RESPITE INCREASES GRID-CONNECTED CAPACITY

Activities under the new Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project (RESPITE) have officially kicked off in Freetown to increase electricity access to millions of existing and prospective consumers in Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo. RESPITE aims to rapidly increase grid-connected renewable energy capacity and strengthen regional integration in the participating countries.

The project will help reduce emissions by financing the installation and operation of approximately 106MW of solar photovoltaic power with batteries and storage systems, 41MW expansion of hydroelectric power capacity, and by supporting electricity distribution and transmission interventions across the four countries. It also includes a regional approach, providing US$20mn to help the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) to enhance the potential for power trade in West Africa and to facilitate knowledge sharing among ECOWAS member countries.

Ghana receives payments for reducing carbon emissions

Ghana has become the first country in West Africa to receive payments from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. FCPF paid the country US$4.8mn for reducing 972,456 tons of carbon emissions for the first monitoring period under the programme (June to December 2019). Ghana has become only the second country to receive payments from FCPF after Mozambique.

Trademark Africa Launches In West Africa

TradeMark East Africa has rebranded to TradeMark Africa (TMA) and simultaneously officially launched its West Africa operations.

TMA has to date, made cumulative investments of more than US$1.3bn in East Africa and the Horn to reduce the time and costs of trading across borders and to improve export competitiveness of African businesses. These have among other results slashed the time for traders to cross borders by 70% on average and for businesses to receive certification – often from many days to a number of hours. Its programmes have contributed to a 16.5% reduction in the total time it takes to transport a container on the Northern Corridor from Kenya’s Mombasa Port to Bujumbura, Burundi.

As part of the pivot to West Africa, TMA will support the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), based in Accra, Ghana, to realise its vision of integrating the US$3.4 trillion African market. The organisation will also work with regional economic communities (RECs) such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to boost regional economic integration and accelerate trade. Furthermore, it will work with member states to ensure governments and businesses benefit practically from the opportunities presented by these shifts – in particular, along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor. The successful implementation of the AfCFTA is predicted to boost incomes in Africa by US$450bn by 2030.

At the same time, TMA announced that its new strategy will build on and scale up on its core strengths, to focus on facilitating development of digital and green trade corridors, to position Africa as a partner of choice for global off takers, while promoting inclusive trade that drives down poverty levels.

West African firms receive digital transformation boost

Global analytics software provider FICO has announced a partnership with FPG Technologies & Solutions LTD to bring advanced decision management and analytics tools to companies.

FPG will sell, implement and support FICO Blaze Advisor decision rules management system and FICO Xpress Optimisation, leading tools that businesses use to automate high-volume decisions, rapidly change strategies and leverage advanced analytics to improve performance.