The African Development Bank delivered a forceful response on Thursday, after World Bank President David Malpass suggested the AfDB was among multinational development banks that are too quick to lend and therefore adding to the debt burden in African nations. Malpass specifically mentioned AfDB loans to Nigeria and South Africa…
Last week the Senegalese government announced a $93.3 million project to promote entrepreneurship in rural communities. Called the Rural Youth Agripreneur Support Project, the initiative is backed by a $51.9 million loan from the International Fund for Rural Development (IFAD) and will provide training and financial support to young people…
In Zimbabwe, crisis is in the air again. Two years after the country’s long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted in a military coup, a crippling energy crisis forces people to live by candlelight as the economy is lurching back towards hyper-inflationary territory. After years of turmoil under Robert Mugabe, the…
Arnaud is a French freelance writer with an African heart who has lived in 10 different Sub-Saharan countries in the past decade. He is currently based in Paris.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Togo on Wednesday, meeting with President Faure Gnassingbé as part of a long-term consulting project to boost economic development in the small West African nation. Blair has been doing consulting work with African countries for the past decade, and launched the Tony…
The African Development Bank was ranked fourth in the world in the latest Aid Transparency Index Report, an independent measure of the world’s major development and humanitarian agencies. “The index found that while organizations provide information on the objectives of their operations, only four DFIs – the Asian Development Bank,…
No one talked very much ahead of the fossil-fuel conference hosted by Pope Francis at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican this weekend: not the participants, not the Vatican, and not the University of Notre Dame in the United States, a Roman Catholic institution that co-sponsored the event….
The European Union has signed a new Economic Cooperation Agreement with Liberia, and provided an initial €27 million in funding for the West African nation’s budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The commitment follows President George Weah’s trip to attend the annual European Development Days (EDD) Summit, held this week…
Environmental activists in The Gambia say they’re winning their battle to protect a coastal wildlife preserve that is home to the endangered Temminck’s red colobus monkey and other species. Green Up Gambia says the plans promoted by President Adama Barrow and his government to build a luxury hotel, mall and…
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya delivered his State of the Nation address Wednesday with an emphasis on unity amid the lingering consequences of last year’s bitterly contested presidential election. To that end, he praised unsuccessful Nasa candidate Raila Odinga for seeking to heal their divisions and called on Kenyans to…
Biodiversity continues to decline in every region of the world, and that’s especially a concern for Africa, according to newly released regional reports from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). “Africa is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and this is going to have…
Malawi launched its new five-year development plan on Tuesday during a ceremony at Kamuzu Palace, the State House in Lilongwe. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III emphasizes climate priorities, alongside agriculture and water resources, in a vision that runs through 2022 and builds on the previous version. It…
China has fired back at the United States after claims by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Beijing’s approach to African development is one of dependency and indebtedness. Tillerson, now in Ethiopia as he begins a five-nation African tour, made the remarks prior to departing the U.S. “We partner…
Most Africans want to pay their taxes, according to a new paper from the Ghana-based Afrobarometer research network, but good governance is the key to seeing those citizen dollars go into the public coffers for much-needed revenue. Overall, 63 percent of respondents said taxes are necessary for development, while 72…
Hundreds of African government and business leaders are joining their Chinese counterparts in Morocco as the country hosts the China Africa Investment Forum. They were welcomed by Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s trade minister, with a number of high-level leaders on hand for panel discussions. Monday’s CAIF sessions focused on China’s…
The future of Africa’s youth seems to be on everyone’s mind. Chad is playing host to the Pan African Youth Forum through Saturday, where 300 young people from 54 countries are engaged in a core discussion of how to take full advantage of the continent’s “demographic dividend.” Heads of state…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times