SpotlightSOUTHERN AFRICA
An International Monetary Fund team left Gabon early this week after a long annual consultation mission during which it laid out its conditions for granting the country a new loan programme. They include the scrapping of numerous tax and customs exemption regimes, and in particular one in place for the Nkok special economic zone. [...]
The calls for tender for Prodigy, the project to digitalise Madagascar's institutions, have not yet been launched, but Sipromad, Alibaba and Pangea IT are already keen to get a slice of the $143m the World Bank is contributing to the scheme. [...]
The Austrian businessman Gerhard Weiser, who planned to build a gigantic hydrotherapy centre in El Khbayet, in the stronghold of Ennahda boss Rached Ghannouchi, has thrown in the towel. Turkish firm Hattusa is working to take over the project, with the help of development minister Ali Kooli. [...]
It seems the Senate president Modeste Bahati Lukwebo, who is also a leading player in the South Kivu business world, may have played a key role in the decision of the province's governor to authorise the resumption of gold mining in Luhihi. [...]
The Canadian junior is unable to explore its gold, copper and zinc project in northern Ethiopia because of the conflict there. Its boss recently met with mining authorities in neighbouring Sudan, which is riding high after the lifting of US sanctions and good news from the recent Paris conference on African economies. [...]
#Gabon Spymaster Jean-Norbert Madjoupa, who is at odds with his deputy, delegates his powers to other more trusted officers when he travels abroad. https://t.co/h4LCrOtJhJ
#IvoryCoast The Ivorian authorities are betting on the CI-11 block and the relaunch of a gas terminal plan - projects that have been neglected in recent years - to try to end the power cuts plaguing the country. #gas https://t.co/EmmzQjLBXR
#DRC Felix Tshisekedi's (@Presidence_RDC) inner circle, keen to renegotiate contracts signed with Beijing under ex-president Joseph #Kabila, has consulted numerous law firms and advisory banks in what looks set to be a Herculean task. https://t.co/Yc7RquhAI2
