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Ethiopia has staunchly defended its ambitious five-year growth and transformation plan following suggestions that the levels of debt it involves may not be sustainable, writes Michael Wooldridge

With a $181m deal, one of the largest local currency financings in an African emerging market is complete, writes Kevin Godier

After a trial shrouded in secrecy, the criminal court in Oran has finally handed down sentences on disgraced Sonatrach president director-general Mohammed Meziane, ex-interim PDG and downstream vice president Abdelhafid Feghouli and three co-defendants, who were accused of misappropriating public funds and short-circuiting the tender process by awarding contracts on a gré-à-gré (directly negotiated) basis.

Cameroon has tapped Chinese expertise and funding for two key dam projects as part of plans to triple electricity output. The Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) announced on 9 May that the construction contract for the key Lom Pangar dam had been awarded to China International Water and Electric Corporation, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation.

Growing political tensions across Sudan as the date for southern secession approaches are slowing international trade and risk-taking business, writes Kevin Godier

Egypt’s new leaders are keen to renegotiate export contracts with Israel and Jordan, which are accused of being sold gas at preferential prices. Court hearings took place in 2009 to challenge the Israeli deal in particular (AE 172/21). Prime minister Essam Sharaf said in April he hoped to boost Egypt’s income from gas exports by $3bn-4bn. Domestic energy shortages have also made the deals unpopular, and there is a de facto moratorium on new export projects.

Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) has told African Energy that non-payment cover involving power projects in Sudan had been a major focus for the organisation.

The PDP is no longer all-powerful, but President Goodluck Jonathan has a mandate for change that should accelerate the pace of projects and the passing of modernising legislation – provided he and his new government are capable of implementing their policies, write Kevin Godier, Jon Marks and David Slater

The development of renewable energy, especially off-grid rural electrification schemes, is a major thrust of the financing facility’s latest projects, writes François Misser in Brussels

The cost of the Libyan conflict is becoming ever more apparent for construction and engineering companies, with the threat that under-insured businesses may be landed with potentially catastrophic losses if they forfeit on-demand contract bonds.

As part of donor efforts to restore Liberia’s infrastructure, the US government has installed a 10MW light fuel oil power plant at Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC)’s Bushrod Island facility.

While banks await mandates to raise a new mega-loan for state oil company Sonangol (AE 207/21), monetary authorities in Luanda are also considering coming to the market this year for Angola to issue its long-awaited debut Eurobond.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s has stuck by its ‘stable’ outlook in the wake of the presidential election, viewing Nigeria’s robust balance sheet as a counterweight to its political risks.

Equity financing is almost complete for the Egyptian Refinery Company (ERC) project, which tapped North Africa’s largest debt financing in H2 2010 and is due to start operations in 2015.

Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) sold its first 995,259 barrels of crude from the Jubilee field on 9 March, earning around $110m, according to chief executive Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye. The oil was sent to the US market for delivery to Sunoco Inc subsidiary Sun International.