World Bank Group announced Thursday it is providing USD$22.5 billion to Africa for climate mitigation and adaptation across five years beginning with 2021, adding to the $17 billion already committed through the Africa Climate Business Plan. The announcement was made during the One Planet Summit in Nairobi, with President Uhuru…
The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States says that new information from sophisticated monitoring systems, as well as insights from the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, led to its decision Wednesday to ban Boeing 737 MAX8 and MAX9 flights in the U.S. The FAA grounded all flights…
Amid the global aviation chaos caused by the grounding of Boeing 737MAX aircraft in the wake of Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines tragedy, comes the news that a software upgrade planned for the planes is delayed because of a 35-day United States government shutdown in December and January. The Wall Street Journal…
The cost of remittances for African migrants was the focus of a three-day meeting in Ghana, as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other stakeholders looked at how to improve access. While the money sent home to families in sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise, the cost to transfer…
While the European Union has declined to impose additional sanctions against Zimbabwe, there remains much concern over human rights and democratic principles amid the country’s economic and political crisis. “We have seen a crackdown on demonstrations in January – just a month ago – as well as the disproportionate use of force by…
South Africa has issued the latest appeal to the international community to lift longstanding sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in order to alleviate pressures contributing to its economic and political crises. “Zimbabwe has been going through a challenging socioeconomic situation, which has inadvertently had an impact on South Africa. We have…
Sierra Leone has begun a long-awaited inquiry to determine what happened to millions in funding during the nation’s devastating Ebola crisis – money that government officials and outbreak survivors say never reached Ebola patients and their communities. The funds went missing as more than 14,000 people in Sierra Leone contracted…
Africa is leading the way with mobile money accounts, and its sub-Saharan countries are the only region in the world where more than 10 percent of adults have such access. In some places, including Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire, that’s more people than have a traditional bank account. That’s according to…
The United States on Thursday announced the launch of the new Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (WGDP) with the aim of reaching 50 million women across the world by 2025. The White House rolled out the plan as U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka promoted it in a Wall…
An innovative fintech project in Togo aims to protect street children who work and make money, but don’t have access to banking or similar financial services. It launched this week with the first 30 participants, on the way to a target of 150 youth made safer and more money-smart by…
Investigative reporters in India say they’ve uncovered what appears to be the biggest banking scam in the nation’s history, with a housing finance firm at the center and the money stashed in offshore assets in Mauritius, Dubai and other destination countries. Cobrapost, a nonprofit journalism outlet, presented its case against…
The United States on Monday announced criminal charges are filed against Chinese telecom giant Huawei, including relevant subsidiaries and executives, because of alleged violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran and related financial crimes. The Department of Justice filing targets Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou among them: She is charged with bank…
President Mokgweetsi Masisi returned to Botswana at the weekend, after the southern African nation was invited to participate in the World Economic Forum at Davos for the first time – and he said there was “a lot of excitement” when the delegation told the Botswana story. “We met a whole…
When it comes to a unified African market – the topic of Tuesday’s panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos – Bernard Gautier, deputy CEO of French investment firm Wendel Group, made it easy to see the existing barriers to business and Africa’s economic growth. There’s an office…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
By Miguel Sanz João Lourenço has been president of Angola since September 2017. About one year later, he cemented his hold on power by taking over the chairmanship of the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA). Although he reshuffled the government, for instance by replacing the transport minister, and the…