Business

Cameroon’s flag carrier, Camair-co, is now the latest member of International Air Transport Association, having passed what is considered in aviation as the gold standard for airline operational audits.

The Cameroonian airline has passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Airlines on the IOSA registry are acknowledged as having met the required standard.

All airlines, regardless of region, resource or scale, are assessed biennially against a set of globally benchmarked standards.

Details

Elangwe Pauline

09.Apr.2016

Hits: 2902

The information was revealed at the Unity Palace after the Head of State granted an audience to the French Investment icon of the Bollore Group- Vincent Bollore.

The discussion between President Paul Biya and Vicent Bollore also centred on solar energy and the signing of projects to manage the Kribi deep Sea Port and also to bring new high speed trains to the country’s rail-way stations.

Details

Elangwe Pauline

09.Apr.2016

Hits: 4310

The two State hotels are undergoing an impressive facelift as contractors voice determination to meet the deadline set by Government. What strikes any visitor who wants lodging in Buea, are the renovation works currently going on at the two State hotels: Mountain Hotel and Parliamentarian Flats. Cameroonian workers under the supervision of Chinese instructors, were busy working building additional rooms. The three companies involved in renovating and equipping these two hotels are Groupement GRESCERAM International TIEC, GROUPECAM GRESCERAM International STI/COEPSA and Groupe SOMAF. The first company is in charge of infrastructural renovation like constructing new infrastructure and renovating old buildings at the Mountain Hotel while the second company is in charge of equipping the hotel with beds, TV screens and chairs at the Mountain Hotel. The third company Groupe SOMAF is in charge of construction, renovation and equipment of rooms at the Parliamentarian Flats. 

According to Nankem Yannick, the Civil Engineer for the projects, renovation works at the Mountain Hotel are at about 15 per cent and at the Parliamentarian Flats at about 23 per cent realised. Renovation works that started on the December 17, 2015, are expected to end on July 17, 2016 as stated in the contract. Nevertheless, construction works are expected to end earlier, that is, on June 20, 2016 to give time for the hotels to be fully equipped. The engineer said Mountain Hotel will have an additional 62 new rooms while at the Parliamentarian Flat, a total of 46 new rooms will be added to the existing 30 rooms giving a grand total of 76 rooms. Nankem Yannick disclosed that after renovations, Mountain Hotel will be transformed from a Three Star to a Four Star hotel. Some services that will be offered at the renovated Mountain Hotel are a Fitness Centre, night club, and restaurant with tasty dishes. Similarly, the Parliamentarian Flats will have a swimming pool, Fitness Centre, tennis and volleyball court, and a restaurant. The Flat will also move from Three Star to Four Star hotel. “We are working round the clock from Monday to Sunday to meet up with the deadline,” Nankem Yannick stressed.

Details

Cameroon Tribune

07.Apr.2016

Hits: 3366

The monetary policy committee of the central banks of the CEMAC zone has announced measures taken at a special session which held on Wednesday in Yaounde at the BEAC headquarters.  The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) will allocate between 500 and 600 billion CFA francs (between 1 and 1.2 billion dollars) to bail out banks and treasuries within the economic union. This information was made public by Lucas Abaga Nchama, the governor of the institution.

The leaders of the central bank in the sub region indicated that by this gesture, BEAC intends to bring its response to the particularly difficult economic situation with a projected growth of 1.6% in 2016, which was affected by falling prices of commodities  such as oil for some countries, and the security crisis facing others like the Central African Republic. 

CEMAC monetary experts added that if other indicators are shaken by the 3% inflation more or less under control, BEAC  will come in with a 50% coefficient of reserve requirements in force in CEMAC  Congo, CAR, Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. "We lowered the reserve requirement ratio to give more liquidity to the banking system," precised the Governor of BEAC. Strengthening bank liquidity Search banks should give more "comfort for the banks, which will have a much more dynamic management", argued the leaders of the BEAC.

Details

Sama Ernest

07.Apr.2016

Hits: 2010

WhatsApp announced on Tuesday that all messages sent through the most recent version of its app will be fully encrypted.

Encryption is now applied to "every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send," according to the WhatsApp blog.

The massive security upgrade comes just weeks after Apple was asked by the US government to break the encryption on an iPhone that belonged to a terrorist involved in the San Bernardino shooting.

WhatsApp, which has more than one billion users globally and is owned by Facebook, is using an open-source encryption standard from Open Whisper Systems. The same encryption has been used by whistle blowers like Edward Snowden.

The Justice Department has considered pursing legal action against WhatsApp's encryption efforts in recent months, according to The New York Times. Now that WhatsApp is encrypted, the company won't be technically able to hand over records of its messages to governments.

WhatsApp, which has more than one billion users globally and is owned by Facebook, is using an open-source encryption standard from Open Whisper Systems. The same encryption has been used by whistle blowers like Edward Snowden.

The Justice Department has considered pursing legal action against WhatsApp's encryption efforts in recent months, according to The New York Times. Now that WhatsApp is encrypted, the company won't be technically able to hand over records of its messages to governments.

Details

Elangwe Pauline

06.Apr.2016

Hits: 3221

The Ministers of Finance, Central Bank Governors and Presidents of Regional Institutions of the Franc Zone will meet in Yaounde from the 8th to the 9th of April, Cameroon Concord has learnt from a reliable source at the ministry of finance in Yaounde. We gathered that the heads of the financial institutions of the 8 member countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), the six member countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the Union Comoros and France will take part in this meeting.

Our chief economic affairs reporter revealed that the topics on the agenda will focus on the state of the actual nominal convergence in the Franc Zone, the adaptation of public policies to face the decline in extractive matters and the improvement and mobilization of tax resources. The forum will be jointly chaired by the French Minister of Finance and Public Accounts, Michel Sapin, the President of the CEMAC Commission, Pierre Moussa, his counterpart at the UEMOA Adjibou Soumare and the head of IMF mission for CEMAC, Mario Zamaroczy.

Details

Chi Prudence Asong

05.Apr.2016

Hits: 2181