No image available
/ 3 May 2008

African Development Bank pledges $1bn food aid

African Development Bank pledged -billion more for food aid on Friday as soaring commodity prices raise fears of famine, and it urged grain-exporting countries not to restrict shipments. The bank said that its agriculture portfolio will grow to ,8-billion, and it was restructuring a portion of that to free up -million to be used more quickly.

No image available
/ 23 January 2008

A bank in every African pocket?

With most formal banks inaccessible to many Africans, the service of cellphone banking is expanding to the poor on the continent. Mary Kimani examines how financial institutions are extending their services through the ubiquitous usage of cellphones in rural areas.

No image available
/ 29 November 2006

Central African Republic repays World Bank debt

The Central African Republic this week cleared its arrears to the World Bank, thanks to a loan by the French government and a grant by the World Bank, that will restore its ties with international donors, a senior bank official said on Tuesday. The move comes as the former French colony tries to resurrect ties with the international community after years of political and economic instability.

No image available
/ 10 November 2006

World Bank highlights African challenges

The World Bank has highlighted infrastructure investment, improving the investment climate, harnessing skills for innovation and building institutional capacity as critical areas demanding action in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank says success on these four fronts will help the region and Africa as a whole make up for missing two decades of global growth.

No image available
/ 14 July 2006

World Bank to help East African power crisis

The World Bank is preparing funding for Tanzania and Uganda to help the East African countries cope with a power crisis triggered by a three-year drought, bank officials said on Thursday. Tanzania and Uganda have been worst hit by the power crisis and are currently enforcing rolling blackouts that are hurting their economies and stretching financial resources.

No image available
/ 5 December 2005

African leaders pick banker as new Côte d’Ivoire PM

African mediators on Sunday appointed central banker Charles Konan Banny as transitional prime minister to lead the war-ravaged Côte d’Ivoire into elections next year. Banny (63) will be given broad powers specified by the United Nations Security Council, including financial and human resources, control over security and defence forces and oversight of the electoral process.

No image available
/ 26 April 2002

West African states to strategise with Bank, IMF, EU

Lagos | Wednesday A DELEGATION of the west African regional grouping Ecowas is scheduled to meet in Washington with representatives of the European Union, Bretton Woods institutions and African Development Bank (ADB) on cooperation, a statement said on Tuesday. The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said in the statement sent from Abuja that […]

No image available
/ 9 October 2001

WORLD BANK: DEATH KNELL FOR AFRICAN FARMERS: BOVE

RADICAL French farmer leader and anti-globalisation activist Jose Bove on Wednesday accused the World Bank of “destroying” Africa’s agricultural output. “The World Bank is destroying agricultural production capacity in countries in west Africa where between 60 to 85% of the population are farmers,” he said. On Monday, World bank chief James Wolfensohn said the September […]