January 2013 Blog Posts (8)

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a line of credit of 13 million euros to support small and medium enterprises and industries (SME/SMI) in Niger. The line of credit (LoC) provided to Société Nigérienne des Banques (SONIBANK) will allow to respond to the SME/SMIs’ need of financing in various sectors including agro-food, poultry, construction, public…

MasterCard and Equity Bank of Kenya today announced an agreement at a signing ceremony in Nairobi to issue five million MasterCard-branded debit and prepaid cards, over the next 18 months. This program empowers African consumers to use electronic payments which provide a safe and secure way to pay, versus cash and other forms of…

United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc., one of Africa’s leading financial services institutions, has been given  impressive ratings by two top world leading rating agencies, Global Credit Rating Co. (GCR) and Fitch Ratings (Fitch). The good ratings attest the Group’s strong liquidity, solid risk management and robust balance sheet.

GCR assigned UBA a long term national rating of…

Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement in Abidjan today at the conclusion of her visit to Côte d’Ivoire:

“It has been a pleasure to be in Côte d’Ivoire on my first visit to this warm and hospitable country as IMF Managing Director. I wish to thank President Alassane Ouattara, Prime Minister and…

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the fifth review of Tanzania’s economic performance under the Policy Support Instrument (PSI) and the first review under the precautionary Standby Credit Facility (SCF) arrangement. In completing the SCF review the Board made available for disbursement an additional SDR 37.3 million (about US$57 million),…

Mr. Masood Ahmed, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), visited Cairo on January 7, 2013. During his visit, Mr. Ahmed met with President Mohamed Morsi, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, Central Bank of Egypt Governor Farouk El Okdah, Finance Minister Al-Mursi Hegazy, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf…

Foremost Nigerian financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank plc has re-affirmed its commitment to the safety of stakeholder funds as it prepares for the 2013 financial year. Investigations show the Bank has installed several new technologies and introduced a number of internal procedures that enable it identify spurious transactions and prevent frauds on customer…

The World Bank executed a US$1 billion currency swap transaction for Morocco to manage its exposure to the US dollar from a recent bond issuance. This transaction supports Morocco’s currency risk management strategy by hedging against fluctuations between the US dollar, in which bond payments will be made, and the Euro.

"This transaction is part of the strategy the Ministry of Economy and…