Ethiopia
Summer Wheat Production Progressing Well, Says PM Abiy
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that summer wheat production has been progressing well in the country. The government of Ethiopia has been working to enhance wheat import substitution by intensifying the domestic wheat production in various parts of the country. Read More

PM Launches National Manufacturing Industry Movement to Enhance Competitiveness
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a national manufacturing industry movement that aims at boosting competitiveness of the sector by solving the bottlenecks. Read More

Ethiopia to Conduct Third Round of Vaccination Campaign Against COVID-19
Ethiopian Ministry of Health revealed that the 3rd round of vaccination campaign against COVID-19 will begin next month. Read More

Livestock Market Information System Useful for Regional Livestock Trade: Ministry
The effective implementation of the National Livestock Market Information System in Ethiopia is benefiting stakeholders and is useful for regional livestock trade and integration, according to the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration. Read More

Kenya
Kenya Power Pays KES 1 Billion to US Energy Firm Ormat
Kenya Power last month wired KES 1 billion (approx. USD 8.6 million) to US energy firm Ormat Technologies, to offset a power purchase bill owed by the electricity distributor, the American firm says. Read More

CRB Listing Freeze Hurting Personal Loans, Say Lenders
The suspension of listing of borrowers defaulting on loans of less than KES 5 million (approx. USD 43,000) is hurting lending and credit risk management in personal loans, lenders say. Read More

Wealthy Fail to Claim 2,600 Safe Desposit Boxes in Banks
Wealthy individuals and families have failed to claim 2,648 safe boxes, despite the State lacking a strong room to keep the secret properties. The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority said the number of safe deposit boxes declared by banks jumped 56 percent from 1,691 in June 2020 and 962 in June 2017. Read More

Used Truck Dealers Risk Closure on Imports Ban
Dealers in used commercial vehicles have protested the impending ban on second-hand imports of buses and trucks, saying the market dynamics will threaten their viability once the restrictions are enforced. Read More

Rwanda 
Rwanda to Benefit from USD 25 Million Initiative for Climate Resilient Crop Varieties
Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi are set to benefit from a regional initiative dubbed “Transforming Agri-Food Systems in West and Central Africa” which is aimed to increase food security and combat climate crisis. Read More

MTN Rwanda Reports Strong Performance in The First Quarter of 2022
MTN Rwandacell has released its first quarter results for the period ended 31 March 2022 through the Rwanda Stock Exchange. Comparing March 2022 to March 2021, the company saw an increase in total mobile subscribers of 306,000 closing its customer base at 6.5 million and an increase in active data users of 453,000 closing the active data user base at 2.2 million. Read More

CHOGM2022 Will Foster Commonwealth Prosperity - Secretary General
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022 (CHOGM2022) will be held from June 20 to 25 in Kigali, Rwanda. This is the 26th CHOGM since 1971, and the second to be held in Africa after that held in Uganda in 2007. Read More

Tanzania
RSF Deplores Owner's Decision to Close Leading Algerian Daily
Stiff competition saw the change in the market share structure last year as airlines competed to stay afloat amid the Covid-19 pandemic impacts. Read More

Norway Launches Clean Energy Transition Report in Tanzania
The Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania has launched the report it has commissioned on the Clean Energy Transition in Tanzania at an event held in Dar es Salaam. Read More

Uganda
Government Takes Covid-19 Fight to Schools
The government will start vaccinating 6.6 million children aged 12-17 years when the new school term opens on 9 May, according to Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health. Read More

Algeria
Algeria Authorises Purchase of 15 New Aircraft for Air Algerie
The Algerian cabinet has authorised the national airline, Air Algerie, to purchase 15 new aircraft to open new routes to African and Asian destinations. Read More

Egypt
NBE, ABE Grant General Authority for Reconstruction Projects, Agricultural Development Joint Loan Worth EGP 3 Billion
The National Bank of Egypt, in its capacity as a financing agent and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt in its capacity as a guarantor, signed a joint loan contract for the benefit of the General Authority for Reconstruction Projects and Agricultural Development with a value of EGP 3 billion (approx. USD 162 million).  Read More

Target Misr Expo Kicks Off on 13 May
The third edition of the Target Misr EXPO will be kicking-off on 13 May in Dusit Thani Hotel in New Cairo with the participation of major real estate companies from the Egyptian market and will run for two days. Read More

SODIC to Open Civil Registry Office with Premium Services in SODIC West
SODIC, a leading real estate developer in Egypt, is expected to open a civil registry office with premium services at the Strip in SODIC West after signing an agreement with Egypt’s Ministry of Interior this week. Read More

EGP 2 Billion Allocated to Supporting Special Funds in Governorates, Ensuring Social Stability for Workers: Finance Minister
Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said in a statement that the funds and accounts of the governorates were supported by EGP 2 billion (approx. USD 108 million) in FY2021/22 to pay the salaries of employees on time, adding that the amount allocated in the last quarter reached EGP 439.5 million (approx. USD 24 million). Read More

Morocco
Moroccan Dirham Edges Higher Against Euro, Declines Against US Dollar
Morocco’s currency, MAD rose slightly higher by 0.18 percent against the euro in the week between 28 April, and 4 May. Over the same period, the Moroccan dirham fell by 0.33 percent against the US Dollar, according to data from Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib. Read More

Angola Seeks to Strengthen Relations With Morocco
Angola’s roving ambassador Bernardo Mbala Domble met with Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, carrying a message to King Mohammed VI from Angolan President Joao Lourenco. Read More

Morocco to Ease Travel Restrictions Before Operation Marhaba
The government is planning to ease travel restrictions ahead of the launch in June of Operation Marhaba 2022, an initiative facilitating the return of the Moroccan diaspora for the summer holidays.  Read More

Two Moroccans on Forbes’ ‘Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands’ List
Forbes has featured two Moroccan businesswomen on its “30 Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands 2022” and “20 Women Behind Middle Eastern Tech Brands 2022” lists. The two successful, celebrated business leaders are the Founder of IZIL Mouna Abbassy and the co-Founder of Chari.co Sophia Alj. Read More

Five Counters Boost MSE in April 2022
The 16-counter Malawi Stock Exchange registered a positive return on the index in April as reflected in the upward movement of Malawi All Share Index buoyed by price gains in five counters. Read More

Banks Buoyant in 2021 
Malawi Stock Exchange listed stocks in the banking sector have posted profits in the year-ended 2021, a situation which shows the recovery process from the Covid-19 pandemic is on track, analysts have said.  Read More

Mozambique
Casa do Agricultor is rebranded as AQI
Casa Do Agricultor has been renamed as AQI and marked this change by opening its 14th store in Baia Mall in Maputo. Read More

The second phase of the sustainable fishing program launched
Mozambique’s Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters, and Fisheries, Lidia Cardoso, on Friday, announced that the second phase of the “More Sustainable Fish” program will cover all the districts in the seven provinces in the north and center of the country. Read More

South Africa
OADC Edge South Africa goes live
WIOCC's Open Access Data Centres has deployed Africa's first large-scale, open-access edge data center environment, OADC Edge, in South Africa. Read More

Zapper Launches Tap-on-phone Payments Functionality
Independent mobile payments, insights, loyalty, and rewards platform Zapper has announced that their merchants would now be able to accept tap-on-phone payments. Read More

Why Unclaimed Retirement Benefits in the Mining Sector Are so High
Union Funds in the mining industry are holding particularly large sums in unclaimed benefits, for several reasons, including poor record-keeping. Read More

Eskom’s Problems Primarily Due to Failure of ANC’s Policies
The problems of Eskom are unfortunately not technical in nature, but primarily failures of policy on the part of the ANC government. Read More

Nigeria
NGX Extends Rally, Emerges Best Performing Bourse in Africa
The Nigerian Exchange extended its bull run for the 16 successive sessions last week, becoming the best performing market in Africa and third in the world, as prices of many stocks hit a new high in the past year. Read More

NAP to Enhance FX Earnings, Boost Agro-Export Competitiveness, says Presidency
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council has said that the reforms undertaken by the Seventh National Action Plan are geared toward enhancing Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings as stated in the Agro-Export Plan. Read More

Investment firm to restructure SMEs for funding opportunities
Financial and investment firm, Cedrus Group Africa, has stressed its resolve to leverage technology and roll out innovative products that would help aggregate Small and Medium Enterprises across Africa and structure them for easy accessibility of funds. Read More

NAICOM Targets NGN 6 Trillion GPI by 2030, Tasks Players on Cooperation
The National Insurance Commission has revealed plans to grow the industry’s gross premium income from NGN 630 billion (approx. USD 1.5 million) in 2021 to NGN 6 trillion (approx. USD 14.4 billion) by the year 2030 but cashing on the support of stakeholders and operators to develop a sustainable initiative for deepening penetration. Read More