Category: Business

The stock market closed Thursday on a gloomy note as the benchmark index fell 0.1% to 8884.1 points, in a thin trading volume of TND 3 million, said broker Tunisie Valeurs.

SOPAT yielded the most robust performance of the session. Though reporting no transaction, the poultry producer's shares gained 5% to TND 1.890, maintaining an upward trend since early this year (up 31.3%).

Wifack International Bank shares ended the session on an optimistic note. The share price of the only listed Islamic bank rose by 2.6% to TND 7.9. Over the session, Wifack generated TND 108,000 in trading.

UIB shares displayed the least favourable performance of the session. The Société Générale Group subsidiary's share price dropped 5.8% to TND 26.2 with TND 11,000 over the session.

Tawasol Group Holding's share prices continued to fluctuate. Its shares ended the session down 5.4% at TND 0.530, with only TND 44,000 traded.

Amen Bank shares remained the most sought-after as they posted a 1.1% rise to TND 37.4 with a total traded volume of TND 817,000.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Vista Bank financial group continues its conquest of the Guinean market. After acquiring Bicigui from France's Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP Paribas), the Burkina Faso-based group has just completed its bid to buy Orabank, which has several branches in Guinea.

“Having reached an agreement with ECP, BIO, DEG, Proparco and Envol Afrique to purchase, subject to regulatory approval, 61.4% of the shares of Oragroup S. A, the Lomé-based holding company of Orabank, which operates in twelve West and Central African countries (Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Chad, Gabon, Mauritania) with total assets of $7.7 billion by the end of 2022, the group said in a press release. The two entities (Vista Group and Oragroup) will form a leading banking group operating in 16 countries with over 270 branches and representing combined total assets of over $10 billion.”

Source: Africa News Agency

The creation of a Tunisian-Libyan continental trade corridor towards sub-Saharan African countries was officially announced at a joint ministerial meeting held at the headquaters of the Ministry of Trade and Export Development.

The meeting was chaired by Minister of Trade and Export Development Kalthoum Ben Rejeb and Libya's Minister of Economy and Trade Mohamed Al-Hwej.

Attendees laid emphasis on the importance of upgrading the border crossing of Ras Jedir, in line with international standards.

"The aim is to make of this area a trade gateway to Africa to foster economic integration with sub-Saharan Africa," the ministry said.

The two officials emphasised the importance of establishing a tripartite partnership between Tunisia, Libya and Africa and increasing trade to TND 5000 million in the coming years.

The meeting offered the opportunity to announce officially the establisment of a joint rapid response team in a bid to address potential challenges in Ras Jedir. A taskforce was also set up to step up cooperation in food security.

An agreement was also reached to create a commission entrusted with following up the implementation of the project of an inland trade corridor as part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Libyan minister expressed support for Tunisia's application for technical and logistical support with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to develop the border area.

The two ministers called for boosting trade and expanding cooperation.

On the sidelines of the meeting, memoranda of understanding were signed in a wide variety of fields, including the organisation of fairs and scaled-up compelemntarity between the free trade zones of both countries.

The volume of trade between Tunisia and Libya in 2022 amounted to TND 3027 million against TND 2020 million in 2021, that is a 49.8% rise.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Seychelles Fair Trading Commission (FTC) has collected the largest amount of money in a fine since it has been established in its report for 2022, said a top official.

The Commission's chief executive, Nathalie Edmond, made the statement to SNA on Wednesday.

"We managed to collect the largest fine since we have been established from Cable and Wireless which paid SCR 800,000 ($60,452)," said Edmond.

This fine was for the act of collusion, whereby the telecoms provider was found guilty of directly fixing a purchase or selling price.

The Fair Trading Commission was set up to promote efficiency and competitiveness and improve the standards of service, quality of goods distributed and services supplied by business enterprises and service providers over which it has jurisdiction.

It is also the entity responsible for advocating and enforcing consumer rights and obligations in Seychelles while fostering a fair and competitive business environment.

The report, which is a compilation of the work carried out over 2022, shows the areas of progress recorded for that year.

The three laws that governed the FTC merged into one and a tribunal has also been established to hear cases related to fair trading issues.

"I am happy to say that the tribunal is up and running and this is speeding up the process of listening to cases," said Edmond.

Previously, the Fair Trading Commissioners would meet and take decisions on investigations carried out on complaints.

The new tribunal does not fall under the FTC but the judiciary helps speed up hearing the cases.

In 2021, FTC listened to and acted on 144 public complaints covering several sectors, although Edmond revealed that the sectors with the most complaints are from the construction sector and electronic appliances.

"We want to empower people with as much information on the Fair Trading Act so that they can make educated decisions," said Edmond.

She added that FTC will be working more efficiently through the introduction of an app that will allow people to submit their complaints online thus speeding up the process.

Last week, the Commission handed over a copy of its annual report to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Roger Mancienne.

In the hand-over ceremony, Mancienne said the fact that the annual report is accessible to anyone who wants to read it "will encourage the public to come forward to inform FTC of discrepancies which will also encourage retailers and wholesalers to work equitably."

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The Seychelles government has imposed a moratorium on the importation and chartering of longline fishing vessels for use in the semi-industrial tuna fishery with immediate effect and amended the Citizenship Act.

The decision to enforce the moratorium until June 2024 was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers during their meeting at State House on Wednesday.

Addressing the need for such a moratorium in a press conference on Thursday, the Vice President, Ahmed Afif, shared that the government has seen a significant increase in the number of longline vessels though there is limited fish stock.

"With the increase in vessels, productivity by each vessel has dropped considerably. Some of these boat owners are facing difficulties to pay off their loans," said Afif.

He said that "around four years ago there were 36 vessels and today there are 55 vessels. That means that in 2019, they were spending about 158 days at sea, and today they need to remain longer at sea to get the same amount of fish because there are more vessels competing for the same resources."

The Cabinet also agreed to take this decision given the numerous challenges in the sector such as congestion in the fishing ports due to lack of berthing space. Other challenges are the capacity for the provision of inputs such as ice, accommodating foreign crew, and a lack of clear development and management strategies for the small scale longline fishery.

The Cabinet also approved amendments to the Citizenship Act. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2023, stipulates the criteria for eligibility for citizenship, the process for applying for citizenship, the taking of the oath, and public access to the register of citizenship.

"Under the Act, there is Article 5,1 where the President could grant citizenship due to merit. We see that in the past a lot of citizenship has been granted on this basis. We decided that Article 5,1 should be modified," said Afif.

He explained that "the President will still be able to give a passport to a foreigner on the basis of merit but there will be an eligibility committee that will make recommendations to the President. This means that it will not be solely up to the President to make this decision."

He also shared that the government wants to formalise under the law that a foreigner married to a Seychellois can apply for citizenship after 15 years of marriage. The person will also need to prove that he or she has been staying in Seychelles for a period of a minimum of two years.

Cabinet also approved amendments to the National Identity Card Act to permit the chief officer of the Civil Status Department to issue a national identity card to a citizen of Seychelles who applies for a national identity card.

With the amendment, any citizen of Seychelles may apply for and be issued a national identity card upon submitting proof of citizenship of Seychelles. This includes the Seychelles diaspora. A citizen residing in Seychelles for more than three months will, however, continue to be obligated to hold a national identity card.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The National Civil Aviation Agency of the Republic of Mali (ANAC-Mali) canceled Thursday, Air France's authorization to operate Summer 2023 flights, for "notorious breach ".

ANAC-Mali criticizes Air France for having decided to stop serving Bamako from August 7 to 11, 2023, without at least 72 hours' notice.

“Your slot could be granted to another company that requests it. To this end, I invite you to submit your program to me, again, before resuming your activity for the service to Bamako”, writes the DG of ANAC-Mali to the Delegate of Air France Mali.

Note that this Thursday, Burkina Faso took the same decision concerning Air France for the same grievances.

Source: Burkina Information Agency

The downward trend on the Tunis Stock Exchange continued on Wednesday. The benchmark index fell by 0.31% to 8965.22 points on a low volume of TND 1.5 million, according to Tunisie Valeurs, the stock market broker. SOTIPAPIER was at the top of the podium. The paper manufacturer's stock rose by 5.8% to TND 6.770 TND on a volume of TND 7,000. ESSOUKNA ended the session on an optimistic note. The property developer was up 2.3% at TND 13,300, generating a modest flow of TND 15,000. STIP was in the red lantern of the Tunindex. The share of the tyre specialist fell by 4.4% to TND 4.150 TND. The value drained a weak flow of 2,000 dinars during the session. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has witnessed a poor market performance and closed with a slight increase of 3.8%. BT was one of the biggest losers. Private Banking shares fell 1.7% to TND 5.250. The value of the exchange was weak, reaching TND 32,000. Euro Cycles was the most active during the session. The value ended in negative territory, falling 0.4% to TND 16,040 D. The share of the cycle specialist supplied the market with capital of TND 337,000.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The value of exports in the textile and clothing sector posted a 12.17% rise to TND 5090.88 million till the end of June 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, reads the June 2023 business newsletter of the Textile Technical Centre (CETTEX). These exports rose by 9.59% to pound 1527.24 million. However, in terms of volume they dropped by 4.42% to 86,691.26 tonnes. CETTEX indicated that an analysis by market of warp and weft garment exports shows growth in value and volume in the main markets, namely Germany (+16.34% in dinars and +4.47 in weight) and Italy (+28% in dinars and +7.31% in volume). France, for its part, recorded an increase of 7.79% in dinars and a slight fall of 1.46% in volume. Likewise, textile exports saw a 1.30% rise in value (TND) and 7.75% in volume. In terms of value, this sector's exports fell in the French market (-3.02%) and rose in the Italian market (+22.26%). The value of imports fell by 2.84% to TND 3811.42 million by the end of June, compared to the same period last year. Likewise in Euro, they dropped by 5.07% to pound 1.143 million. The volume of imports dropped by 7.72% to 183,135.05 tonnes. Italy is still Tunisia's leading supplier, followed by France, Turkey, Germany, China, Belgium and Spain.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse