The Sierra Leone National Museum building in central Freetown will be demolished to make way for a new modern structure. This was disclosed at a meeting held at the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs on Wednesday this week. The Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Peter Bayuku Konteh and the Chairman of the Monuments[...]

The Chairperson for the National Electoral Commission, Christiana Thorpe yesterday declared that the bye-elections for Ordinary Member of Parliament and Local Councils will be held on Saturday, 29th June, 2013. She explained that the bye-elections will comprise Constituency 29, Bombali District; Constituency 62, Tonkolili District in the Northern Province and Ward 329 in the Western[...]

The Chairman Board of Directors of Standard Chartered Bank Sierra Leone Alex B Kamara has officially resigned his position yesterday during the Bank’s Annual General Meeting after serving the post for eight years; however Dr. Claudius Bart Williams was unanimously appointed as a replacement. Alex B Kamara was appointed as Chairman of the Board since[...]

Standard Chartered Sierra Leone yesterday informed shareholders during the company’s Annual General Meeting about drop in dividends from Le 0.48 in the previous year to Le 0.28 per share after making adjustments for statutory reserve and paid up capital. According to the Chairman of the Board Alex B Kamara the bank’s 2012 net revenue increased[...]

Sierra Leone's smallest indigenously owned Commercial Bank the Union Trust Bank has posted a nearly Le3bn drop in 2012 profits before tax over the 2011 profits before tax. In its published financial statements, UTB posted profit before tax of Le8.2bn (Le8,223,117) for 2012 which is Le2.9bn (Le2,924,209) less than the profits before tax for 2011, which was Le11bn (Le11,147,326). The profit before tax is about $1.9million. Deposits or liabilities due to customers increased by Le19bn (Le19,882,056) from Le110bn (Le110,597,187) in 2011 to Le130bn (Le130,479,243) in 2012. Loans and Advances to customers grew by Le9bn (Le9,014,387) from Le106,807,998 in 2011 to Le115, 822,385 in 2012. Impairments or recoveries on loans and advances also increased negatively by Le1.6bn [...]

One of three indigenous Commercial Bank's in Sierra Leone the Rokel Commercial bank which was formerly Barclays Bank has posted a drop in 2012 profits before tax of Le4.2bn. According to the published balance sheets the bank made profits before tax of Le10bn (Le9,889,916) in 2012 which is Le4.2bn (Le4,252,913) less than its 2011 profits before tax of Le14bn (Le14,142,829). The profit before tax is about $2.3millon. Deposits due to customers increased by Le64bn (Le64,768,003) from Le485bn (Le485,638,356) in 2011 to Le550bn (Le550,406,359) in 2012. The Bank's loans and overdrafts to customers grew by Le17bn (Le17,395,496) from Le273bn (Le273,443,631) in 2011 to Le291bn (Le290,839,127) in 2012. The interest on similar income increased by Le2bn (Le1,966,533) from Le66bn [...]

The Pan African Commercial Bank operating in Sierra Leone under the name ECOBANK has posted increased profit before tax of over Le3bn for 2012. In 2011 the Bank posted profits before tax of Le6bn (Le5,593,878) which is Le3.1bn (Le3,109,027) less than the profits before tax of Le9bn (Le8,702,905) posted for 2012. The profits before tax for 2012 therefore amount to $2million. Deposits from customers increased by Le59bn (Le59,016,792) from Le211bn (Le211,577,623) in 2011 to Le270bn (Le270,594,415) in 2012. Loans and Advances to customers increased by Le1.3bn (Le1,293,850) from Le83bn (Le82,759,677) in 2011 to Le84bn (Le84,053,527) in 2012. Interest on similar income increased by Le7bn (Le6,783,351) from Le29bn (Le29,325,959) in 2011 to Le36bn (Le36,109,310) in [...]

The Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency, (SLIEPA) with support from British Council, has started a two day training for small and medium enterprises in Sierra Leone. The training which is taking place at the conference Hall at SLIEPA headquarters, Tower Hill Freetown attracted SMEs from the agro and food processing sector, clothing and textile, and handcraft sectors among others. According to the SLIEPA Export Development Manager Henry Fofanah the objective of the training is to build the capacity of SMEs so that they would be able to access the United Kingdom market. He said 15 SMEs cross all the sectors were targeted for the training. He expressed gratitude to the British Council for providing the funding for the training. Mr. Fofanah said that the [...]

Cape Lambert Resources has been granted an Environmental License for its flagship Marampa iron ore project in Sierra Leone. Importantly, the licence enables the company to apply for a Mining Licence over the project, a process which is expected to take about three months. This will significantly de-risk the Marampa project and clear the way for development of the project. Cape Lambert also expects to finalise the Rail and Port Agreement with African Minerals Limited in the coming weeks. Under the binding Heads of Agreement, Marampa had access rights to export 2 million tonnes per annum of wet iron concentrate via the recently refurbished and currently operational Pepel rail and port infrastructure, as well as 16.5Mtpa via the port of Targrin when operational. However, African [...]

The Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources has this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Kingho Energy Group Co., Ltd on the development of mineral resources in Sierra Leone. With Six Billion United States Dollars investments ear marked as contained in the MOU, the proposals contain plans for the construction of a railway from Tonkolili to Sulima, construction of deep water quay port for transportation of products, amongst others. During the signing ceremony at the conference room of the Ministry of Mines, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Frank Kargbo said his office has been working on the MOU and was happy to inform all those present that the proposals in the MOU are in line with the development aspirations [...]