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The main outstanding risk facing developers in the feed-in tariff (FiT) programme is whether the government or the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will guarantee the convertibility of revenues earned in Egyptian pounds into dollars. Currently, exchange controls are in force and the bank has set quotas and conditions on the quantity of hard currency that can be exported each month. In mid-February, the CBE began to gradually lift some of these restrictions to try to get foreign exchange from the black market back into the banks.

Transparency International’s 2013 Global Corruption Barometer was released on 9 July. It included information on 95 countries, including 23 African countries. In the section ‘Percentage of people who report having paid a bribe to one of eight services’ (education, judicial, medical/health, police, registry and permit services, utilities, tax, land services) in the past 12 months, Sierra Leone performed the worst of the 95, with 84% of respondents saying they had.

There has been material progress reforming Angola’s opaque and nepotistic energy sector over the past year. Considerable work has gone into crafting new power sector regulations, and there have been notable changes to upstream licensing and the role of state oil and gas giant Sonangol, as well as important reforms to the downstream hydrocarbons sector. Investors and analysts canvassed by African Energy were impressed by the extent of the changes, although plenty of problems remain to be resolved.

Missouri-based TJGEM LLC has filed a case (1:2013cv00382) in the Columbia District Court against the Republic of Ghana, former finance minister Kwabena Duffuor, Accra mayor Alfred Vanderpuije and US company Conti Construction. In the 76-page complaint filed in late March, TJGEM details how company officials travelled to Accra several times in 2011 to hold meetings with Vanderpuije about TJGEM’s potential involvement in a multi-million dollar sewerage project in Accra.

Shining Energy Ltd, Knight Piesold Consulting and Jains Solar are contesting the award of an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 20MW Omburu solar PV plant, The Namibian newspaper reported. The contract was awarded by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) on behalf of Nampower to Hopsol Africa Ltd and Tulive Private Equity Ltd.

Parliament’s Environment, Tourism, Natural Resources and Development Committee has given its support to the 166MW Sombwe hydropower project being developed by Congolese company Kipay Investments in Upper Katanga province. The $500m project is being developed on the Lufira River, 30km downstream of the Kiubo Falls, 300km north of Kolwezi, to help to reduce a supply/demand gap in the Katanga region estimated at 1,000MW, including 270MW for Ivanhoe Mines. It will include a solar plant to be built by Kipay near the Fungurume substation to ensure uninterrupted supply.

The new US administration has restored sanctions on Israeli diamond magnate Dan Gertler over alleged corruption in DR Congo. The Treasury Department had eased the sanctions five days before Donald Trump left office, quietly issuing a licence that temporarily lifted restrictions on the mining tycoon.

In an out-of-court settlement to avoid a further public biens mal acquis (ill-gotten goods) scandal, a dispute has been concluded over the penthouse apartment in Biscayne Bay, Miami purchased in the name of the wife of presidential son and international co-operation and public/private partnerships minister Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso (widely known as Kiki).

The World Bank Group (WBG) has said it will develop “a new approach” to assessing the business and investment climate of countries around the world, following the decision to cancel its annual Doing Business report after an investigation had shown that the rankings of China and other powerful players had been artificially boosted.

Royal Dutch Shell faces a further legal challenge to its seismic survey off the eastern littoral – South Africa’s so-called Wild Coast – after campaigners forced a new court hearing for 17 December.

Victor Mapani was appointed managing director of Zambian national utility Zesco with immediate effect on 3 December, following the departure of the controversial Victor Mundende. The appointment followed the replacement of the board of directors with six new members in November.

Oil Production Licence (OPL) 245 is the focus of a $1.7bn claim brought by the Nigerian government against JP Morgan Chase Bank North America in London’s High Court.  What is the asset and why has it created such expensive controversy? African Energy explains.

There have been further developments in the government’s efforts to claw back advantageous conditions offered to Chinese investors under the $6bn infrastructure-for-minerals deal agreed with Beijing by ex-president Joseph Kabila Kabange.

A dispute over loans given to Aiteo Eastern E&P to pay for its acquisition of Nigerian oil assets from Shell in 2015 is heading for arbitration after a London court ruling. One lender warned that a default could have serious consequences for the Nigerian banking system.

The World Bank Group’s International Centre for Settlement of International Disputes (Icsid) has ruled in the Conakry government’s favour that there was overwhelming evidence that Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources (BSGR) obtained mining rights for the Simandou iron ore project’s blocks 1 and 2 through corrupt practices.