Month: April 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 195 million people around the world will be jobless in the next 90 days (3 months) said a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

International Labour Organisation estimates that almost 38 per cent of the global workforce which represents 1.25 billion workers are employed in sectors such as accommodation, food services, manufacturing and retail trade that are facing a severe decline in output and a high risk of unemployment.

Wholesale and retail segments have the biggest share of workers with 482 million workers who are lowly paid and unprotected while the most affected sector accommodation and food services account for 144 million workers.

According to the ILO report, the food and accommodation sector is suffering from almost full closure in some countries.

The manufacturing sector employs 463 million workers has also been greatly affected by the pandemic with factories closed, workers asked …

Beyond the COVID-19, the food and agriculture landscape in Africa will change because of the pandemic in terms of processing and value addition, agri-food e-commerce among others according to a report by Selina Wamucii

The report titled “Impact of COVID–19 on Africa’s Agriculture: What the Coronavirus (COVID–19) Means for African Family Farmers and Fishermen”, shows how the food and agricultural landscape across Africa will be shaped by new developments in the future.

   1. Processing and Value Addition

According to the report, due to the COVID-19 pandemic most countries supply chain got interrupted with boarders closing among others, therefore, to ensure this does not happen again in case of another pandemic, countries will seek to reduce reliance on cross-border imports mostly on food and have control of their food own production.

With the closed borders, African countries that export raw and unprocessed fresh produce to other markets have been affected greatly …

The East African Community (EAC) has put off what would have been the bloc’s first attempt to develop a regional response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This emergency meeting falls under the jurisdiction of the regional charter that allows for convening of what is referred to as an ‘extraordinary’ meeting. It is extraordinary because it occurs outside the scheduled ‘Ordinary’ meetings.

Well, speaking of putting off meetings, even the scheduled Ordinary meeting that was due to be held at the end of February was also postponed.

Back to the coronavirus response extraordinary meeting, the sitting East African Community (EAC) Chairman, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame called the meeting.

If or rather, when it is held, this will be the first time the whole region comes together to formulate a response plan. Other than two or more member states reaching their own consensus, usually on border trade agreements; there has not been a …

By Julia Greenland – CEO, In Their Hands

Living in Africa, I have watched the explosion of COVID 19 in Asia, Europe and America like a horror movie. We watched as country after country introduced social distancing measures too late and thousands of cases emerge. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking – what will happen when it reaches us, with our small number of ventilators and millions without running water?

So, like everyone else, I have been relieved to see East Africa’s governments respond quickly – closing schools, limiting entry and restricting movement.

Yes, we are doing the right things, implementing preventative measures – but we must be prepared for the unexpected consequences of CODIV 19. After all this isn’t the first time African countries have faced widespread school closures and an economic slow down due to an outbreak.

In Sierra Leone, a UNDP study found a …

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a toll on the education landscape in Tanzania, as private schools stand to lose around 20 per cent of their annual revenues due to the virus outbreak.

According to information from The Citizen, the current landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania has triggered the private school owners to give a call to the government for an intervention, as a financial storm looms over their investments.

In March, Tanzania executed a nation-wide school shut down for 30 days and the nation’s prime minister Kassim Majaliwa announced on 14 April an extension of the shutdown until further notice.

In this context, the extension means that teachers and non-academic staff of some schools are on indefinite unpaid leave as their employer’s struggle to meet operational costs without having to depend on fees paid by parents and guardians.

The global pandemic has now infected about 147 people …

Africa, the world’s second-fastest-growing region might drive a third of 440 it’s formal and informal workers in unemployment, as the region rolls in lockdowns that sweep away people’s means to earn their income, according to McKinsey.

As the virus threats keep on taking new shapes, Mckinsey Finding Africa’s Path report entails that report, between 9 million and 18 million of Africa’s 140 human capital informal sector could lose their jobs.

The report also noted that a further 30 million to 35 million could see a reduction in wages and working hours, as one hundred million of the 300 million informal jobs in Africa are at risk.

Already the virus has hurt other decent-paying and highly labour concentrated sectors in the region such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale, tourism, and construction, as jobs of more than half of the workforce could be lost, the report highlighted.

The virus which has already …

The price for crude oil is down 60 percent since the year started and it is only tumbling further, global oil news reports.

On the one hand, analysts blame the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and on the other the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia is said to have contributed to the sharp drop.

Even the movers and shakers are feeling the pinch, oil in the US plummeted 34%, crude oil falling by 26%, and brent oil falling 24%. Associated Press reports that prices this week dropped to an 18 year all time low of under USD20 a barrel for the US.

Speculators say it is the best time to invest, pessimists would have you shy away from taking the risk.

The idea is a simple business law, buy when prices are low and sell when prices peak, so technically, the advice to buy into the oil business now is …

The Tanzanian shilling has had an impressive first quarter stifling off the effects of coronavirus threat even amidst travel restrictions and slowed trade.

Up to the close of the quarter, the central bank of Tanzania, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said the Tanzanian shilling is strong and has ‘remained resilient against the dollar.’ This means trade, particularly import and export was stable as the value of the shilling muscled up against the dollar.

As matters would have it, by the end of February, the Tanzanian shilling was rather impressive trading at an average rate of Sh2,300.9 for every dollar, a commendable standoff compared to the Sh2,300 that was the trading rate against the dollar just a month before in January of this year.

Further still, despite the slowed trading owing to the coronavirus threat, the indicative foreign exchange market report released by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) at the end …

On Wednesday, April 15, Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous region of Tanzania well known for its exotic beaches recorded its first coronavirus (COVID-19) death, and in the same time, more people infected by the novel virus increase to 18 as 6 more people test positive for COVID-19.

According to the island’s health minister Hamad Rashid Mohammed, the deceased patient was a 63-year-old male, who passed away on Saturday at his home and was buried on the same day.

Further, the minister noted that the six new cases included five men and a woman aged between 33 and 63 are all from Zanzibar and did not have any recent travel history.

The minister also announced that two patients who were receiving treatment at designated hospitals on the Isles have been discharged after completing their treatment.

However, the new trend of coronavirus infections brings a different dimension in the fight against the pandemic which …

As the number of new coronavirus infections reaches 53, the government of Tanzania has ordered schools to stay closed indefinitely, evidence of the uncertainty that haunts these murky coronavirus times.

It is the crowded commercial port city of Dar es Salaam that is most affected, in fact all the  53 new Covid-19 reported cases are in the city of 6 million plus people.

There are 4 new cases since the last new infection was reported on Monday making it 4 new cases in just 3 days, that is a rate of almost one new infection per day this week.

The development comes inspight of all precautionary measures that the city has taken including having hand sanitizers in every store, government office, market place and even public transport vehicles.

Union & Labour Day cancelled days from annual celebrations

With the exponential increase in rate of infections, and the spicy Islands …