The week that was June 26th, 2020

30 Jun 2020

Here is a recap of the major activities that happened in Africa in the last 7 days. You can see the video here. 

Central Africa

  • The African Development Bank has approved an EUR 88 million loan to Cameroon to help finance a COVID-19 response

Eastern Africa

  • Nestle SA is working with more than 2,000 Ugandan coffee farmers to produce and market coffee from Uganda’s Rwenzori region. Nespresso is selling limited-edition capsules in the US & UK markets.
  • Currency devaluation in Zambia is inflating its expenditure by approximately $1.11 billion this year as the currency weakens.  This is piling on more pressure on a nation already struggling with huge debt.
  • Partners in the $20 billion Mozambique LNG project led by Total have received a $2.25 billion guarantee from the Mozambique government.
  • Somalia received a $55 million grant from The World Bank to support the country’s economic recovery.
  • Djibouti announced it is setting up a sovereign wealth fund for both domestic and regional investments with the objective of raising $1.5 billion by 2030.
  • After the completion of Total Oil’s 1/3 acquisition of Tullow Oil’s stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) increasing Total’s stake to a 2/3 majority.  Negotiations for a Host Government Agreement (HGA) is expected to start soon.
  • South Sudan received a $4 million grant from the African Development Bank. This is to support the country’s fragile health system to support its emergency response to the Covid-19.

Northern Africa

  • Egypt received a $5.2 billion stand-by arrangement from The International Monetary Fund of which $2 billion will be disbursed immediately and the remaining funds phased over two reviews.
  • President Abdelmadjid Tebboune from Algerian reshuffled the government replacing six key ministers of agriculture, energy, finance, higher education, transport and tourism.
  • Morocco received a $500 million loan from The World Bank to help improve access for SME’s to online finance and government services.
  • Tunisia received loans amounting to EUR 350 million from France to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

Southern Africa

  • The Botswana government indicated that it will need $3.40 billion over the next two and a half years to revive its economy and to cover budget deficits.
  • NAMIBIA will be the first Southern African country to open its borders to international tourists.

Western Africa

  • On July 1, Ivory Coast will open its airports to international flights after allowing domestic flights from June 26.
  • OCP Group in Morocco is investing in a fertilizer plant in Ghana and an ammonia plant in Nigeria.  Both these projects will be commission by 2024 boosting the Group’s output by 2 million tons per annum.

Interested in knowing more, get in touch.

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