Month: March 2020

Half a decade after 22 African countries signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, only 8 countries have ratified the treaty.

Inked back in June of 2015 in the northern African state of Egypt, the agreement is meant to unify previously existing regional trade bodies the EAC, SADC and Comesa. A noble cause backed by an elaborate list of merits.

This latest free trade pact, the TFTA is an engine to foster intra-Africa trade that is seen as a vehicle to widen Africa trade markets within the continent itself. It is also envisioned to attract more investment, catalyze the development of regional infrastructure and very importantly, give member states a competitive trading age with the rest of the World.

Sounds ice cream coated candy, sweet deal, but five years down the road majority of the member countries remain reluctant to ratify it, why? It begs the question, is another …

Binary code is a series of 0’1 and 1’s and thanks to the digital revolution that has since unfolded, these series of 0’s and 1’s and is, in multiple digits, lifting Africa out of poverty.

Take Tanzania for instance, a low income East African nation that now has the capacity to increase its annual tax base by a whopping USD 477 million should it better regulate, promote and develop the digital money industry in the country.

Other than the financial gains that are all too obvious, using digital transactions allows for increased transparency in government payments and reduced bureaucratic inefficiencies across most all government ministries and agencies.

Tanzania ranks way up there in Africa’s digital money penetration. In just a handful of years, Tanzania’s mobile money penetration has been unprecedented. With it, “Tanzania is building a firm foundation for strong and inclusive growth and we look forward to further progress,” …

Tanzania has set regional precedence by establishing an Atomic Energy Commission and gone ahead to start construction of a state of the art laboratory designed manage use of radioactive materials.

In Sub-Sahara Africa, the country is only second to South Africa in this frontier and has already begun the first phase of construction works. Valued at 2.5bn/- the first phase of the lab construction begun last year and is designed to meet global operation and calibration standards in atomic energy and nuclear.

It may come as a surprise to you as it did to me to learn of this rather unsettling development; a third world country building an atomic management laboratory to rival world standards. Well, that is the case until you learn that this third world country is also gearing to start mining uranium.

This explanation is plausible, as we have been predisposed to this reality by Hollywood blockbuster …

The deadly coronavirus has brought the World to a standstill, spread through touch, African financial institutions are now going cashless to beat the virus.

The exchange of money, in cash, risky further spread of the virus, an obvious solution is to go cashless, use digital payments only. However is Africa ready?

In the face of this global tragedy, Africa’s fast digital penetration seems to have come in the nick of time. Led by the telecom companies, Africa leads the globe in use of mobile transactions.

Even in the most remotest corners of the continent, peasant farmers, pastoralists herding cows, all can be found with a mobile phone registered for mobile money transactions. Even the smallest shops accept mobile money payment for even the smallest purchases. The only limitation has always been the expensive cost of the service, however that cost is irrelevant if the money is not withdrawn to cash.…

In just one year, Tanzania’s Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) has recovered close to USD 36 million (82.2bn/-) of embezzled public funds.

The funds were misappropriated during the 2018/19 financial year and the amount is actually USD 6million  (12.5bn/-) more than what was recovered last year.

That begs the question, were there more cases of embezzlement last year compared to the previous year? The authorities do not make that clear but they credit the recovery to increased efficiency of the bureau which they say is operating at a high efficiency rate of 82 percent.

Evidence to support the increased efficiency includes the increased number of project inspections by almost double the number of inspections that were conducted last year. The number of evaluated projects reached 1,106 up from only 691 that were conducted last year.

A total of 911 case were reviewed including 266 on alleged bribe cases …

The Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC), the country’s main tobacco producer, is looking to expand its sells to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The DRC is already TCC’s largest export destination that has seen the company grow its 2019 gross profit earnings by 56 percent, more than double compared to the previous year.

Nonetheless, the tobacco company enjoyed marginal growth when it came to annual revenue which inched up slightly by 5.2 percent to clock 309.8bn/- up from 294.3bn/- the year before that.

TCC is not the only company eyeing the DRC for business, increasingly, Tanzanian banks are reported to be making venture moves into the DRC. However, until now, it is small businesses that were enjoying the huge market of the central African state.

Many small businesses have been transporting goods to the DRC for years and enjoying lucrative returns. TCC is only the latest of manufacturing titans to …

We are in a recession!

This is the stark reality that the world is facing and it has come sooner than many have predicted thanks to the covid-19 coronavirus. Already, the world is reeling from shock at the sheer magnitude of effect the virus has had on every aspect of life.

In addition to the lives and man-hours lost, the world will take a long time to recover from the hit. The global economy has suffered massive losses since the WHO announced the threat of the disease which was made public globally on December 31, 2019.

Already, airlines have started manifesting the effects of the coronavirus outbreak with Kenya Airways (KQ) staff taking a pay cut starting with newly appointed CEO Allan Kilavuka who will see his salary whittled down by 80 per cent from the 35 per cent he had announced earlier.

Tala’s next mission after freezing operations in

Kenya is the barometer for what is happening or likely to take root in East Africa since the country tends to set the pace on matters development.

When it comes to land prices in East Africa, Kenya tops the list of the most expensive land rivalling even properties in some affluent areas of Johannesburg, London and New York.

In the last quarter of 2019, land prices in Kenya continued on their upward trend with properties in the suburbs increasing by 1.69 per cent over the year while satellite towns saw prices increase by 6.93 over the same period.

African economies must diversify, value add for quick recovery

In a report by Hass Consult, Kitengela which is just an hour from Nairobi city centre saw the highest land price increase recording a 10.71 per cent hike while Ongata Rongai led on a quarterly basis at 4.56 per cent.

The plush Spring …

On Tuesday 31 March 2020 Tanzania recorded its first COVID-19 death of a 49-year-old Tanzanian man, which happened in the nation’s commercial city, Dar es Salaam.

According to information from the Ministry of Health, the deceased man was also suffering from other health complications apart from the pandemic.

READ”COVID-19 in Africa: How African currencies feel the pandemic pinch

Tanzania which has 19 cases of the coronavirus, is taking various measures in containing the coronavirus.

“As of today, March 31, 2020, we have confirmed a total of 19 COVID-19 cases whereby out of the number, one has died and one has been treated and discharged from the hospital,” Minister of Health, Ummy Mwalimu said in a statement on Tuesday.

The pandemic has already hurt various crucial economic operations in Tanzania, including hotels, aviation and tourism activities.

On the meanwhile, the Tanzanian government is containing the outbreak rather different than its …

The African economies are not diverse enough to help them navigate tough times like the one posed by the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

This means that when the sectors that are popular in these economies are hit, the countries suffer immensely and take longer to recover. This is no different now and with projections that the economies will slow to about 2 per cent growth continent-wide.

Despite Africa’s immense wealth of natural resources and human capital, limitations still remain since the countries have no capacity to add value to these resources. For instance, Africa should be producing steel but it does not since it has to export the raw materials to be processed elsewhere denying the continent the much-needed revenues.

Why Central Africa is dragging Africa’s growth

Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda last December, the African Union Infrastructure Envoy Raila Odinga said that Africa needs to go beyond just producing the raw …