World Bank Archives - Page 2 of 2

16Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

World Bank: Unleashing the Power of Africa’s Private Sector Key to Continent’s Growth

TOKYO, October, 2012 – The private sector is a key but underused resource for Africa’s development, as much of the continent’s savings go yet untapped for investment. Speaking at the Africa Investor CEO Summit in Tokyo, Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa, stressed that public private partnerships (PPPs) can be an important instrument to mobilize these resources and address the estimated US$30 billion per year infrastructure financing gap in Africa, particularly in energy and transport. Diop highlighted that despite the global economic crisis, growth prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa remain very positive at an expected 4.8% in 2012, while private capital flows will slow somewhat. According to him, the region’s resilience in face of the international crisis is a testam...

8Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

World Bank Launches New Fund to Help African Countries Negotiate Best-Possible Deals for their Oil, Gas, and Minerals

PARIS, October, 2012―With new discoveries of oil, gas, and other minerals generating a wave of significant mineral wealth in African countries, the World Bank today launched a new fund to help countries on the continent level the playing field and ensure equitable deals in their natural resource contracts with international companies. With Africa holding 15% of the world’s oil reserves, 40% of its gold, and about 80% of the platinum group of metals, natural resources represent important development opportunities for the continent. For example, oil production has been growing steadily in Africa, and is expected to continue to rise at an average rate of six percent per year for the foreseeable future. At the 40th Anniversary Meeting of the Zone Franc Monetary Union in Paris today, attended b...

8Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Despite Global Slowdown, African Economies Growing Strongly― New Oil, Gas, and Mineral Wealth an Opportunity for Inclusive Development

WASHINGTON, October, 2012 – Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8 percent in 2012, broadly unchanged from the 4.9 percent growth rate in 2011 and largely on track despite setbacks in the global economy, according to the World Bank’s new Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects. Excluding South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to rise to 6 percent. African exports rebounded notably in the first quarter of 2012, growing at an annual pace of 32 percent, up from the -11 percent pace recorded in the last quarter of 2011. African countries have not been immune to the recent bout of market volatility stemming from the Euro Area crisis, as well as the growth slowdown that is occurring in some ...

26Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Business in Africa is booming. But are the commercial laws strong enough to sustain long-term growth ?

An authoritative introduction to the commercial laws being instituted in West and Central Africa through the OHADA harmonization process is published in London this week. Source: IEDP Unified Business Laws for Africa: Common Law Perspectives on OHADA is now available from IEDP. (PRWEB UK) 20 July 2012 The World Bank has just approved an International Development Association (IDA)* US$15 million technical assistance grant to strengthen OHADA's institutional capacity to support, in its member countries, selected aspects of investment climate reforms, including improved corporate financial reporting. President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has just signed the instruments of ratification of the OHADA treaty and OHADA will become the applicable law in DRC on Sept ...

26Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News, Zambia News

Regionalism

by Chikomborero Dengu (chikodengu @ gmail.com) Regionalism (Microsoft Word) Introduction There is an increasing recognition for the need to improve the political and economic environment of a country or region via collective action . This recognition is borne out of the realisation that countries or indeed regions are competing with themselves for scarce resources . This essay intends to dissect the concept of new regionalism and whilst briefly looking at how it has evolved . With reference to the last point this paper will attempt to link the concept of new regionalism to the recent surge in Regional Trade Agreements (RTA).[1] The crux of this essay however lay in establishing the reasons for increases in RTA’s , that is to say both economic and political positives of jo...

16Jul

By AfricaBusiness.comNo Comments

African News, Ethiopia News, Kenya News

World Bank Approves New Power Transmission Line between Ethiopia and Kenya to Boost Electricity and Economic Growth in East Africa

Washington, July 12, 2012 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved the Eastern Electricity Highway Project, which will connect Ethiopia’s electrical grid with Kenya’s, create power- sharing between the two countries, reduce energy costs, promote sustainable and renewable power generation, better protect the region’s environment, and pave the way for more dynamic regional cooperation between the countries of East Africa. The new project marks the first phase of a regional East Africa power integration program which is likely to cost US$1.3 billion at completion, eventually benefiting 212 million people living in five countries with a combined GDP of US$107 billion. Together with the Governments of Ethiopia and Kenya, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and ...

9Jul

By AfricaBusiness.comNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy

SunEdison Closes 98 MW of Solar Projects in Europe

SunEdison demonstrates its ability to deploy high value solar assets in Europe and to structure complex transactions attracting world class financing partners BELMONT, Calif., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- SunEdison, a leading worldwide solar energy services provider and a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), today provided additional details on the solar project closings announced last week. The company closed three transactions involving approximately 98 megawatts (MWp) of photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Europe during the second quarter. The transactions include the sale of a 60MWp power plant in Bulgaria to a consortium of investors consisting of an affiliate of First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund, Crescent Capital and ACWA Power; a 13 MWp portfolio of projects in...

11Jun

By The African Press OrganizationNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy

IFC and Norway’s Scatec Solar to Develop Solar Power in West and Central Africa

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Scatec Solar, a Norwegian company specializing in photovoltaic solar systems, have signed an agreement to develop solar power projects that will supply renewable energy to address electricity needs in parts of West and Central Africa. IFC InfraVentures, the Global Infrastructure Project Development Fund, and Scatec Solar will develop, design, finance, construct and operate solar photovoltaic plants generating at least 10 megawatts of power. They plan to build a portfolio of projects in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, and Togo. This is the first time a multilateral financial institution is partnering with a private company to develop solar power energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ag...

9Feb

By AfricaBusiness.comNo Comments

Tanzania News, Zambia News

Africa Loses Billions in Potential Trade Earnings, Falls Short of Vast Promise in Cross-Border Business―New World Bank Report

Washington, February 7, 2012 – With African leaders now calling for a continental free trade area by 2017 to boost trade within the continent, a new World Bank report shows how African countries are losing out on billions of dollars in potential trade earnings every year because of high trade barriers with neighboring countries, and that it is easier for Africa to trade with the rest of the world than with itself. According to the new report―De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Trade Integration in Goods and Services―regional fragmentation could become even more costly for the continent with new World Bank forecasts suggesting that economic slowdown in the Eurozone could shave Africa’s growth by up to 1.3 percentage points this year. As the authors write, “while uncertainty surrounds ...