utilize the available arable land in CAR.

Some of the areas that the Rwanda government is looking to explore in due agreement date are; research in agriculture, land use and management, soil and water sustainable management, seed development to produce quality and highly productive seeds the advancement of the sector, crop and environmental protection, climate change adaptation, aquaculture and fishing, as well as agribusiness …

In the latest global index report released by a New York based Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), a non-profit entity that advocates for good governance in natural resources, Uganda’s Petroleum and mining sector scored 49 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively.

This score by the Ugandan Oil sector according to the index released last week, was propelled by among other factors, improvements in revenue transparency, corporate governance of state-owned Uganda National Oil Company, and reporting on the performance of the Petroleum Fund.

“Despite the positive upward trend, challenges remain, placing governance of Uganda’s oil and gas sector in the “weak” performance band,” the index report reads in part.

The ratings, the index noted, received a “failing” score, hampered by absence of a cadaster, lack of beneficial ownership, rules on public disclosures and government’s failure to disclose contracts with oil companies – French Total Energies EP, and China’s CNOOC.

This …

In partnership with the SaveApp Group, through their newly launched product, Octagon Africa is working to improve their services whereby customers will be able to save their spare change at Naivas till payments and channel this towards their savings for retirement under the Octagon Personal Pension Scheme.

“Our drive is to work with strategic partners such as SaveApp in a bid to improve the quality of life for our customers in their sunset years,” Simba said.

Ukonga app is a collaboration between SaveApp Group, a Kenyan technology company that creates solutions to solve real-life problems, UBA Kenya as the banking partner, Octagon Africa as a pension partner and Naivas Supermarket as the retail partner.…

The year began amidst a raging bull market. Global equities have made up all the post pandemic losses and are up 85% (as at 7 May 2021) since their March 2020 lows.

It’s hard to overstate how dramatic this market moment was, or how much panic was in the air. The horror of more than 700 people dying every day in New York City alone for instance was still in the future, with nurses and doctors wearing trash bags instead of medical personal protective equipment (PPE).

Data shows that many investors have missed the bull run altogether or are significantly underinvested, waiting for the ‘right’ opportunity to re-enter. Those who did stay invested through the volatility or re-entered the market in 2020 have a slightly different problem ‘Should I sell?’.

The Covid-19 crisis was the ultimate affirmation of what is called the golden rule of investing, buy and hold. Your …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization which includes 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, in a blogpost titled, ‘Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far’, believes that the adoption of cryptocurrencies as national currencies has more risks and cost that outweighs potential benefits.

Cryptocurrencies had an exceptional year in 2017. Both the technology and the value of virtual currencies have experienced historic breakthroughs. At the same time, the rise of these digital currencies is causing serious concerns in the world of cybersecurity.

The IMF blogpost starts by acknowledging the potential benefits of digital currencies saying that new digital forms of money had the potential to provide cheaper and faster payments, enhance financial inclusion, improve resilience and competition among payment providers, and facilitate cross-border transfers.

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However, according to the post, the IMF …