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Benin's Council of Ministers on 4 November created an Industrial Development Fund with capital of 100 billion CFA francs (about $170 million). The fund will take equity and quasi-equity stakes in industrial firms, guarantee part of long-term loans made by banks and leasing companies, and offer ready-to-use factory buildings in the country's development hubs. It was approved alongside the government's 2026–2033 action programme, which expects the private sector to provide 55% of its financing and cites textile plants using local cotton and ceramic-tile makers as models. Sharing risk with banks targets the long payback periods that keep commercial credit away from manufacturing. The next step is appointing the fund's managers and opening its three windows.
Gabon signed agreements in London on 3 November to sell about six million tonnes of forest carbon credits to SEFE, an energy company owned by the German state. The government says it is the first African country to sell credits measured across its whole territory from forest conservation that are eligible for the offsetting scheme of international aviation; first deliveries are due by the first quarter of 2027. Neither side disclosed the price. The sale turns Gabon's low deforestation rate into a tradable export, but its value depends on that price and on a national framework, still pending, that will decide how the money is shared, including with forest communities. Until then the proceeds stay in a reserve account.
