AfDB scales up industrialization pace on the continent, delivers improved business access to finance, skills, energy
Adesola Afolabi
May 24, 2018
The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it has scaled up industrialization pace on the continent as it has delivered improved business access to transport, energy and skills in the past year. The development bank made the disclosure Thursday in its Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) released at the Bank’s annual meetings in Busan, South Korea. […]
Verve, UBA partner to support Zambia’s subsidy disbursement programme
Businessam StaffMarch 31, 2018
Verve International has signed a partnership agreement with the United Bank for Africa to deliver cost-effective prepaid cards to farmers under the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture’s FISP programme. It was gathered that as part of the partnership deal, UBA will issue Verve prepaid cards in the next season of the Farmers Input Support Programme, an […]
IDB to finance Iraqi infrastructure with $500m – president
Businessam StaffFebruary 14, 2018
Ahmed Mohamed Ali al-Madani, the president of Islamic Development Bank (IDB), said the bank is ready to finance Iraq infrastructure with $500 million, The president said this in Kuwait on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Donors and investors have gathered in Kuwait to discuss efforts to rebuild Iraq’s economy and infrastructure as it emerges from a devastating conflict […]
Namibia GDP growth seen accelerating to 2.2% this year- finance minister
Businessam StaffFebruary 9, 2018
Calle Schlettwein, Namibia’s finance minister said on Friday that the country’s economic growth is expected to accelerate to 2.2 percent this year from an estimated 1.6 percent growth in 2016, supported by higher commodity prices. “We expect improvement due to rising commodity prices although some of the revenue increases might be offset by an (unfavourable) exchange […]
EU aims 2025 Balkans expansion to check Russia, China rising influence
BusinessamFebruary 7, 2018
The European Union has indicated that it hopes to add some of the continent’s poorest countries to its bloc in order to check the influence of Russia, China and Turkey in the Balkans. The EU’s executive branch on Tuesday set a target date of 2025 for some of the Balkan countries to join. Membership would […]
Angola seeks to rescue economy, joins other oil nations to drop dollar peg
Businessam StaffJanuary 5, 2018
Angola is poised to become the latest emerging nation to abandon its currency peg as it seeks to rescue an economy still reeling from the oil-price crash four years ago. The southern African nation, an OPEC member, said this week, according to report by Bloomberg, it would let the kwanza trade within a new band. […]
China unveils plan for world’s biggest carbon-trading market
Businessam StaffDecember 19, 2017
China unveiled its plan for a national carbon market, creating the world’s biggest trading system for the climate-warming emissions. The market will initially involve only the power sector, National Development and Reform Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Yong said Tuesday at a briefing in Beijing. While that’s a pullback from a previous plan to include eight […]
South African rand, bank stocks rally on hopes of Ramaphosa victory
Businessam StaffDecember 18, 2017
South African assets rallied early Monday as investor hopes grew that pro-reform candidate Cyril Ramaphosa was likely to have secured a victory in the ruling ANC’s knife-edge leadership contest. According to Financial Times (FT) report, the rand suffered a bumpy start to the day as it became clear that the vote would go down to […]
South Korea building a $35bn city designed to eliminate the need for cars
Businessam StaffDecember 15, 2017
When residents of the International Business District (IBD) in Songdo, South Korea go to work, pick up their kids from school, or shop for groceries, driving is optional, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report. That’s because the $35 billion district — currently a work-in-progress about the size of downtown Boston — was designed […]
Bitcoin boom presents higher risk to Japanese FX brokers – Deutsche Bank
Businessam StaffDecember 15, 2017
Swelling cryptocurrencies interest among retail investors in Japan means that foreign exchange brokers in the Asian country face a “higher risk of failure”, an analyst at Deutsche Bank has warned. Retail investors are “shifting from leveraged FX trading to leveraged cryptocurrency trading,” reckons Masao Muraki, global financial strategist at the German bank, in a note […]