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African Development Bank and the Government of Libya Sign Agreement to Strengthen Public Financial Management

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African Development Bank

By enhancing public expenditure management, the project aims to deliver critical public services and infrastructure while creating a more favorable business environment that encourages private sector growth

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, November 27, 2024/APO Group/ — 

The African Development Bank (AfDB) (www.AfDB.org) and the Government of Libya are pleased to announce the signing of a new grant agreement aimed at strengthening public financial management (PFM) systems in Libya. The agreement, signed on Monday, 18 November 2024, underscores the continued commitment of both institutions to fostering economic growth and strengthening private sector development in Africa through sustainable and impactful investments. 

This initiative is part of the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), a Trust Fund supported by the Government of Japan and managed by the Bank that provides grants to support the implementation of AfDB’s Private Sector Development Strategy. Through capacity building and technical assistance, FAPA helps improve the business environment, strengthens financial systems, promotes the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and facilitates trade across African nations. 

The primary goal of the “Strengthening Enabling Business Environment through Public Financial Management Support Project” (SEBE-PFM) is to modernize Libya’s public financial management systems. By enhancing public expenditure management, the project aims to deliver critical public services and infrastructure while creating a more favorable business environment that encourages private sector growth. 

Japan is committed to cooperate and collaborate further with the Libyan Government and its people to strengthen its nation as well as institutions

Ms Malinne Blomberg, Deputy Director General of the African Development Bank in North Africa, emphasized the significance of the project, stating: “This project, valued at USD 1 million, is the result of strategic collaboration and a concrete investment in Libya’s future, made possible through the generous support of the Government of Japan.” 

Libya, with significant financial assets, prioritizes the establishment of a robust PFM system. Through the African Development Bank’s project, Libya will benefit from a comprehensive Public Financial Management (PFM) Reform Strategy that emphasizes digitization, transparency, and accountability. The project’s objectives include improving the effectiveness of public expenditure, enhancing competition, and promoting greater efficiency in public procurement processes. 

This project will also focus on strengthening the institutional framework for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and reforming State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which are key drivers for private sector development in the country. With a total allocation of USD 1 million, the project will span over a period of three years (2024–2027), providing technical support and expertise to advance PFM reforms. 

Key activities under the project will include an IT Infrastructure Assessment, Data Center Feasibility Study, Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP), and Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS) Readiness Assessment. These activities are essential to the modernization of Libya’s financial systems, ensuring greater efficiency, transparency, and improved public service delivery. 

The signing ceremony was attended by Dr Khalild Al-Mabrouk, Minister of Finance of Libya, who confirmed that the reform of Public Financial Management is a key priority for the Government and Mr Masaki Amadera, Deputy Head of Mission/Special Coordinator for Libya, Embassy of Japan in Libya, who highlighted Japan’s role, stating: “Japan is committed to cooperate and collaborate further with the Libyan Government and its people to strengthen its nation as well as institutions. This would lead to further stability and prosperity in Libya.” 

Through this project, the African Development Bank and the Government of Japan are reaffirming their shared vision of fostering economic growth, improving governance, and supporting the private sector across Africa. In Libya, the digitization of public finance is critical for unlocking new opportunities for development, paving the way for greater stability and prosperity. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

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VistaJet Commits to Powering Trade and Investments in East and South Africa

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November 28, 2024

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Leading Business Aviation Company Invested in Connecting Global Investments to Regional Opportunities

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 27, 2024/APO Group/ — 

VistaJet (www.VistaJet.com/), the world’s first and only global business aviation company, has reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to connecting the international investor community with markets in East and South Africa. This commitment was highlighted during its VistaJet East and South Africa Static Display Roadshow. Given their status as leading centers for economic development and innovation, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Nairobi were selected as the host cities for the end-of-year Static Display Roadshow in the region.

Building on VistaJet’s substantial growth in the region, the East and South Africa Roadshow is a vital part of our strategy to serve as a logistics and aviation partner

After a successful inaugural roadshow in West Africa during the second quarter of 2024, VistaJet continued to expand the company’s offering focused on Africa. VistaJet has significantly enhanced its offerings in Africa, achieving a remarkable 103% increase in New Program Hours Sold and a 29% rise in total hours flown across the continent in the first half of 2024.

Commenting on VistaJet’s commitment to business in Africa, Phillippe Scalabrini, VistaJet’s President of Europe and Africa, said: “Building on VistaJet’s substantial growth in the region, the East and South Africa Roadshow is a vital part of our strategy to serve as a logistics and aviation partner that supports the success of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. VistaJet is dedicated to playing a crucial role in connecting global funding to these regions’ economic and entrepreneurial opportunities, as Africa offers significant growth potential for international ventures. We showcased our Global 7500 aircraft to link these regions with the rest of the world and facilitate unlocking this growth potential, to support the region’s economic development further.”

VistaJet provided a valuable opportunity to connect with key media representatives and private stakeholders during the roadshow. The company reaffirmed its offerings during these events and showcased the Global 7500 aircraft.  This aircraft is designed to provide up to 17 hours of non-stop global connectivity, effectively linking Africa with the rest of the world. VistaJet is dedicated to meet the growing demand for reliable and efficient business aviation in Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VistaJet.

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Orange to expand open-source Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to African regional languages for digital inclusion

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November 28, 2024

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Orange’s vision is to make AI and other related advances accessible to all, including illiterate populations, who are currently unable to benefit from the potential of artificial intelligence

PARIS, France, November 27, 2024/APO Group/ —

  • Orange to accelerate digital inclusion in Africa through the incorporation of regional languages in AI Large Language Models (LLMs) for the first time 
  • Orange will fine-tune OpenAI’s open-source speech models and Meta’s openly available Llama 3.1 model to support regional African languages  
  • Orange to provide resulting fine tuned AI models in open source for non-commercial use 
  • Orange is committed to play a key role in the development of Responsible AI in Africa as well as promoting open-source AI in Europe 

As part of Orange’s (www.Orange.com) commitment to digital inclusion and focus on driving growth in the Middle East and Africa, Orange announces that it will partner with OpenAI and Meta to fine-tune AI Large Language models (LLMs) to understand regional languages in Africa that today are not understood by any GenAI model.  

This innovative project aims to develop custom AI models capable of allowing customers to communicate naturally in their local languages with Orange for customer support and sales. These open-source AI models will also be provided externally by Orange with a free license for non-commercial use such as for public health, public education, and many other services. Orange intends to help drive AI innovation in these regional languages including by collaborating on these new AI models with local startups and other technology companies, and by doing so, to mitigate the growing digital divide faced by people all across the African continent. 

The initiative, commencing in the first half of 2025 will initially focus on incorporating regional languages, namely Wolof and Pulaar, spoken by 16 million people and six million people, respectively, in West Africa. Orange’s long-term goal is to work with many AI technology providers to enable future models to recognize all African languages spoken and written across Orange’s 18-country footprint in the region. By fine-tuning leading AI models such as OpenAI’s ‘Whisper’ speech model and Meta’s ‘Llama’ text model with diverse examples of these languages, we will enable them to better understand these regional languages. Orange’s vision is to make AI and other related advances accessible to all, including illiterate populations, who are currently unable to benefit from the potential of artificial intelligence. The initiative is a blueprint for how AI can be used to benefit those currently excluded. 

In addition to this regional African language recognition project, OpenAI and Orange have signed an agreement that will provide Orange with direct access to OpenAI’s models, available for the first time in Europe with data processing and hosting in European datacenters, enabling Orange to work on improving existing solutions across its footprint. Furthermore, this new partnership will also facilitate early access to OpenAI’s latest and most advanced AI models, enabling the realization of other key use cases such as AI-based voice interactions with Orange customers.  

Orange is focused on delivering ‘Responsible AI,’ where the company carefully chooses the most appropriate and simplest solution for each AI use case. This approach means only using the latest Large Language Models where they are necessary and otherwise choosing simpler and cheaper solutions, thereby minimizing the impact on the environment as well as reducing cost for the many valuable AI use cases deployed across Orange. Orange also is playing a key role in the development of a vibrant European AI ecosystem with their promotion of open-source AI projects with the goal of making AI affordably accessible for all.  

For more information, and access to Orange OpenTech: Hello Future (https://apo-opa.co/4ePf78Z)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange Middle East and Africa.

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Global advertising spend to surpass $1trn for first time this year

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November 27, 2024

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Projected 10.7% rise in global spend this year equivalent to an additional $104bn in advertiser investment, the second-highest absolute rise on record

One in five dollars (22.1%) spent on ads outside of China is paid to Google; DOJ ruling now threatens $32.9bn of potential growth over the next two years

Advertisers are due to spend $299bn this holiday season, with online platforms such as Amazon ($16.9bn in holiday-season ad revenue) set to be the biggest beneficiaries

WARC Global Ad Spend Outlook 2024/25 – November 2024 update
27 November 2024 – A new study from WARC, the experts in marketing effectiveness, has found that global advertising spend is on course to grow 10.7% this year to a total of $1.08trn – the strongest growth rate in six years and the largest absolute rise on record if the post-Covid recovery of 2021 (+27.9% year-on-year) is disregarded. The new forecast, published today, represents a 0.2 percentage point (pp) upgrade on WARC’s last global forecast in August.  
 Ad spend growth is also anticipated next year (+7.6%) and in 2026 (+7.0%), culminating in a global advertising market worth $1.24trn. Global ad investment has more than doubled over the last decade and has grown 2.8x faster than global economic output since 2014.WARC’s latest global projections are based on data aggregated from 100 markets worldwide. New for this edition, WARC is leveraging a proprietary neural network which projects advertising investment patterns based on over two million data points, spanning macroeconomic data, media owner revenue, marketing expenses from the world’s largest advertisers, media consumption trends and media cost inflation. It is believed to be one of the most comprehensive advertising market models available to the industry today.While the headline growth rate is mostly being driven by online media, a good year for TV has also made a notable contribution. Linear TV spend is expected to end the year 1.9% higher, at $153.6bn, following two years of decline. TV has been boosted by political advertising – particularly in the US – during the fourth quarter and both the Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024 football tournament in the third. Linear TV now accounts for just 14.3% of global advertising spend, however, down from a peak of 41.3% in 2013.Building upon a solid performance for legacy media, pure play internet, which encompasses advertising revenue among online-only businesses such as Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, is poised to grow by 14.1% to a total of $741.4bn – over two thirds (68.8%) of all ad spend.Social media is the largest individual sector within pure play internet – and the largest advertising medium of all by extension – with a total of $252.7bn this year equivalent to 23.5% of the global ad market. Prospects for the social market have been revised upwards this year to +19.3%, owing mostly to stronger-than expected results for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok over the first nine months of the year.James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence and Forecasting, WARC, and author of the research says: “Our latest forecast anticipates $104bn in incremental advertising spend worldwide this year, the largest rise in history if the post-pandemic recovery year of 2021 were discounted.“Whether this boom will sustain remains unclear, however, as 2025 presents a sliding doors moment due to heightened regulatory pressures on Google and TikTok – together a quarter of the ad market outside of China. This, alongside an increasingly challenging geopolitical climate, may spell uncertain times ahead for the businesses that rely on advertising trade.“By leveraging WARC’s proprietary neural network, which delivers timely and precise insights based on over two million datapoints, practitioners can navigate these dynamic conditions and plan ahead for a rapidly evolving advertising landscape.”Key themes outlined in WARC’s Global Ad Spend Outlook 2024/25 Q4 update are:GOOGLE’S 90% SHARE OF SEARCH MARKET IS A MONOPOLY, DOJ RULESOne in five dollars (22.1%) spent on advertising outside of China is paid to Google for its search services. Further, at an expected $197.7bn in 2024 (+13.0% year-on-year), Google alone accounts for 90.1% of all search advertising (excluding China). These commanding shares are similar in the US, leading the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rule last week that Google has an effective monopoly on the search market.The court believes that Google also uses its search dominance to inflate the cost per click (up by approximately 7.5% this year) and maintain superior targeting, effectively blocking competitors from offering viable alternatives.Outcomes from the ruling range from Google ceasing payments to handset manufactures and others for default preference – at a cost of approximately $30bn per annum – to the selling off of its Chrome business to a third party.One potential suitor – Bing – still struggles with adoption and advertiser investment despite Microsoft’s $100bn investment, accounting for just 5.9% of search spend outside of China. Bing’s ad revenues are expected to be up just 5.1% this year – compared to a rise of 11.9% for total search and 13.0% for Google – to a total of $12.9bn.Apple already makes $5.1bn from search ads, mostly via its app store, per Omdia Advertising Intelligence estimates, and could create its own search engine given its financial and distribution resources. The device manufacturer may hesitate to proceed, however, due to the high costs associated with maintaining a search business aside a general strategic misalignment. A leftfield entrant – perhaps Elon Musk’s X on the lookout for new revenue streams after losing $5.9bn in ad revenue since its 2022 takeover – may materialise, but on the whole natural successors to Google remain unclear.With the ongoing uncertainty around the practicalities of the DOJ ruling, and the probability that Google will appeal it vigorously in the coming months, WARC is maintaining its growth forecast of +9.0% next year and +7.0% in 2026 for the company while the situation develops, leaving a potential $231bn ad business and $32.9bn of growth in the balance over the next two years.HOLIDAYS ARE COMINGAdvertisers the world over are expected to spend $299.2bn during the final quarter of the year, well over half of which will be spent during the holiday season. This represents a 10.2% rise from the previous year, up marginally (+0.2pp) from our August forecast.The fourth quarter is crucial for retailers, typically accounting for over 30% of annual ad spend within the sector which represents the intense battle for consumer salience and share of wallet each year. Retailers will spend $45.6bn on advertising during Q4 2024, up 5.0% compared to last year. TV is set to attract 15.9% of this spend, at $6.8bn, with nearing a quarter (23.3%) of this – $1.6bn – spent on ads delivered via connected TVs (CTV) so as to leverage the additional targeting capabilities these devices can afford advertisers.Advertising on retail media platforms is also set to peak during the fourth quarter as brands vie to reach consumers close to the point of purchase. Globally, retail media spend is forecast to rise 16.4% in Q4 2024 to a total of $46.2bn – a new high. Amazon alone is expected to net $16.9bn from advertisers at this time, up 18.0% from the previous year.The technology and electronics sector is expected to spend most in online retail media environments during the fourth quarter, with an anticipated total of $7.2bn up 18.7% from last year. For context, this is over three times more than the sector spends on TV.It’s also a big time of year for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, with the alcoholic drinks (+13.5% to $3.9bn), cosmetics (+13.8% to $5.2bn), food (+19.4% to $5.4bn) and soft drinks (+22.0% to $4.5bn) sectors all increasing retail media spend and allocating an increasing share of their ad budgets to online retail platforms this year.Overall, retail media ad spend is forecast to reach $154.8bn this year, with a further rise of 14.8% expected next year and 13.5% in 2026, by when the market would be worth $201.6bn.CANADA CALLS TIME ON TIKTOKThis month, the Canadian government ordered TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. to wind up its Canadian operations under the Investment Canada Act, citing national security concerns. This move forces TikTok to halt sales operations in Canada but does not block Canadians’ access to the app or its content creation capabilities. TikTok has vowed to challenge the order in court.There are few signs that advertisers are reining in their TikTok budgets; WARC believes TikTok’s ad billings grew by 27.1% to $17.8bn over the first nine months of 2024, even as the prospect of tighter regulation comes into sharper focus.Globally, TikTok’s audience is now almost at parity with Instagram, but users spend twice as long with TikTok. A ban is most likely to be to the benefit of Instagram, Snap and, to a lesser extent, YouTube thanks to its analogous Shorts format, mostly due to the migration of content creators.Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall estimates that some C$500m annually will be up for grabs if TikTok were to exit Canada. This scenario has not yet been factored into WARC’s forecasts pending the appeal process; indeed, WARC now expects TikTok to generate $24.6bn in advertising revenue (excl. China) this year, a rise of 25.9% from 2023 but equivalent to just 9.1% of all social advertising spend.A complimentary executive summary by WARC’s James McDonald, author of the report, is available to read here. WARC subscribers can read the article and access additional data here.

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