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The International Finance Corporation has announced that it will invest E7m in I&P Capital II, a private equity fund that finances small and medium enterprises in the Indian Ocean region.

BioTherm Energy, a portfolio company of private equity firm Denham Capital, on 25 July reached financial close at four wind and solar projects selected in the fourth round of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producer programme (REIPPP) in 2015. The projects signed government-backed 20-year power purchase agreements with national utility Eskom in April after years of delay. Until government intervention forced a change in policy, the utility had refused to sign agreements with any project selected through the programme, claiming they would cause further harm to its desperate financial situation.

The Electricity Control Board (ECB) has approved a tariff increase of 16.71% with effect from 1 July. An ECB statement said this translated to an effective bulk tariff increase to N$1.49 from N$1.28. NamPower had sought a 31.24% increase to N$1.68, to meet its service delivery costs and for the tariff to remain cost reflective, arguing that costs had risen in part because of a fall in the Namibian dollar against the US currency.

The debt-laden Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has secured a $1.5bn loan to help pay off the backlog of debts owed to a number of international fuel traders, which NNPC group managing director Andrew Yakubu revealed had threatened its creditworthiness.

Hyperdynamics Corporation said on 12 March that Tullow Oil had declared force majeure over its Guinea acreage. The announcement followed a guilty plea by French national Frédéric Cilins to obstructing a US criminal investigation in connection with a bribery probe into how Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources (BSGR) acquired mining rights in Guinea.On 30 September, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a subpoena asking Hyperdynamics, the original licence holder, to produce documents relating to its business in Guinea. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a similar subpoena in January this year.

The cabinet has appointed Manuel Vicente to a new three-year term as head of Sonangol, apparently putting an end to speculation that he could be about to succeed President José Eduardo dos Santos.

For the first time in many years, the hard pressed Algerian government is considering an increase in electric power tariffs – a policy certain to meet intense opposition at a politically sensitive time. At the same time, the national gas and power utility Sonelgaz intends to raise investment finance through a domestic bond and is also contemplating an internal restructuring programme. Speaking at Sonelgaz’s general meeting in Algiers on 28 September, the company’s long-standing president director-general Noureddine Bouterfa told the assembled directors, managers and employee representatives that they needed to work with the state to implement gradual prices rises that “will not bring social cohesion into question”.

UK Climate Investments (UKCI) has announced a financing agreement worth £14m ($17m) with majority black-owned and managed renewable asset manager H1 Holdings. The financing will support development of the 140MW Kangnas wind farm in the Northern Cape, 110MW Perdekraal East wind farm in the Western Cape, and4MW Kruisvallei hydropower project in Free State.

Project developers and financiers spend inordinate amounts of time and money assessing risks and their mitigation. But when traditional credit and political risk calculations are being made, they still too often overlook the populations whose land they are building on, even if they think they have community engagement in hand. Disgruntled populations may express their frustration and even violently turn on developments that seem beyond their control, and that threaten their (sometimes literally) sacred home turf.

The African Development Bank is committed to hydropower, reports François Misser, who met its president Donald Kaberuka and his team

Mozambique stands to receive some $350m in capital gains tax from Eni’s sale to ExxonMobil of a 25% stake in its Rovuma Basin Area 4. Tax authority official Anibal Balango told reporters that, as an overseas company, Eni was eligible to pay tax on only half the value of the $2.8bn farm-in deal. That value was reduced to $1.1bn after existing investments by the Italian company were accounted for, giving a tax rate of about 32%, the authority said.

Rio Tinto and China’s Chalco signed a binding agreement in Beijing on 29 July to establish a joint venture covering the development and operation of the Simandou iron ore project in south-east Guinea. The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding between Rio Tinto and Chalco’s parent, Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco), announced in March.

Kenya is the latest country to become a member of Lagos-based infrastructure developer Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). Kenya is AFC’s 15th member and third East African member after Rwanda and Uganda. AFC’s other members are Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.Set up in 2007 to bridge the infrastructure investment gap, AFC has preferred creditor status in member countries, reducing its investment risk and allowing it to provide more competitive financing.

South Sudan has announced an expanded budget for 2014-15 compared to the previous year, with a forecast rise in oil earnings of 23% and predicted non-oil earnings growth of 35%. The government has set aside SSP9,968m ($3.3bn) for spending on government agencies, compared to SSP9,733 for 2013-14, an increase of 2.5%. Given that the country is in the midst of a devastating conflict, the government’s forecasts are unlikely to be realised.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is to provide a $120m credit facility to back the import of US products and services as