Author: furtherafrica.com

The UK will invest up to £20 million in the new ‘African Union Covid19 Response Fund’ to tackle coronavirus and save lives. This makes the UK the largest national donor to the fund, which was announced by Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and President of the Republic of South Africa last month. It will support African leaders and technical experts to slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives in Africa and worldwide. The fund will tackle the pandemic by recruiting African health experts and deploying them where they are needed most, strengthening global tracking of the…

For those investing and particularly interested in Africa, Guinea-Bissau is a country which, so far, has been “under the radar” for most of the investors. Located in West Africa, bordering with Senegal and Guinea Conakry, Guinea-Bissau is a relatively small country, with 36.125 sq. Km. Around 25% of the total population (estimated in 2.072.000, by figures of April 2020) is based in the capital (Bissau). The official language is Portuguese, with some other native languages been used (like Balanka, Fula and Mandinka). French is also spoken, due to the influence of the two neighboring countries. Most of the population is Muslim (45%),…

For some time, investors rely on rating agencies to determine the investment risk of countries. It is a trend that developed economies usually receive high marks and a promising grade, while many emerging economies and bonds are poorly graded, even given sometimes the infamous “Junk” rating. With the current pandemic crisis that the world is present, markets have seen price shocks in all areas. If the agencies in charge of the economies handle these shocks properly , many economists suggest that the consequences may only be seen in the short-run. However, countries that might fail to act properly and that…

On May 8th, Mozambican Constitutional Council decided that the acts regarding loans to Mozambican state-owned companies (Proindicus, S.A. and MAM, S.A.) and sovereign guarantees given by Mozambican Government are null, and consequently those loans are void. Having the Mozambican Constitutional Council considered the debts and the guarantees unconstitutional, it means that they never had juridical existence in Mozambique, fact that is reinforced by the circumstance of both National Assembly (through a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission) and Administrative Court had never accepted them as legal. Constitutional Council based its decision in the following arguments: Mozambican Government could not concede sovereign guarantees of…

FurtherAfrica Insights – COVID19 series with Kenneth Njoroge from the Money Series Africa in Kenya. A conversation about how the crisis is affecting one of the cornerstones of the Kenyan economy: Small and Medium companies. Kenneth gives his insights on how the government is handling the crisis and the opportunities arising as we prepare to come back to a new normal. (Phentermine)

Nigeria has a rich venture capital environment and in our new reality, startups will need to adapt to fund themselves. Fabio Scala from FurtherAfrica spoke to Aderonke Alex-Adedipe, a partner of Pavestones Nigeria to understand how the upcoming regulations will impact the market, particularly in regards to crowdfunding platforms and the eligibility and limitations companies may see in effect once the crisis is over.

Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data services in Africa. With the increase in connectivity via smartphones, people in emerging markets can use their portable devices for more things each passing day. Most of us have a smartphone with mobile data that we can carry anywhere and as soon as we step home we switch to our Wi-Fi not to overuse our mobile data; which is most of the time unfairly overcharged. However some people do not have the privilege to afford both mobile data and internet at home, so they opt for the more expensive but more…

As long as Coronavirus pandemic spreads across the planet, National Governments take more measures. To acknowledge and accompany all policies daily adopted happens to be a difficult task. Considering this new reality, we present this Legal Guide, where companies and individuals may easily understand what are the most important laws and rules in force, regarding Coronavirus impact on economy and society. State of Emergency Decree (Presidential Decree no. 11/2020, March 30) State of Emergency takes effect between April 1st and 30th, although it has been extended until the 30th of May, on the 29th of April. Its declaration led to…

A brief conversation with Duarte Marques da Cruz, Partner at the law firm MC&A Advogados about some of the legal aspects that companies operating in Mozambique should be aware during the COVID-19 crisis. (https://www.colburnschool.edu/)

The base criteria for loans worldwide is the usage of a rank-like system used to categorize nations from “best to worse”. A lower rating is given to a country that holds a large amount of this foreign debt and that usually takes longer to pay the debts. This debt is held mostly in the form of Eurobonds held by international Stock Exchanges, most common the London SE and Irish SE. The value issued between 2018 and 2019 was greater than the value issued in fourteen years from 2003 to 2016. According to the IMF(International Monetary Fund), many African nations are…