The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Senegal's National Assembly rejected the government's revised 2026 budget on 3 November, adopting a procedural motion that blocked any debate on its content. Ruling-party deputies questioned the bill's forecasts, including a deficit of 7.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), and said the finance ministry had withheld data on debt. The finance committee had twice rejected the text amid a rift between the ruling party and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who dismissed Ousmane Sonko as prime minister in May. The vote blocks funds meant for electricity suppliers and power-plant fuel, and leaves the government without an agreed fiscal plan for talks with the International Monetary Fund. Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said the president would take the necessary measures.
Since 2 November, every transfer between different mobile money and bank providers in the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) must run through PI-SPI, the instant payment platform of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). Transfers up to a daily total of 8,000 CFA francs (about $13) are free, which the BCEAO says covers 75% of e-money transactions, and larger ones are capped at 0.8%. The platform, launched in September 2025, connects 175 banks, e-money issuers and payment firms. A shared public switch lets any wallet reach any other at a regulated price, but users reported failed transfers in the first days. Cross-border payments within the union follow in June 2027.
Modaso Energy, part of Swiss-based MISA Group, and local developer Tatanga Energy said on 3 November they will develop the Guruve-Mazowe plant, which would include Zimbabwe's first utility-scale wind farm. The companies put its cost at $300 million for 128 megawatts (MW) of wind, 100 MW of solar and a 50 MW battery behind a single 100 MW grid connection; it would produce about 5% of national supply. The site was first planned in 2021 as a wind-only project; Standard Bank has agreed a debt term sheet. Pairing sources behind one connection gets more power from scarce grid capacity, but the power purchase agreement with the state utility is still under negotiation before financial close, targeted for mid-2027.
President João Lourenço has authorised €201.2 million for the first phase of an electricity grid expansion in Luanda and Icolo e Bengo provinces, a presidential dispatch reported on 3 November shows. The works add three 80 megavolt-ampere (MVA) substations and a 40 MVA transformer at the Viana industrial zone, about 280 MVA in total, plus 55 kilometres of new 60-kilovolt lines and 48 km of upgraded medium-voltage lines. The contract will be awarded without open tender, justified by external financing from an unnamed source. The government expects the network to bring power to about 125,000 homes and 500,000 people, while extra substation capacity on the capital's eastern edge lets factories in Viana add load without overloading existing lines.
Mozambique's Council of Ministers approved on 3 November a decree creating the Moamba Special Economic Zone, covering about 64,000 hectares in Maputo province. The zone spans parts of the Moamba-Sede, Pessene and Ressano Garcia administrative posts; Ressano Garcia is the main road and rail crossing into South Africa. Spokesman Inocêncio Impissa said firms would get incentive schemes and simplified procedures to widen the tax base, create jobs and earn foreign currency, but named no investors or tax rates. The district already hosts a Chinese-owned ceramics factory whose owner proposed a special zone there in 2025. The site gives manufacturers direct access to the Maputo corridor and the South African market; the incentives will decide how many come.
Madagascar's energy ministry launched on 3 November a five-year clean cooking programme financed by a $35 million, 20-year concessional loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development. More than 70% of the budget is to go directly to households; over 90% of them cook with wood or charcoal, only 14% use clean cooking, and the government aims for 50% by 2030. The loan was agreed earlier, and the launch starts implementation, with calls for private projects and regional pilots, including bamboo and cactus biogas in the south. Meeting the target depends on the OPEC Fund drawing in the World Bank's Ascent programme and private suppliers of stoves and fuel.
