Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire - The African Development F-und (ADF) has approved a loan of 10 million Units of Account (about 12. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Moussa Toure, chairman of the West African Monetary Union (UEMOA) Commission, says a desired single currency would further boost economic integration within the sub-region. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- The World Bank has granted Cape Verde a loan of one million US dollars, to help alleviate the country's financial difficulties, officials said in Praia Monday. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The World Bank and Mali have signed two loans related to the structural adjustment programme and support for the rural areas, the local press reported Monday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) has never received any official request for membership from Ghana or Nigeria, UEMOA Commission chairman Moussa Toure has said in Dakar. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The President of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) Moussa Toure on Saturday in Dakar ruled the possibility of another devaluation of the CFA franc, which is pegged to the European currency, Euro that begins circulation on 1 January 2002. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- An Indian firm is to finance a project to assist Kenyan businessmen install fruit processing plants in the country's rural areas. Full text...

Bangui- Central African Republic (PANA) -- Central African Republic's Prime Minister Martin Ziguele left Bangui Sunday for Paris to attend a donors conference scheduled to start in the French capital next Thursday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese foreign minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio on Saturday urged Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries to start implementing the 1990 trade liberalisation plan with immediate effect. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Budgetary support from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Cote d'Ivoire is expected to resume in February 2002, the country's minister of finance and economy Bohoun Bouabre said in Abidjan Friday evening. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Participants have ended a national in Bujumbura with recommendations aimed to modernise the fisheries sector in Burundi and make it more profitable. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The Commissioner for European development and humanitarian aid, Poul Nielson has been requested to invite the government in DR Congo to Brussels to sign the national indicative programme (NIP), official sources confirmed in Brussels. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Lansana Kouyate, whose mandate as ECOWAS Executive Secretary expires this month, told the Council of Ministers Saturday in Dakar Saturday that he has re- positioned the 15-nation economic grouping for accelerated integration. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegal and the European Union (EU) failed to conclude a new fishing agreement on Friday, after four days of negotiations, official sources in Dakar said. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The 28th ordinary meeting of Central Bank governors from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held Friday in Dakar, with focus on the single monetary zone envisaged for the sub region, among other issues. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Sudan's finance and economy ministry has offered to privatise 10 state-owned corporations. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Equities trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined this week, with a total of 54. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe's biggest hotel group said Friday the country's economic crisis and political instability have frightened away foreign investors who had expressed interest in acquiring a stake in the company. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya was the third largest recipient of food aid to Africa for the year ending June 2001, a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has disclosed. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Abidjan-based regional stock exhange (BRVM) closed trading Friday with a slight decline compared to the preceding session, according to a BRVM release. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The cancellation of all debts owed to the north by developing countries, notably African nations, is technically possible and economically feasible, participants at a discussion day organised by the Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World's Debt (CADTM) said in Paris. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- President Pierre Buyoya has reminded his compatriots that some 830 million US dollars expected from donors following a last week's conference on Burundi, was "only a promise that may be realised quickly or not at all, wholly or partially. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Bilateral relations between Cameroon and Japan have been anything but harmonious in the last three decades. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- The African Development Bank (ADB) has granted Tunisia a loan of 200 million US dollars to fund a Business Support Programme (PAC), the media reported Friday in Tunis. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- In the face of technical problems, Zambia's cobalt processing company, Chambishi Metals Plc, has further delayed the full commissioning of its smelter to the first quarter of next year. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Following is the daily equities trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange for Friday: 1st Tier Securities Sector/Company Value of Share AGRICULTURE Okomu Oil Palm Plc 9. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The Bank of Zambia was back in the foreign exchange market Friday with a parcel of one million US dollars for sale in a last ditch bid to hold the local unit in check from depreciating against major convertible currencies. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- A Belgian delegation of diamond experts is expected in Kinshasa soon to install equipment for the certification of the precious stone. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- About 150,000 tourists visited Mali in 2001, an increase of 50,000 above the previous year's figure, the country's tourism and hotel office reported Thursday. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Benin and the Netherlands Thursday signed in Cotonou, an agreement for mutual promotion and protection of investments. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The 2002 index of economic freedom released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal in the US has placed the Mauritian economy in the "mostly unfree" category, ranking it at 73rd on a list of 156, the regional MATERA news agency reported Thursday. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- The precarious financial situation of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has been turned around successfully, chamber president Leake Hangala confirmed Thursday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Netherlands Thursday granted Ghana 25 million-Euros (about 161 billion cedis) as Balance of Payments support for the 2002 budget. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Belgium has given Niger a grant of 6. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government believes that other investors can be found for the Maputo Iron and Steel Project (MISP) despite the collapse of the US energy corporation Enron, which was behind the project. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- The Netherlands and Burkina Faso have signed two financial agreements for grants to the latter totalling 8. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- MPs of Cape Verde's opposition Movement for Democracy (MPD) have voted against the 2002 finance bill tabled by the government. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A total of 10. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted Namibia a loan of 35 million Euros (about 31. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Joseph Sanusi, has inaugurated a Presidential Advisory Committee on Small and Medium Industries Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS). Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Absa Corporate and Merchant Bank's Structured Commodity Finance division has become a significant contributor to the group's bottom line following its recent expansion elsewhere into Africa and the conclusion of several significant deals in the region. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's Central Bank Governor Joseph Sanusi has inaugurated a presidential advisory committee on the country's Small and Medium Industries Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS). Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia's finance ministry has released over 8 billion kwacha (2 million US dollars) under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative to boost the social sector and improve living conditions. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia Railways Limited, one of five strategic companies still in the hands of government, is to be sold off in January 2002 in a bid to raise efficiency through the injection of fresh private capital. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- The Zimbabwe government intends to sell a 30-percent stake each in two state-owned telecommunications companies to strategic investors, an official said Thursday in Harare. Full text...

Selous- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- A huge new platinum mine commenced operations in Zimbabwe Thursday, representing an investment of more than 3. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Germany provided Zambia with 4. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The meeting of the Council of ministers of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) opened Wednesday in Dakar to prepare a draft agenda for a UEMOA leaders conference on 19 December in the Senegalese capital. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The Abidjan-based African Development Bank (ADB) said it would appeal its case with an Ivorian coffee Company, Ivoir Café, after a lower Court overturned an earlier decision against the Company. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger's consumer price index increased by 0. Full text...