Brussels- Belgium, (PANA) -- The launching the single European currency, the Euro, was a great success, European Commissioner Pedro Solbes affirmed Wednesday in Brussels. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- The fund for the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises and Crafts (SMEs) funded 27 projects costing 837. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Banks and other currency centres in the Senegalese capital of Dakar have timidly welcomed the new European currency, the euro, which came into force on 1 January in 12 of the 15 European Union member states. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Monetary authorities at the Bank of Burundi (BRB) said Wednesday that all the necessary arrangements have been made to be in tune with the introduction of the euro, the new European single currency. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks in the country to increase their paid-up share capital from 500 million naira to one billion naira before December 2002, under the 2002 monetary policy guidelines. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Official figures released Thursday in Mauritius by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) showed that the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms, grew by 5. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The euro, launched with fanfare by Europe on New Year's day, is still overshadowed by the US dollar in Kenya, a check at local banks by PANA has revealed. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Morocco's Casablanca Stock Exchange introduced two new indexes on 1 January 2002 - MASI and MADEX - to replace the General Stock Exchange Index (IGB), stockbrokers have told PANA. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Following extreme winter conditions in Europe, the Moroccan National Electricity Office has signed power supply agreements with two Spanish electricity firms -- Union Fenosa and Endesa, the Economist newspaper reported Wednesday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Debt relief provided under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative has strengthened Tanzania's struggle to get out of debt bondage, Bank of Tanzania governor Daudi Balali has said. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Burkina Faso could achieve self sufficiency in food production within ten years through the proper utilisation of 1,500 hectares in the hydro- agricultural dam in Bagre, east of Ouagadougou. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe Stock Exchange opened for business in the new year with a dull trading session Wednesday which stockbrokers attributed to investor worries over an impending presidential election. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Foreign investments in Morocco in 2001 was robust with the partial privatisation of Moroccan telecommunication company Maro Telecom, where 35 percent of shares were sold to French group Vivendi-Universal for 2. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- Poor management of public funds kept Congo's economy in a vulnerable situation throughout last year though government continued with recovery efforts started in 2000. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Euro, Europe's new currency is making a slow start in Ghana with commercial banks saying they had not received the new currency by Wednesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) opened the year on a low key, but continuing the poor run that characterised trading in 2001. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Following is the daily equities trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange for Wednesday, 2 January 2002. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government has authorised a study into the way in which natural gas from Inhambane Province can be distributed to industries in the city of Matola and surrounding areas, according to a report in the daily "Noticias" newspaper. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- A recent study undertaken by the consultancy firm, ITC-International, argues that a proposed new railway in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza will be a major stimulus to development in the districts of Chibuto, Guija and Chokwe, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias". Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- The project to create a national securities stock market in Douala, Cameroon, continued to attract comments in specialised circles throughout 2001. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The dramatic fall of South Africa's rand in 2001 dampened hopes of economic boom in the country. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- In an unprecedented move this year, the Namibian government decided to take the bull by its horns by stepping into the operations of some of its parastatal companies. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Sudan plans to increase its crude oil production by 60,000 barrels a day by May, Energy and Mining Minister Awad el Jaz has announced. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The launching of the world- class Bulyanhulu gold mine near the northern town of Mwanza, in July 2001 may be singled out as economic event of the year in Tanzania. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerians Wednesday reacted sharply to the latest increase in the prices of petroleum products, saying it would cause more hardship for a population already groaning under the effects of rising unemployment and inflation. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Togo found little respite last year from the political and economic crises that have dogged the country since the 1990s. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Over a hundred economists from national and sub-regional financial institutions took pat in a forum on the acceleration of economic growth in Benin, held 15-17 May 2001 in Cotonou. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- The liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Mauritania heightened in 2001 with the transfer of 54 percent of Mauritel shares to the Morocco- Telecom Company. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Polish businessman Christophe Marceniak currently sizing up DR Congo for investment opportunities, said Monday that he was well-advanced in negotiations with Congolese partners for a joint venture in pharmaceutical industry in Kinshasa. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Polish businessman Christophe Marceniak said Monday that he was well advanced in his talks with DR Congolese partners to set up two pharmaceutical firms to produce drugs and medical equipment in Kinshasa. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- Tunisian tourism experts say the industry's growth forecast for 2001 has been lowered by 50 percent, following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US and the America-led campaign against global terror. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenya Government will spend 20 billion shillings this year to fight poverty, the local press reported Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Residents of Nigeria's economic capital of Lagos woke up Tuesday, the first day of the year 2002, to meet long queues of vehicles at fuel stations across the city. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's State-owned power monopoly NEPA, may have met President Olusegun Obasanjo half-way on his directive for uninterrupted supply of electricity to the population by 31 December 2001, but observers warn it is not yet time for celebration. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Alarmed by the declining foreign exchange earnings from Ethiopia's coffee exports, officials of the Trade and Industry Ministry have proposed a revocation of the 6. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's landline national telephone monopoly Telkom, Tuesday raised the cost of telephone calls in the country by 28 percent. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) All-Share Index ended the year on a happy note Monday, in a year that was dominated by bearish sentiments. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Khartoum-based Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), is providing Chad with a loan of 9. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) performed well in 2001, when it opened with a turnover of 24. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The Ethiopian government is to send a high level delegation to neighbouring Djibouti to seek cooperation in establishing a dry (inland) port in Ethiopia. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Belgium has granted the DR Congo 500 million euros (442. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pledged over the weekend to ensure Tanzania's debt reduction remains sustainable in the aftermath of the 11 September suicide attacks in the US. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Graduate Charles Madakurwa looks at his three-year old university graduation photo disdainfully. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The exchange market in Kinshasa has been relatively stable, with a slight increase in the value of the Congolese franc (FC) against the US dollar, the reference currency in commercial transactions. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Private banks in Ethiopia have followed suit after the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) began refusing currencies set for replacement by the Euro on 1 January 2002. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government is to sell 80 percent of its crisis-ridden Austral Bank, the country's fourth largest commercial bank, to the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) Monday, a release by the Finance Ministry said. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- A Boeing 737-400 of the Afriqiyah airline has in an inaugural flight flown from Tripoli to Bamako and back with about 100 passengers. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Benin is to devote nearly ten per cent of its GDP to road infrastructure in 2002, sources at the ministry of Civil Engineering and Transports hinted Saturday in Cotonou. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Sudan has proposed a 500 million-dollar plan to the Cairo-based Arab League for the rehabilitation of the country's war-torn South, press reports said in Khartoum Saturday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Overall, the US is proposing a 789 million-dollar budget for its main development fund for sub Saharan Africa, compared to 794 million dollars last financial year, press accounts in Nairobi maintain. Full text...