Business

Efforts by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to upgrade Africa’s agriculture sector is yielding good results with about 5.6 million people benefiting from the Bank’s interventions in the past year. Among other things, AfDB plans scale up its focus on regional integration in 2017 as an important part of its development work with the planned launch of a Regional Integration Strategy. These were some of the details pulled from the Annual Development Effectiveness Review 2017 (ADER) released by the AfDB .

A new World Bank report released on Wednesday has called for increased private sector investment in Africa’s under-developed electricity transmission infrastructure, a vital ingredient for reaching Africa’s energy goals. Africa lags the rest of the world when it comes to electricity, with just 35 percent of the population with access to power and a generation capacity of only 100 GW. Those who do have power typically consume relatively little, face frequent outages and pay high prices.

Botswana has banned poultry products from neighbouring Zimbabwe after an outbreak of the H5N8 strain of bird flu was reported at the weekend. In a...

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Sierra Leone for about US$224.2 million, in support of the authorities’ economic development efforts. The program will build on the lessons from the previous ECF arrangement. It aims at supporting important policies targeted at reducing inflation and significantly increasing domestic revenues, including by eliminating numerous tax and duty exemptions, while increasing infrastructure spending and bolstering the social safety net. The ECF program is also expected to play a catalytic role to maintain external support. In the medium-term, the arrangement will provide the framework for structural progress on revenue mobilization, public financial management and financial sector reforms, as well as increased reserves

South Africa has entered recession for the first time in eight years, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday, after the economy contracted...

Ghana has signed an accord with its neighbour, Cote d’Ivoire, for closer collaboration in the areas of cocoa production and marketing. The Accra Agreement, signed on Friday, June 2, this year at the end of the two-day second technical cooperation meeting between both nations in the Ghanaian capital, seeks to assist the two countries to collaboratively tackle many challenges adversely affecting their cocoa economy, especially the issue of foreign pricing of cocoa by the West and Asia, among others. It was signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Director-General of the Council of Coffee and Cocoa, Cote d’Ivoire respectively on behalf of both countries.

The African Development Bank, in partnership with SERUKA – a national women’s organization focusing on women’s economic empowerment in Rwanda –has launched the Rwanda Honey Value Chain Project, which aims to enhance honey production in the country. The African Development Bank has approved a grant of approximately US $343,000 (280 million Rwandan Francs) to implement the project. The project will work directly with grassroots businesses. The implementing agency, SERUKA, is a reputable non-governmental organization with a sound track record in supporting grassroots economic empowerment initiatives in Rwanda.

Egypt is closing its airspace to Qatari planes in a growing diplomatic row, with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain expected to do the same on...

China has complained to Zambia after 31 of its nationals were arrested at the weekend for alleged illegal mining practices. A senior Chinese foreign ministry...

South Africa’s unemployment rose to its highest in 14 years in the first quarter of the year as agriculture and informal sectors shed jobs...