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Banking / Investment in Africa

  • Standard Bank Mozambique finances investments of US$500 million in 2014

    MOZAMBIQUE, 2015/01/22 Standard Bank Mozambique granted credit worth US$500 million for investment in various economic sectors over the completed year, the bank said in a statement sent to Macauhub in Maputo. The telecommunications, construction, agri-industry, manufacturing, mining and infrastructure sectors were the major areas for which the bank granted loans, according to its Director of Corporate and Investment Banking, André du Plessis, cited in the document. Noting some of the biggest investment projects supported, Standard Bank Mozambique referenced the expansion of the Sena railway line in the centre of the country, currently the major vehicle used by mining companies operating in the Moatize district, Tete province, to export coal and with an annual cargo capacity of about six million tons, managed by the Mozambican port and railway company CFM.

  • CBN Revokes Licences of 21 Primary Mortgage Banks in Nigeria

    NIGERIA, 2015/01/04 The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operating licences of 21 Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBS) inclunding one microfinance bank and directed the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to commence the process of orderly winding up of the affairs of the affected institutions. The revocation was communicated by the CBN via its gazettes dated 14 and 19 November, 14 and 19, 2014. The NDIC had instantly been appointed the provisional liquidator to wind up the affairs of the closed financial institutions, according to a public notice by the corporation, a copy which was made available to THISDAY.

  • Liberia's Central Bank Moves to Reduce Ebola Stress On Lenders

    LIBERIA, 2015/01/04 Liberia's central bank has waived default charges and extended repayment periods on loans to commercial lenders as part of a series of measures aimed at reducing the impact of the Ebola outbreak on the economy. The central bank will as well pay off outstanding loans taken by schools that were forced to close because of the viral illness, the central bank governor Joseph Mills Jones told reporters on Wednesday in the capital, Monrovia. "Increase in the West African country's economy is expected to slow to one % over the next three years, compared with previous estimates of about 6.6 % because of the disease," he said. The steps taken by the bank will "help commercial banks in restructuring and refinancing the private sector to ensure a rapid recovery of the economy," Jones said.

  • East Africa: Regional Microfinance Institutions Advised to Apply for Observer Status

    DJIBOUTI CITY, 2015/01/04 Regional microfinance institutions are poised to benefit from regional integration, if they apply for an observer status at the East African community secretariat, Innocent Safari, the permanent secretary, Ministry of East Africa community affairs has said. The advice follows plans by sector players to move towards integrating legal and regulatory frameworks during the recently concluded microfinance CEO's summit in Kigali. During the summit, top micro finance managers resolved to explore ways in which laws, regulations and supervisory frameworks governing the sector can be harmonised to enhance cross-border business.

  • Bank: AfDB launches 2014 continental development report

    AFRICA, 2014/12/18 The African Development Bank (AfDB) Tuesday, in Abidjan, Cote d‘Ivoire, launched the 2014 edition of its flagship publication, the African Development Statement (ADR). The statement, according to a statement posted on the organization’s website, is with the theme “Regional Integration for Inclusive Increase”. It said that Africa’s regional integration has been a key economic and political aspiration since the independence decade of the 1960s. The statement is as well an significant pillar for the work of the AfDB, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary as Africa’s premier development finance institution in 2014.

  • EBRD president promotes development in north Africa

    EUROPEAN UNION, 2014/12/10 The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development talks about the bank’s role in promoting private-sector development in north Africa and the Levant following the Arab Spring. Although the European Bank for Reconstruction and Improvment(EBRD) has engaged with north Africa and the Levant for only a short time, its impact has been appreciable. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the bank’s expertise in promoting private-sector development and improved economic governance was called upon by the international community to be utilised in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and, later, Jordan. Few other multilateral institutions were seen as capable of addressing this transition process.

  • Angola Reserve Bank Yields About Usd 660 Million in Foreign Currency Sales

    ANGOLA, 2014/12/09 The National Reserve Bank (BNA) sold between 1 and 5 December, this year, foreign currencies which yielded the BNA about USD 660 million, overcoming the 360 million dollars earned by the institution in the last week of November. According to the data that was published this Monday on the BNA site, the average exchange rate of reference in the inter-bank market is 101 kwanzas for one dollar, with a 0.3% variation in relation to the previous week.

  • South Africa Set On Boosting Investments With China

    CHINA, 2014/12/06 President Jacob Zuma has arrived in China where he is leading a delegation of ministers and businesspeople on a National visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations, the Presidency said on Tuesday. The two-day visit, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, signals a further consolidation of South African-Sino relations. This is President Zuma's second National visit to China. In 2010, he took 17 Ministers and about 300 businesspeople and signed the Beijing Declaration on a comprehensive strategic partnership with China.

  • Egypt received $10.6 billion from Gulf last fiscal year - minister

    EGYPT, 2014/11/10 Egypt received $10.6 billion in aid from Gulf states in the last fiscal year, the finance minister said on Saturday, the initial time the government has put a total figure on how much its oil-rich allies spent to prop up the economy. Of about 74 billion Egyptian pounds of aid received in the 2013-14 fiscal year, 53 billion pounds was in the form of petroleum products, with the remaining 21 billion pounds coming as cash grants, Hany Kadry Dimian told a news conference. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have provided Egypt with political and economic support since again-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July last year and led a crackdown on his supporters.

  • CHINA Export and Import Bank has disbursed $80 million for generation capacity

    ZIMBABWE, 2014/11/05 CHINA Export and Import Bank has disbursed $80 million for generation capacity expansion of Kariba South Power Station to reduce crippling widespread power deficits plaguing the country. The $80 million disbursement is the initial of several tranches approaching under an engineering, procurement arrangement valued at $354 million. Chinese firm Sino Hydro, is undertaking the expansion project estimated to cost about $533 million, inclunding development costs to be met by the Zimbabwe Power Company. Kariba South's capacity expansion is projected to take 40 months and will add 300 megawatts to the plant's current capacity of 745MW.
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