Month: February 2020

East Africans should brace themselves for an increase in the cost of living as households and businesses pay more for goods and services.

Regional currencies are facing increased pressure against the dollar as increasing debt levels and increased servicing obligations threaten to wear down foreign exchange reserves, market data shows.

The projected drop of regional currencies is mainly attributed to the growing debt servicing obligations for foreign currency-denominated debts. To pay off external creditors, it requires a drawdown of the country’s foreign reserves.

According to analysts at AIB Capital, as a pick-up in consumer demand increases imports, the Kenya shilling is expected to further depreciate against the dollar. The country’s exports are likely to remain relatively uncompetitive therefore, this will lead to an increase in the current account deficit.

“We expect the shilling to gradually depreciate against the dollar but remain relatively unchanged against the euro and pound,” said AIB.…

More than 2,000 delegates are expected to attend the G77+China summit that is to be held in Kampala Uganda between April 17-19.

In the United Nations, the G77 is the largest intergovernmental organization for developing countries. It is used as a platform to articulate and promote the countries collective economic interests and increase their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues.

The coalition was initially started by 77 countries but now it has 135 member countries from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.

In October, last year Uganda was confirmed as the host of the summit making it the first African host for the event.

G77 summit brings together heads of state of the Group of 77 coalition and more than 300 other high-level dignitaries from the United Nations and the member states.

Speaking at the Uganda Media Center the senior advisor for communication and outreach at …

Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, and currently facing enormous workload in generating reliable power for the most diverse economy in Africa has been served with a compliance notice by the nation’s environment ministry, high levels of air pollution being the cause.

According to information from Bloomberg, Eskom’s biggest operational power plants are struggling to remain active as the pollution levels are not yet repaired accordingly.

The heavily relied on power utility has failed to fully repair pollution-abatement equipment at its 4 116-megawatt Kendal power plant that began malfunctioning in early 2018 and was damaged further in a strike later that year.

The ministry issued the notice in December saying the plant would need to shut down two of its six generating units, 1 and 5 if the action wasn’t taken to bring them back into compliance.

Hence, according to the notice, it demanded maintenance plans for the rest.

South …

The potential of the fourth industrial revolution in Africa report shows an African tech sector taking flight the report was funded by the African Development Bank.

The Technopolis Group carried out research and study of the report. The report was presented during a seminar hosted by the African Development Bank last week.

According to the report, in 2019, approximately 6,500 technology start-ups were identified in Africa, among which about 10% develop applications that characterize the fourth industrial revolution.

Francie Sadeski, partner and lead in emerging markets at Technopolis, said the foundation has been laid for the fourth industrial revolution.

“The figures exceed forecasts and indicate that the basis for Africa’s growth into the fourth industrial revolution is already there,” she said during a presentation on the report.

By 2019, the report notes that venture capital of more than $100 million was invested in African Internet of Things start-ups making it …

The African Development Bank urged development finance institutions, NGOs, farmer cooperatives and the private sector to come up with more effective financing solutions for Africa’s fertilizer value chains.

The Bank’s call came during the Argus Africa Fertilizer Conference held last week. The theme of the conference was Supporting the fertilizer value chain to improve agricultural productivity and economic growth in the region.

“Appropriate investment and financing of the entire fertilizer value chain has become a precondition for achieving our continental objectives in the area of agricultural development,” said Marie-Claire Kalihangabo, coordinator of the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism(AFFM), during a forum on the sidelines of the Conference.

AFFM is a Fund managed by the African Development Bank to accelerate agriculture development in line with the Bank’s High-5 priority, the Sustainable Development Goals, Africa Food Security Vision and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Also Read: “Nobody eats GDP” says African Development Bank

China Energy Engineering Group Company has announced its plans to develop a 500 megawatt (MW) dam and has contracted China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company as its engineering, construction contractor and procurement.

“China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company (Gezhouba International Company), a subsidiary of China Gezhouba Group Company has entered into a framework contract for the 500 MW photovoltaic power generation project in Uganda,” the statement made by CEEC, read in part.

According to the Chinese company, the 500 MW project will be constructed in two phases at an estimate of $500 million.

Also Read: Uganda’s economy growing but not braced for shocks, says World Bank

For the 500 MW photovoltaic power generation project, Gezhouba International Company will be required to design, procure, construct and perform trials.

According to the statement, subsequent formal commercial contract agreement will determine the specific scope of work, contract amount and time limit of performance …

The United Kingdom wants to enter into a trade pact with the East African Community member countries.

The United Kingdom which is into a one-year transition phase after it left the European Union, is keen on having long-term and sustainable trade ties with the EAC region.

During the one-year transition period set to end on December 31, the UK- EAC trade engagement will be under European Union protocol where most regional countries apply to Everything But Arms treaty.
UK High Commissioner to Rwanda, Jo Lomas, said that they are looking to negotiating a trade deal somewhat similar to EAC’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

“We are looking to have a trade deal with the EAC, along the lines of what was agreed upon by the EU. Ultimately, we would like to be negotiating something more ambitious but we are keen not to disrupt trade,” she said.

Also Read: 

Rwanda’s Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program funded in part by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from 2012 to 2017 increased Medical Specialist says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

According to the report, the program more than tripled the country’s physician specialist workforce and produced major increases in the numbers and qualifications of nurses and midwives.

The report recommended that future investments in health professional education should be designed within a more comprehensive approach to human resources for health and institutional capacity building, which would strengthen the health system to meet both HIV and more general health needs.

“People with HIV are living longer, which means they have long-term HIV care needs while also needing the care to manage other diseases and to enhance their quality of life. Supporting the entirety of their needs depends on the same strong …

Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in partnership with Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) hosted a discussion with Kenyan and U.S. business leaders and government officials on the benefits that will arise from a Kenya-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

The round table discussion explored how the private sector can support this bilateral effort and take full advantage of investment and trade opportunities that will come from a Kenya-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

This comes as a follow up to the recent visit of H.E. President Kenyatta to the United States, where both states announced the launch of talks aimed at establishing a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

If the plans succeed, it will be the first the United States FTA with a sub-Saharan African nation.

To enhance its trade and investment relationship with other African countries, the U.S might use the same model.
President and CEO of the Corporate Council …

Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economy has recorded the highest quarterly growth (in the fourth quarter—Q4) since the 2016 recession.

The economic growth rose to an annual rate of 2.55 per cent in the three months to the end of December, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Monday.

The NBS noted that, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 which recorded a growth rate of 2.38 per cent, this represents an increase of 0.17 per cent points and an increase of 0.27  per cent points when compared with the third quarter of 2019.

READ:Nigerian annual inflation soars to 12.1 per cent in January

The statistician highlighted that Nigeria’s economy has been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors, whereby in Q4 the oil sector scored a decent increase of 7.98 points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018.

Also, the non-oil …