If you are trading across the French-speaking West Africa, made up of Niger, Chad,Mali,Senegal,Togo, Bénin, Cameroon,Ivory Coast, Guinea ,Burkina Faso and Muritania, you may no longer be able to use the previous currency CFA franc to transact. This is because West Africa’s monetary union has agreed with France to rename its CFA franc the Eco and cut some of the financial links with Paris that have underpinned the region’s common currency since its creation soon World War Two.
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara
“This is a historic day for West Africa,” Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara said during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the country’s main city Abidjan.
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Under the deal, the Eco will remain pegged to the euro but the African countries in the bloc won’t have to keep 50% of their reserves in the French Treasury and there will no longer be a French representative on the currency union’s board.
Reuters reports that critics of the CFA have long seen it as a relic from colonial times while proponents of the currency say it has provided financial stability in a sometimes turbulent region.
In 2017, Macron highlighted the stabilizing benefits of the CFA but said it was up to African governments to determine the future of the currency.
“Yes, it’s the end of certain relics of the past. Yes it’s progress … I do not want influence through guardianship, I do not want influence through intrusion. That’s not the century that’s being built today,” said Macron.
The CFA is used in 14 African countries with a combined population of about 150 million and $235 billion of gross domestic product.
However, the changes will only affect West Africa ‘s form of the currency used by Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo — all former French colonies except Guinea Bissau.
The six countries using the Central African CFA are Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, — all former French colonies with the exception of Equatorial Guinea.
The CFA’s value relative to the French franc remained unchanged from 1948 through to 1994 when it was devalued by 50% to boost exports from the region.
After the devaluation, 1 French franc was worth 100 CFA and when the French currency joined the euro zone, the fixed rate became 1 euro to 656 CFA francs.
The agreement follows talks in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Saturday between West African leaders. Countries in the CFA bloc and other West African nations such as Nigeria and Ghana have for decades debated creating their own currency to promote regional trade and investment.
The CFA franc was born in 1945 and at the time stood for “Colonies Francaises d’Afrique” (French Colonies in Africa).
It now stands for “Communaute Financiere Africaine” (African Financial Community) in West Africa and in Central Africa it means “Cooperation Financiere en Afrique Centrale” (Financial Cooperation in Central Africa).
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
China has helped Ethiopia to launch its first-ever satellite into space. This a deal breaker for the country as the earth observatory satellite is designed to help the East African nation gather data for agricultural, mining and environmental protection.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
“Ethiopia has joined the effort to seek knowledge and information from space,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said in a congratulatory message to Ethiopians.
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Although this is the first major effort by Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy said the country would send up more satellites in collaboration with other countries, without giving details.
“This is a day we became one of the 70 countries in the world that operate a satellite from space,” said Ahmedin Mohammed, an official with Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology Ministry. “The next step is to launch a communication satellite and also set up a space materials assembly and manufacturing facility here in Ethiopia.”
AFP reports that Ethiopian space officials stated both Ethiopian and Chinese engineers took part in the construction of the 72 kilogram (159 pound) satellite that took three years.
The actual cost of the satellite was $8 million, of which $6 million was covered by China, said Ethiopian officials.
By this launch, Ethiopia hopes to save up to $11 million a year by using their own satellite data.
The satellite was sent into space from Shanxi Province in China. Ethiopian and Chinese officials monitored the launch from a command and control center set up in the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa. They watched a video stream from China.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is credited with starting the satellite program three years ago while he was Minister for Technology.
A Look At The African Satellite Space
Only about ten countries, including Ethiopia have been able to shoot satellites into the space. Nigeria has already launched four satellites into space, with three still operational and one deorbited after completing its objectives. The country’s first earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-1, was launched in September 2003. Launched by Kosmos-3M rocket from Russian Plesetsk spaceport, it cost the country $30 million. That was followed by the launch of Africa’s first communications satellite, NigComSat-1, built and launched in China in 2007. Other African countries in the satellite space include South Africa which in December 2018, launched the continent’s most advanced nanosatellite into space to monitor and manage disasters such as fires and assist the ocean economy. South Africa’s first was the TshepisoSat, which was launched in 2013, according to theSAASTA.
Angola’s first satellite was launched in December 2017 but declared defunct by Russia four months later. Ghana’s first satellite was launched into orbit in 2017 from the International Space Station. In February 2019 the EgyptSat-A high-resolution earth observation satellite was launched into space by Egypt.
In May 2018, Kenya launched its first satellite into orbit. One of the most active African countries in space technology, Algeria has six satellites in orbit. The most recent launch was in 2017 when the Algerian Space Agency launched a telecoms satellite into space in cooperation with China.
In late 2018, Morocco launched its second surveillance satellite, the Mohammed VI-B, from the spaceport in French Guiana in cooperation with French company Arianespace.
Working with a U.K.-based company OneWeb, Rwanda launched, in February 2019, Icyerekezo, the first-ever satellite that connects remote schools to the internet, according to Face2FaceAfrica.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad, has said that the Finance Bill might not be effective from January 1, 2020, if signed into law.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad
“I am not saying the Finance Bill will take effect from January 1, because I have seen in the media reports that from January 1, 2020, people without TIN (tax identification number) will not be allowed to operate their accounts with the banks. It does not work like that,’’ Ahmad said
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According to the Finance Minister the government is expected to receive the 2019 Finance Bill from the National Assembly before the end of the week for President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent but actions will not be taken in January 2020.
“For the bill to come into effect, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will have to engage the commercial banks and work out a modality on how the new law will be implemented.
“Normally, there will be information that will be given to citizens, a reminder on how bank customers can get their TIN, which is a simple issue of visiting the FIRS website and register to get their TIN.
“There will be some time to be given for that process to be activated before any decision to stop the use of any account is taken,” the minister was quoted in Premium Times report.
The 2019 Finance seeks to change Nigeria’s outdated corporate tax laws. The bill, if signed into law, is expected to address most of the challenges with Nigeria’s corporate tax laws, ease payments of taxes, and ultimately increase government revenues. It is also expected to widen the tax base and reduce tax evasion.
New development: While there are fears that the provisions of the Finance Bill will take effect from January 1, 2020, Ahmad said that wouldn’t be possible as there were guidelines that needed to be followed. According to her, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and commercial banks in Nigeria would have to first draft out plans on how the new law would be implemented.
Also, information will have to be passed to Nigerians first, reminding them of the procedure to follow in order to get their tax identification number, and time will be given for this process.
“We (government) are confident that within this week, the president will have the bill from the National Assembly. Normally he will ask various ministries to comment before he gives the final assent before the government starts the work from January 2020, ” Ahmad added.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
Consequently, the Schengen visa fees will increase by 33.3 percent to €80 (Sh9,060) from €60 (Sh6,795) from February after the amended regulation came into force.
Children too will have to pay more at €40 (Sh4,530) instead of €35 (Sh3,964) paid currently.
The new code is, however, expending the period within which an application can be lodged from three months to six months in advance of a trip.
A Schengen visa is a short-stay permit that allows visitors to Europe to travel to any of the 26 states, which are members of the Schengen area, up to 90 days for tourism or business.
It enables the holder to enter, freely travel within, and leave the Schengen zone from any of the member countries which include Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France and Germany among other European Union nations.
An increasing number of Kenyans have been seeking Schengen visa as travel to Europe for tourism takes root, with popular destinations including Mediterranean resort cities.
According to the updated regulations, Kenyans applying through an external visa service provider may, however, have to pay up to €160 (Sh18,120) per visa application, if the external service providers set the maximum service fee permitted, which is €80.
Statistics by SchengenVisaInfo.com show that in 2018, Schengen embassies and consulates in Kenya processed 38,503 visa applications, 4,769 of which were rejected, representing an acceptance rate of 87.6 percent.
Germany was the top country for visa submission, as 6,142 of the applications submitted in Kenya were for Schengen visas to Germany, followed by France with 5,059 and the Netherlands with 4,406 applications.
In terms of expenditure, in 2018, Kenyan citizens spent €2.31 million (Sh261.6 million) on visa applications to Europe, €286,140 (Sh32.4 million) of which was spent by applicants who had their visa applications rejected
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
For any business desiring to get registered in Ethiopia, it has become easier to do so. The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade & Industry is launching a new online portal, Online Trade Registration & Licensing Service (OTRLS), which will allow businesses to apply for new licenses and renewal online. This development will drastically reduce the number of days it takes to formerly register a business in Ethiopia from 32 to six.
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By logging into the virtual system, clients can obtain information on the requirements for renewing and issuing a particular type of business license from anywhere in the country and beyond.
Once logged in, an individual can fill out the appropriate forms, attach scanned copies of supporting documents such as a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and process their license.
The system, initially installed in 2012 by local firm Custor Computing for one million Birr, did not originally provide online access to clients. Businesses had to be present at the Ministry to process their documents physically.
To upgrade the system, the Ministry floated a tender in 2018, and Custor Computing Plc won the bid for eight million Birr, which was covered by the Ministry. Custor was established in 1993 and provides web-based public service delivery solutions, system development, infrastructure design consulting and IBM enterprise solutions.
Development of the system took one year to finalise.
Under the current updated system, businesses can apply online for registration and license renewal, and they do not have to visit the premises of the Ministry and the regional trade bureaus to pick up the hard copies of their permits.
“Anyone can print the hard copy of their permits from the system,” said Eshete Asfaw, state minister for Trade & Industry. “The upgraded system will save customers time, money and energy, and it relieves the workload of our staff compared to the old manual system.”
Ease of Doing Business IndexThe procedures, which businesses were passing through to secure a business license, are also reduced from 11 requirements to five.
The reform was made as part of the latest initiative from the Office of the Prime Minister to ease the requirements of doing business in the country. Ethiopia ranked 159th out of 190 nations in the World Bank’s 2019 Ease of Doing Business report. Though far behind many other African nations, this was an improvement of two positions from the previous year.
The mandatory requirement to obtain a business license, which includes newspaper publication of trade names and a lease or rental agreement, was also lifted by the Ministry a few months ago.
The online registration system has 19 different services. The services are provided through 1,063 offices, out of which 163 are already operational throughout the country.
The system also integrates the Ministry of Revenues, the Document Authentication & Registration Agency and the Ethiopian Investment Commission to shorten the customer journey when processing licenses, according to Eshete.
The Commercial Registration & Business Licensing Proclamation was amended in 2016, adding a new feature to the business sphere of the country. It introduced the concepts of the franchise and holding company arrangements, new to the business environment in Ethiopia.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
John Quincy Adams once said “there are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” He may have very well been referring to Nigeria of the last three years.
Barely two weeks ago, I warned during my Founder’s Day lecture at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, that Nigeria had taken almost as much foreign debt in the last three years, as she had taken in the thirty years before 2015 combined. Now that is frightening. And very true.
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria.
Frightening, not just because of the amount, but because after such unprecedented borrowing, we have emerged as the world headquarters for extreme poverty and the global capital for out of school children. It begs the question: what were the funds used for?
I have said it time and again. The business of government is too serious to be left in the hands of politicians. We must all ask questions because if they throw away the future, it is not going to be their future they are throwing away, it will be all our futures.
The fact that Nigeria currently budgets more money for debt servicing (₦2.7 trillion), than we do on capital expenditure (₦2.4 trillion) is already an indicator that we have borrowed more money than we can afford to borrow. And the thing is that debt servicing is not debt repayment. Debt servicing just means that we are paying the barest minimum allowable by our creditors.
And while spending 50% of our current revenue on debt servicing, this administration wants to take further loans of $29.6 billion! To say that this is irresponsible is itself an understatement.
As a businessman, one of the very first things I learnt is that you do not take loans except you are expanding your business. Even as an individual, when your income cannot fund your lifestyle, you are challenged to grow your income, not your borrowings.
Even if this administration borrows $1 trillion, it will never be enough because their challenge is one of capacity. They are not using the funds they already have wisely. They do not need more debt. They need more intellectual capacity.
The money the Muhammadu Buhari administration wants to borrow to fund its Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) could be acquired without sinking the nation into further debt. All it requires is visionary leadership and business acumen.
In my economic blueprint, I said that rather than turn in regular losses (which it has consistently been doing), the best thing to do with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is to reform it. Of course, the administration’s paid propagandists went into overdrive, accusing me of planning to sell the NNPC to my friends. But just last week, Saudi Arabia’s ARAMCO, the most profitable company in the world, took that route and almost broke the global stock market with the most successful initial IPOs in world history, bar none. Ironically, Saudi Aramco raised $29.4 billion via this IPO. Just the amount this administration wants to borrow.
That could have been Nigeria’s story, but for our failure of leadership. By reforming the NNPC, Nigeria can raise the $29.6 billion the Buhari regime wants to borrow, and we will raise the money without going into debt.
If we had taken that route, not only would we have attracted Foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria, but even better than investment, we would have attracted confidence in our economy, because it would have shown that we have a thinking leadership.
Take the example of the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas company. This is a joint venture between the Nigeria government and the private sector. Yet, while the NLNG declares very handsome profits, in billions of dollars every year, the NNPC declares loses! This is proof that the NLNG model works, and the NNPC model does not.
Moody’s, the world’s preeminent rating agency, has just downgraded Nigeria. Ghana, a nation with only 15% of our population, now attracts more Foreign Direct Investment than Nigeria, and Rwanda, a country with less than 15% of our mineral endowment, has an economy that is growing at twice the rate of our economy. The problem is not revenue. The challenge is not Nigerians. The issue is leadership.
While there is scant information in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for what the loan would be used for, I could not help but read a communication from the Presidency to the effect that one of such projects would be the digitalisation of the Nigerian Television Authority and other similar projects.
Spending revenue on such projects would be foolish, but spending loans in such a manner is nothing short of foolhardy. The Nigerian government does not have a good record of running businesses, and a public television network is unlikely to yield the type of income that would justify taking out loans to digitalise it. Besides, is that a priority, when we have 12 million children out of school? Like I said, capacity, not revenue, is the problem.
And in proof of this, I offer the example of how this administration took delivery of $322 million Abacha loot in 2018 and claimed it shared it out to poor Nigerians, only to obtain a $328 million loan from China, allegedly for ICT development the very next month. How do you share out $322 million and then borrow $328 million? Who does that? At the risk of repeating myself, it is clear that no amount of money, whether from revenue or borrowings, will be enough for an administration that lacks capacity.
So, what must Nigeria do now? Rather than profligate borrowing, what Nigeria needs to do is restore investor confidence in our economy. Key to that is respecting the independence of key institutions, such as the Judiciary and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Both of these institutions are now the captives of Buhari and his cabal, and though they are loathe to admit it, they cannot take one step without watching their backs.
Why are foreign investors leaving Nigeria for Ghana? The answer is that Ghana, unlike Nigeria, has learnt how to divorce key institutions from politics. The Ghanaian central bank enjoys a degree of independence that our own CBN can only dream of under the prevailing atmosphere. You will not hear Ghana’s leaders give flippant interviews overseas about their plans for the cedi, as Buhari has done in Europe about the Naira. It rang alarm bells because it is not the job of the executive to interfere in the role of the reserve bank.
Neither will you find Ghana’s leaders blatantly intimidating the judiciary by obviously setting up judges and invading courtrooms. Why would any investor come to Nigeria under such prevailing circumstances? Their thought would be that if they had industrial disputes, our courts, under this administration, could not be counted on to deliver impartial justice.
I was part of a team that paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt. I, therefore, cannot sit and watch an administration without vision squander our children’s future by taking and wasting loans that they do not even have the capacity to utilise properly.
Thank God for leaked memos that have exposed the lies this regime has told Nigerians about unprecedented revenues in the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Now, we know that Nigeria is not poor because she is not making enough money. The truth is that Nigeria is poor because she is not making the right leadership decisions.
Thomas Jefferson said, “to preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” Dear citizens of our beloved nation, this is a call to heed. President Olusegun Obasanjo and I paid off this nation’s debt, and I will not stand idly by and watch while Nigeria is plunged into second slavery by those who only know how to reap where they have not sown.
Our youth must have something better to inherit from us than unsustainable debt fuelled by insatiable greed. That is why I call on the Senate of the National Assembly to show loyalty to Nigeria and reconsider its decision with regards to approving Buhari’s $29.6 billion loan request.
We need to pay heed to Benjamin Franklin’s advise that “he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing”. I call on Nigeria’s youth to identify the Senator representing their senatorial zones and write to them, urging them to vote against this request. Do this, because it is you and your children that will pay back these loans that would be squandered by this ravenous cabal who do not have the word enough in their vocabulary.
Atiku Abubakar is a former Vice President of Nigeria.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The Tony Elumelu Foundation has received a grant of $5 million to enable it scale up its Entrepreneurship Programme to impact 1,000 select youth entrepreneurs across the African continent.
Tony Elumelu, founder, Tony Elumelu foundation
The grant follows the signing of a letter of intent between the Bank and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which took place during the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme launch in March this year. The partnership will bring about future collaboration focused on strengthening small to medium-sized enterprises as well as talent and skills development for Africa’s youth.
The partnership will support 3,050 young entrepreneurs across 54 African countries. The Bank’s participation will enable an additional 1,000 entrepreneurs to benefit from the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program, which provides much needed opportunities to help stem the rising tide of unemployment and inequality facing the continent’s youngest citizens.
The programme aligns with the Bank’s ten-year Jobs for Youth in Africa strategy launched in 2016, to support the creation of 25 million decent jobs across the continent. The strategy is also expected to equip 50 million young African people with employable skills that enable them to access economic opportunities and realize their full economic potential across the continent.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme will deliver business training, mentoring, access to networks, markets and capital for business development to selected youth-led start-ups in order for them to grow and create jobs.
The Entrepreneurship Programme demonstrates a strong alignment with the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund objectives to build the African youth entrepreneurship ecosystem by scaling innovative youth led start-ups, expanding youth market opportunities and improving youth access to finance.
Other development partners involved in supporting the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme are Agence Française de Développement, the German Agency for International Cooperation, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross. They will also work to provide more business opportunities to youth entrepreneurs across the continent.
In 2017, the Bank established the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund, in partnership with the governments of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands. The fund is a grant vehicle managed by the Bank to support the African entrepreneurship ecosystem directly and indirectly by leveraging on the Bank’s instruments. Its interventions will equip Africa’s youth with the right tools to establish start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
They gave an example, namely Karatbars International GmbH, which is not registered as an authorized financial services provider. The FSCA said Karatbars made representations to them that they market two products in South Africa which are gold bullion and crypto-asset.
“FSCA continues to caution the public that these kinds of transactions are high-risk,” said the FSCA in a statement. “The public will have no recourse, protection or assurance by the FSCA relating to these transactions which are styled in some cases as investment purchases.”
The financial authority warned that Karatbars wanted to sell products to South African citizens who are using their discretionary foreign or investment allowances to make these purchases.
“Consumers must also ensure that they physically receive the gold bullion or product they have purchased and do not rely on external custodians to hold these assets on their behalf beyond a very limited period, ” said FSCA. Enditem
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world
The Ethiopian economy has received a huge boost courtesy of a $3 billion funding from the World Bank aimed at strengthening structural imbalances, and macroeconomic growth. It will also help the country to address some underlying factors slowing down its economic growth.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Ethiopia which has been one of Africa’s fastest growing economies over the last decade has witnessed huge infrastructural development impacting growth and pumping up employment, however, political instability occasioned by protests and violence has slowed down growth in some sectors.
The country’s tourism and hospitality industry which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years has been at the receiving end of the political upheavals which l led to a change of government in the last two years, as expectations have been dampened as a result of the violence.
The government however, has vowed to continue churning out positive growth numbers through structural balancing and strengthening macroeconomic growth.
Speaking on government’s efforts to see growth rebound soonest, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said at the weekend that Ethiopia will receive $3 billion from the World Bank to help strengthen reforms in its traditionally state-controlled economy.
The announcement was made two days after the International Monetary Fund said it had reached a preliminary agreement for a three-year, $2.9 billion financing package to support Ethiopia’s economic reforms.
Abiy did not give more details on the World Bank funding. He said on his Twitter account that unnamed development partners have pledged more than $3 billion in addition to the World Bank and IMF funding.
The money will go toward macroeconomic, structural and sectoral reforms, he said.“This reaffirms both Governments’ and donors’ partnership to transition Ethiopia to a prosperous and peaceful nation,” Abiy tweeted.
The Prime Minister is hell bent on opening up the Ethiopian economy to the private sector which was the core of his promise when he came to power in 2018. Ethiopia is one of the remaining African countries with huge public sector run centrally controlled economy. Sectors like the telecomms and banking are still in government hands. It is expected that the country will open its economy to forein investors in key sectors.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The government of Cameroon has intensified efforts aimed at boosting its economy to tackle the rising unemployment rate caused by its prolonged political crisis and security challenges. In this regard, it is working in partnership with the African Export-Import Bank through a process of identifying projects in the key sectors to assist the country to achieve a rapid transformation of the economy through trade. This was made known the Global Head of Client Relations of the Bank, Rene Awambeng who was in Douala, Cameroon, to present the Bank’s products, programmes and facilities to the business community.
Global Head of Client Relations of the Bank, Rene Awambeng
Mr. Awambeng informed the Cameroonian business community that Afreximbank was committed to assisting the country to execute priority trade enabling infrastructure. The Bank also promised to support the country to expand its manufacturing capacity through the development of logistics, industrial parks and processing plants for key commodities, in addition to providing trade finance for the import of capital goods to support industrialization, he said. Other areas of support include facilitation of export of processed/manufactured goods and support to Cameroonian businesses to access regional and continental markets, especially in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Over the years, Afreximbank had financed the construction, expansion and refurbishment of trade enabling infrastructure across the continent, stated Mr. Awambeng. It was also supporting African countries to diversify their economies away from dependence on mono-export, by partnering with governments and international manufactures/processors to promote value addition, implementing financing and non-financing programmes to prepare businesses to take advantage of the AfCFTA, and providing support to local banks meet trade finance obligations.
Celestin Tawamba, President of Le Groupemen Inter patronal du Cameroun (GICAM), the leading network of business leaders in Cameroon, said that the major challenges confronting business promoters in the Central Africa region included difficulty in mobilising financing for projects and lack of access to trade information.
The roadshow was, therefore, an opportunity for the members of the private sector to exchange ideas with a key financial institution in order to obtain information about available solutions that could assist in addressing the specific difficulties of businesses in the region, he said.
Responding, Dr. Fritz Ntone Ntone, the chief representative of the Government Delegate to the Douala City Council, said that, with the entry into force of the AfCFTA, the programmes and facilities from Afreximbank presented major opportunities for businesses in Cameroon and the Central Africa region to engage in intra-African trade. The roadshow featured presentations on the various products, programmes and facilities offered by Afreximbank to promote and support trade across Africa.
More than 250 business leaders from all the key sectors of the Cameroonian economy participated in the roadshow which was hosted in the offices of GICAM.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
