First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco’s second biggest lender, BCP, said its net banking income rose 10.6% to 22.8 billion dirhams in 2023. This performance is attributed to the strengthening of the interest margin by 1.9%, an 8% growth in the commission margin, and an increase in the result from market activities by 65.8%, the bank said. The bank’s net […]
Amid a shortage of truck and bus drivers across Europe, Spain is looking to Morocco to hire 26,000 drivers who will be allowed to use their Moroccan driving permits. The recognition of Morocco’s driving licenses was signed during Sanchez visit to Rabat last year, sparing Moroccan truck and bus drivers a test which they had […]
India and Ethiopia are in the final stages of finalizing a defense cooperation pact, Ethiopia’s ambassador to New Delhi said. Under the agreement, to be likely signed after India’s general elections, India will offer equipment and training to Ethiopia’s army, ambassador Demeke Atnafu told Indian news outlet The Print. The deal was evoked by Indian […]
Trade between Morocco and China grew by 50% from 2021 to 2022 as China becomes Morocco’s first trading partner in Asia. Mehdi Laraki, head of Morocco-China business council, told le360 that Chinese investments in Morocco totaled 56 million dollars in 2022 in vital fields such as industry, transport, real estate, and energy. There has been […]
European and other Western companies face losing out on sub-Saharan African lithium supply to Chinese companies whose grip on the critical mineral got even tighter last year when African exports of lithium, which mostly go to China, rose sharply between August and November. Already dominant in the cobalt and copper sectors in Africa, China is […]
The expectation for an ECOWAS single currency to be launched by 2027 is no longer realistic, according to the director-general of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), Olorunsola Olowofeso, who imputed the delay to the inability of all the WAMZ member states to meet all the required criteria. “The quest for a single currency by […]
Morocco, which has released an offer to investors, expects to sign the first preliminary contracts to produce green hydrogen in the country in the fourth quarter this year. Some 100 investors have expressed interest in Morocco’s green hydrogen potential, said Mohcen Jazouli, minister in charge of investment in an interview with Medias24. Investors will have […]
Xlinks, which plans to export renewable energy from Morocco to the UK, said it is also assessing feasibility of other links with markets including Germany. This came in a statement in response to a Bloomberg article claiming the British company is abandoning the UK for the German market. “Xlinks was founded to promote the development […]
Head of the African Development Bank called for an end to loans in exchange for oil or critical minerals, which helped countries like China control vast resources in the continent. In an interview with the Associated press, AFDB chief Akinwumi Adesina explained how such loans lead to undervaluing natural resources of African countries and further […]
Nigeria said it had secured 1.3 billion dollars needed to build a rail connection with neighboring Niger, a landlocked country. The news was announced by Nigeria’s transport minister Ahmed Alkali who said the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) would provide 85 percent of the money while the Nigerian government would provide 15 percent. The […]