Ghana Saw a 55% Dip in Foreign Direct Investments In 2023

What’s happened this Week:

• Ghana to select firm to build Nuclear Power Plant by December 2023

• Kenya to place taxes on EV bikes and solar batteries

• and more!

In The News This Week:

Starlink Becomes Third Largest Internet Provider in Nigeria in Q4 2023

According to data from Nigeria’s Communications Commission, Starlink, the satellite internet provider from SpaceX, was Nigeria’s third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) by subscriber number in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

Ghana To Select Firm to Build Country’s First Nuclear Power Plant By December

According to Reuters, Ghana will select a company to build its first nuclear power plant by December 2024. Current contenders include France’s EDF, US-based NuScale Power and Regnum Technology Group, and China National Nuclear Corporation.

Congo To Construct Central Africa’s First Fibre Data Centre Valued At €66.55 Million

Congo has begun construction of a new data centre in partnership with the African Development Bank.

Financed by the African Development Bank, the futurist building will soon be the nerve centre for storing and processing the digital data of the Republic of Congo.

In the rest of the news:

• Central Bank of Kenya Approves LemFi’s Remittance to Kenya, in Partnership with Flex Money Transfer

• OpenseedVC Officially Launches As It Secures $10 Million To Be First Investor In Operators Starting Their Technology Companies

• Kenya Digital Postal Service MPOST Launches e-P.O.Box Services In Rwanda

• Vodacom In Talks With Orange About Strategic Partnership In Africa

• Kenya To Introduce New Taxes On Electric Bikes, Buses and Solar Batteries

• Microsoft and UAE AI Firm G42 Announce $1 Billion Geothermal Data Center in Kenya

• Nigerian Court Upholds Provision For Banks To Collect and Verify Customers’ Social Media As Part of Their KYC Process

• Nigeria Officially Suspends Its 0.5% Cybersecurity Levy

Deep Dive

Ghana Received a Record Low $649.58 Million In Foreign Direct Investments In 2023 - The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has put out new data for 2023 on foreign direct investments in the country.

Details: According to the centre, Ghana received investments totaling $649.5 million in 2023. This is a 55% drop from the previous year which recorded $1.47 billion in investments.

Zoom In: Ghana’s Foreign Direct Investment has been declining since 2021 when it recorded $2.42 billion in investments.

Zoom Out: China made the highest investment in the country with an amount of $211.89 million. The country also contributed to about 31 investment projects.

Africa Ecosystem Activity

• AfriLabs partners Vault Hill to “drive innovation” across Africa, Middle East - Disrupt Africa

• Kenyan mobility startup BuuPass plans to enter 8 new African markets by 2025 - Disrupt Africa

• Egyptian VC firm Glint announces $3m 1st close of 2nd fund - Disrupt Africa

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Stat of The Day

According to data from the Bank of Ghana on the Fintech ecosystem in Ghana, the value of transactions for Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers grew from GHC 431.81 Billion in Q1 2023 to GHC 576.03 Billion in Q1 2024.

Payment Service Providers saw a minor growth of GHC 56.98 Billion in Q1 2023 to GHC 61.18 Billion in Q1 2024.

View more data insights below: