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Ethiopia grants Kenya’s Safaricom licence for mobile money transfer operations

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Kenyan telecoms operator, Safaricom has been granted an operating mobile money transfer licence by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).

The NBE announced in a statement that it had “today issued the mobile money transfer services licence to Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service Plc”.

“This is the first mobile money transfer licence granted to a foreign investor in Ethiopia,” the NBE added.

The licence is the first for a foreign operator in the country’s 100 per cent Ethiopian banking sector.

Safaricom in a statement said the government had adjusted its regulations to accommodate it. “Before issuing the licence, the NBE amended the National Payment Systems legislation to establish the necessary regulatory framework for foreign telecom operators to provide Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in Ethiopia.”

“We strongly support the spread of digital payment systems as a substitute for cash transactions,” says the NBE, as Ethiopia announced last year its intention to open its banking sector to foreign players.

Last week, a senior official at Ethiopia’s central bank, Solomon Desta revealed that the country planned to issue up to five banking licences to foreign investors in the next five years.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and 29 other locally owned participants make up the majority of the banking industry in Ethiopia but Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration lately has prioritized the opening up of the banking industry.

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

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Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

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The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.

 

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