Browsing: West Africa

West Africa region received $465 million in funding from the World Bank for regional electricity access which will see countries in the region expand electricity to over a million people.

The World group approved the funds to the new Regional Electricity Access and Battery-Energy  Storage Technologies (BEST) Project which will increase grid connections to fragile areas, strengthen WAPP’s network operation with battery energy storage technologies infrastructure and build the capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA).

Through the project, countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will enhance power system stability for 3.5 million people and increase renewable energy integration in the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP).

The project will pave way for increased renewable energy generation, investment and transmission across the West Africa region.

“West Africa is on the cusp of a regional power market that promises significant development benefits and potential for private …

It is not yet another good year for the Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast the world’s biggest producer of the key ingredient for chocolate, as the prices of their commodity went down for the second year running.

This is contrary to M’Brimbo, a village in central Ivory Coast which 11 years ago became a testing ground for organic cocoa farming and today is prospering.

The local farmers’ collective, the Fair Cooperative Society of Bandama (SCEB), sell their high-quality produce at twice the market rate for non-organic cocoa.

“When producers are trained and well-paid, they can make very good cocoa in Ivory Coast,” said Arthur Gautier, an agronomist who works for Ethiquable, a French company that specializes in marketing fair-trade products and buys SCEB’s harvest.

ALSO READ: Harnessing Africa’s Sovereign Wealth

The chocolate made from their cocoa is sold in French supermarkets under the brand “Grand Cru M’Brimbo,” a name that …

According to a data released on Monday by the Central Bank of Egypt, Egypt’s current account deficit climbed to $7.6 billion in the first half (1H) of the current FY2020/2021 from July to December 2020 up from $4.6 in the same half of FY2019/2020.

This Increase in the current account deficit is associated to the decline in service balance surplus and the increase in the non-oil trade balance

ALSO READ: KENYA SEEKS $600M FROM CHINA TO PLUG BUDGET DEFICIT

According to CBE, due to the decline in the investment income balance Service balance surplus contracted by 69.9 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21 posted $1.9 billion, down from $6.3 billion in the 1H of FY2019/20.

The decline in Investment income had a larger effect on the Tourism sector with the CBE showing that tourism revenues dropped by 75.3 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21, reaching $1.8 billion.

In April 13 …

Nigeria’s oil production has fallen by 30 per cent in the last four years to 1.423 million barrels per day, mb/d in 2020 from 2.041 million barrels per day, mb/d in 2017.

This is according to a recent investigative study by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, which includes pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger-Delta.

The figure excludes 2020 condensate production, according to the data obtained by Vanguard Energy from OPEC’s monthly market reports between 2017 and 2020.

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The nation’s output declined by 19.3 per cent to 1.648 mb/d in 2018 from 2.041 mb/d in 2017 Year-on-year, YoY.

The production level, however, rose by 6.6 per cent to 1.765 mb/d in 2019 from 2018 figure before declining again by 19 per cent to 1.423 mb/d in 2020.

THE IMPACT

The gradual drop in output is a …

A survey revealed that 77 per cent of temporary workers would be willing to receive their wages digitally if this gave them access to health insurance.

Combining digital payments with health insurance benefits offers an excellent opportunity for social inclusion, formalization, and financial innovation.
Data shows that if 50 per cent of temporary workers in Senegal received payments digitally, 45 billion CFA francs would be added to GDP per year (around US$80 million). Paying workers digitally, speeds up the financial inclusion for the population, boosts business competitiveness and increases financial system liquidity. …

The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) released its sophomore Industry Survey drawing African Limited Partners and General Partners commitment to African investment as long-term.

The survey report that was released on April 15, was conducted in review of broad cross-section of global and African Limited Partners’ (LPs) and General Partners’ (GPs) to determine perspectives and attitudes of investing in African private equity (PE) across various categories, sectors, geographies, investment stages, challenges, and returns.

According to the survey report, Majority of Limited Partners (86%) plan to raise or maintain their allocation to African Private Equity {PE} over the next three years, with impact and the investment mandates viewed by most Limited Partners as the primary factors driving their investment approach.

ALSO READ: Investing in Africa: Trends driving Private Equity and Venture Capital in Africa

65% of Limited partners said that the African Private Equity {PE} attractiveness remained the …

Currently, the country has an installed capacity of 300 MW where diesel contributes 253 MW, hydro 32 MW and solar 33 MW.…

Up to 50 million people around the world, including around five million smallholder farmers, depend on cocoa which is essential to their livelihoods. 

Africa is the world’s major cocoa producer with West African nations—Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo—producing an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa on 1.5 million farms. The majority of the crop comes from small farms of between three to five hectares. 

Producing cocoa is backbreaking for the cocoa farmers yet they do not earn enough from the product that is a global on-demand ingredient. Most farmers are unable to cover their basic needs despite the fact that the worldwide chocolate market is valued at US$103 billion.…

Unemployment will be on an upward trend, more companies will be facing bankruptcy; supply chains will be fragile; confidence is shaken and demand weak. …

The world bank Board of Directors approved $300 million in International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants to support reforms that will help promote electricity trade in West Africa.

Currently, only 50 per cent of the population in West Africa have access to electricity, and those who do, pay among the highest prices in the world which is more than double those of consumers in East Africa. The West Africa Regional Energy Trade Development Policy Financing Program (West Africa Energy PDF) seeks to do away with electricity trade barriers, which will support the competitiveness of firms, lower electricity costs for consumers and improve resilience and reliability of supply.

The West Africa Energy PDF supports a policy reform program being implemented by Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone, to facilitate trade in cleaner low-cost electricity generated from gas, hydropower and renewable energy across borders. This is going …