Zambia’s government expects to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan before nationwide elections are held in August. In November, the copper producing nation became Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter after missing a coupon payment on one of its $3 billion of Eurobonds. Holders of the notes have set a deal with the Washington-based lender…
Ethiopia’s opposition parties have blamed federal army troops for killing at least 52,000 people during a military offensive in the country’s northern Tigray region. A further 3 million have been forced to flee their homes and even more are dependent on food aid, the Tigray Independence Party, National Congress of Great Tigray and Salsay Weyane…
Africa will begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX scheme by the end of the month, with millions of doses of AstraZeneca shots already allocated to countries across the continent. Nigeria, the most populous nation, will receive 16 million doses, while Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the next two most populous states, are…
Teraco Data Environments, Africa’s largest data center company, has raised $170 million to fund construction of a new facility in South Africa. The financing arrangement was led by Johannesburg-based lender Absa Group, and will help Teraco construct a seventh site in Africa’s most developed nation, according to Chief Financial Officer Samuel Erwin. This follows the…
South Africa’s state-owned defense firm Denel made a $129.8 million loss in the 2019/20 financial year compared to a $98.2 million loss in the previous year. Denel manufactures military equipment for South Africa’s armed forces, and has been embroiled in a financial crisis made worse by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In October, Denel requested for…
American automaker Ford Motor will invest $1.05 billion in its South African manufacturing operations, the firm announced on Tuesday, and expand production of its signature brand, the Ranger pickup truck. The investment aim to increase Ford’s installed capacity in South Africa from 168,000 to 200,000 vehicles, said Andrea Cavallar, operations director of Ford’s International Market…
Ethiopia has launched the construction of a new railway line that will link its market town of Awash with Djibouti’s port. The project is contracted by China Civil Engineering Construction Cooperation (CCECC), further extending Chinese dominance in Ethiopia’s developing economy. The landlocked country currently has two rail lines that connect the interior with Port Djibouti,…
Ethiopia will receive a $4.8 million grant from Japan, following an agreement signed between both countries aimed at enhancing road operations and maintenance. The pact was signed by Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance Yasmin Wohabrebbi and Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia Ito Takako. According to Yasmin, due to the rapid urbanization and increase in the number of…
Ghana will procure 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of June with the first doses slated to arrive in March, President Nana Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday. The West African nation is battling a second wave of the coronavirus that has swept through the continent and mutated. Ghana’s daily infection rate is rising…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to provide Chad with $560 million to support its economy under the extended credit facility and extended fund facility, pending a final approval. The financing will support Chad’s economic recovery at a time the Central African country is battling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened terrorism…
Zimbabwe’s government has allocated $100 million to acquire COVID-19 vaccine shots, though the plan awaits recommendation from local scientists on which type to buy, a state-owned newspaper reported on Sunday. The southern African nation has been grappling with an economic crisis that was in place before the pandemic began, and acute shortages of foreign exchange…
The Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) has secured 400 million more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as the body aims to immunize 60% of the continent’s population over three years. The continent is in a disadvantaged position in the race to obtain vaccine shots for its 1.3 billion population as wealthier nations…
Kenya slipped into an economic recession for the first time since the third quarter of 2020 as the restrictions introduced by the government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on key sectors of the economy. The East African country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 1.1% compared with a year earlier, after…
South Africa’s wine industry has asked a court of law to allow the main wine-growing region to exempt itself from an alcohol sales ban that was reinstated last month by the government to ease pressure on hospitals battling a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. VinPro, the representative of wine producers and cellars, said it…
You can hear the charming of birds and the hissing of crickets deep in this forest in Gabu. But one sound trembles above all others, and it’s belatedly become more common this year. It’s no surprise to hear the sounds of machines ploughing down trees in Guinea Bissau’s forested lands. The Portuguese-speaking country has a…
Botswana has nominated Elias Magosi to take over from Tanzania’s Dr Stergomena Tax as SADC’s top boss when the latter’s term expires in August this year. Magosi currently serves as the Permanent Secretary to the President and Head of the Botswana Public Service as well as Secretary to the Cabinet. That makes him the country’s…
Kenya’s government has taken the fight against COVID-19 to a new high with the installation of new tech, the first of its kind on the continent, at its international airport, JKIA. The sophisticated system consists of automated cameras with inbuilt thermometers that measure the temperatures of dozens of people in the socially distanced queue, displaying…
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the released of $16.94 million to set up oxygen production plants in 38 sites to help treat COVID-19 patients as government authorities struggle to contain a second wave of the pandemic. Africa’s most populous country recorded low coronavirus cases through much of last year, though experts point out that…
Over 2.5 million people have died, and the confirmed cases are soaring past the 100 million mark. But that hasn’t stopped the wealthiest people on the planet from increasing their wealth during the coronavirus pandemic, a report from Oxfam International indicates. While that in itself is shocking, more grappling to deal with is the fact…
Sudan is set to receive a $330 million bridge loan from Britain to help clear its more than $400 million in arrears to the African Development Bank. According to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Britain was supportive of the effort and had signed a memorandum of understanding to disburse $40 million to Sudan’s family support…