ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, July 31, 2025/ — The African Development Bank’s 2025 Country Focus Report for Burkina Faso (www.AfDB.org), the national version of the African Economic Outlook, was officially launched on 18 July 2025 in Ouagadougou. The ceremony was chaired by Souleymane Nabolé, Technical Advisor, representing the Minister of Economy and Finance, in the presence of Daniel Ndoye, the Bank Group’s Country Manager for Burkina Faso. Run virtually, the session brought together more than 80 participants from the public administration, technical and financial partners, the research community and the private…
Day: July 31, 2025
Petrofund Launches Flagship Scholarship to Empower Namibian Youth in Oil and Gas
WALVIS BAY, Namibia, July 31, 2025/ — Namibia’s Petroleum Training and Education Fund (Petrofund) officially launched its flagship scholarship program during the 2nd Youth in Oil and Gas Summit, reinforcing its commitment to building a highly skilled national workforce for the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sector. The new scholarship,the statement said, complements the Namibian government’s free tertiary education policy by fully funding undergraduate and postgraduate students in engineering, geosciences, paramedics and technical vocational training disciplines relevant to upstream oil and gas operations. Courses will be offered at accredited institutions…
Climate change is making Africa’s debt burden worse – new debt contracts could help
The Conversation First Published,July 30,2025 Author: Magalie Masamba(Extraordinary lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria) Many African countries are already struggling with heavy debt burdens. Climate change is making this worse. Africa contributes the least to global emissions but suffers the most from extreme weather, rising temperatures and drought. These disasters affect not just people’s livelihoods but also national revenues, making debt repayment harder. Yet traditional debt contracts don’t account for this. The link between these pressure points is becoming undeniable. As climate-related disasters worsen, debt-laden countries are left…
Libya Islamic Bank-Backbase Join Hands to Bring Digital-first Banking to Libyan Customers
Backbase, the global leader in AI-powered banking technology, has announced in Tripoli,Thursday,the recent successful platform launch of Libyan Islamic Bank (LIB), one of the country’s fastest-growing financial institutions. This achievement,the announcement noted, represents Backbase’s first platform launch in Libya, underscoring its commitment to expanding state-of-the-art, customer-centric banking across North Africa. From ambition to impact As a digitally focused bank, LIB set out to differentiate itself through an experience-led approach to banking. In collaboration with Backbase, the bank laid the groundwork for a customer-first operating model that is built for speed,…
Op-Ed: Financing Energy Access in Africa: Leveraging Fossil Fuel Revenues to End Energy Poverty (By NJ Ayuk)
NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org) In an emissions-focused world, do oil and gas revenues have a role to play in ending energy poverty in Africa? It may sound counterintuitive, but many would argue that they do, albeit as enablers of a future powered by alternative energy sources. The key lies in recognizing that Africa’s situation is unique, and solutions take time, building on what we have and what we can do with it. This means that, in working towards a just energy transition, the continent’s oil and…