Month: April 2020

The economic impact of fake and substandard oil on the global economy is valued in the billions of dollars. The business is tempting, it has cheap overhead and high profits and so the black market for fake goods is growing .

The counterfeits black market affects all types of good, from food products to toys, to cosmetics to jet fuels, you name it, it has a counterfeit.

In Kenya, millions of litres of crude oil has been barred from entering the country via an oil tanker on April Fools. News of the cargo ship, No. K07/2020 has just been released to local media saying was the oil tanker, MT Ocean Tiara belongs to a subsidiary company of a Nigerian oil giant and was seized after it berthed at Mombasa port waiting to moor and dump the fuel.

The tanker and its cargo have several discrepancies and the long arm of …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken a new stage in Tanzania, as the country registers two more deaths and the number of infected patients of the contagious virus rises to 32.

According to information from Tanzania’s health minister Ummy Mwalimu, the two deaths are male Tanzanians aged 51 and 57 whose cases were reported on April 8.

Hence, the five patients are four men aged 68, 57, 54, 41, and one woman aged 35 all residents of the nation’s commercial, capital Dar es Salaam.

READ:COVID-19 in East Africa: Tanzania records first death

According to the minister, the number now stands at 32 after the Zanzibar (semi-autonomous region of Tanzania) health minister earlier in the day announced two new cases on the Isles.

“Of the 32 cases recorded so far, five have healed and discharged, 24 others are still receiving treatment whereas three have passed on,” said the Minister in …

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has brought the skies down, even the aviation industry is not safe from the virus wrath. In this case, the African aviation industry is vulnerable, as the international body predicted earlier that, the pandemic would hurt the sector hard, as carriers.

According to information from Bloomberg, Africa’s biggest carriers, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways and Kenya Airways are among national airlines staring at mounting losses and the destruction of growth plans put in place before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said last week, African carriers may lose $4 billion in 2020 revenue as demand for travel around the continent grinds to a halt.

All three of Africa’s biggest carriers have to find a resolution to ensure amicable solutions reach as carriers “will, in some shape or form, have to enter into conversations with their respective governments about bailouts,” Mike Mabasa, chairman …

For almost a decade now, China’s presence in Africa continues rumbling the West which has been relegated to an almost observer state by the Asian giant.

As the latest scramble for the resource-rich continent gathers pace and with the shift from aid dependence to homegrown solutions, China has been a welcome handyman in fixing problems through expensive infrastructural projects commissioned by leaders who have a huge legacy stake in them. However, these projects are raising more questions than answers from citizens and observers.

The questions arise from the fact that in real life, the economies have not been growing as much as they are depicted in papers and flamboyant GDP plans. Again, many nations are now stuck in the red since in a state of distress as loans fall due and with no means to service them.

Golden opportunities at bridge connecting 8 African countries

These African nations are having …

Sub-Saharan Africa governments funding needs may rise by almost $75 billion due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) downplaying their economies, according to information from Goldman Sachs Group.

This particular insight comes into the play as last month, African finance ministers called for a $100 billion stimulus package, including suspension of debt to help the youngest continent combat the coronavirus pandemic, which has already registered a $29 billion dent to the economy so far and still counting.

According to the global investment bank, economists in London, Dylan Smith and Andrew Matheny, the pandemic could have a serious toll on the continent’s fragile fiscal pillars.

“Possibly the most severe impact of the crisis will be on already stretched fiscal balances. Budget deficits would likely rise from an average of around 3.5 per cent to high single digits, even before any loosening to soften the economic effects of the corona-crisis,” said Smith and …

Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to face its first recession in 25 years as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is cutting life from the continent’s economies, disrupts world trade, according to information from the World Bank.

According to information from Bloomberg, the lender said, the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP) will probably contract 2.1 per cent to 5.1 per cent in 2020, compared with 2.4 per cent growth a year earlier.

World Bank Vice President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem said in a statement following the Africa Pulse report, that “The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies across the world, and African countries are likely to be hit particularly hard,”

The global investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group gave their prediction on African governments funding needs, saying that sub-Saharan Africa funding may rise by $75 billion due to COVID-19 hammering their economies.

Further, the growth downgrade is based on …

Central Bank of Kenya has cracked the whip against the Absa Bank in Kenya for failure to conduct proper tracing of the source of money in a flagged transaction in March 2020. Consequently,  the regulator has slapped the bank with a week- from Thursday, April 9 to Wednesday, April 15, 2020- suspension from trading in forex.

In a statement, CBK notes that this failure contravenes anti-money laundering regulations which stipulates adherence to the proper tracing of funds passing through the bank.

A statement by CBK reads, “In investigating these and other earlier transactions it is evident that Absa Kenya did not have a satisfactory assurance of the underlying commercial transactions supporting these trades, as is required, nor did the bank ensure the standard checks on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements were applied.”

Kenya has been keen to contain the flow of illicit …

The African Development Bank (AfDB) raised $3 billion in a three-year bond to help lift the economic and social impact that the COVID-19( Coronavirus) pandemic will have on Africa’s economies and people’s livelihood.

In a statement, the AFDB noted that the ‘Fight COVID-19’ Social bond has a three-year maturity and will amass interest from bank treasuries, central banks and official institutions and asset managers and investors who are socially responsible with bids exceeding $4.6 billion.

At 53 per cent, Fight COVID-19 social bond was allocated to central banks and official institutions and asset managers at 20 per cent bank treasuries at 27 per cent while in the Final bond distribution statistics Africa got 8 per cent.

The social bond that will pay an interest rate of 0.75% is the largest dollar-dominated bond ever launched in international capital markets to date as well as the largest US dollar bench bank the …

It goes without saying that during a crisis such as the pandemic the world is currently facing; clear, consistent and concise communications can be an effective tool in curbing the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. But innovative communication has always been an Achilles heel for leaders in a crisis, and Africa is no exception, says political campaigner, Madelain Roscher, CEO of Status (Pty) Ltd.

“Giving credit where credit is due, some African leaders have stepped up with regards to taking decisive action to stop the viral spread of the Coronavirus by partially or wholly placing their countries in lockdown and shutting borders for trave and trade. But without proper communication on how to mitigate the spread of the virus, Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases will continue to rise,” says Roscher.

According to the 2019 Global Health Security Index, which ranks countries across the globe on their pandemic preparedness, using …

The World Bank gave $379 million to help balance and strengthen statistical systems in seven West African countries.

The seven countries include Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Togo and Liberia.

The project “Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (HISWA)’ is funded by the International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants.

The project key objective is to strengthen the statistical systems of the participating countries, regional and sub-regional bodies, in order to help them balance, produce, distribute and enhance the use of core social and economic statistics.

With World Bank’s efforts to deepen regional integration in Africa, the funding will also support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).

Also Read: Africa asks World Bank, EU and IMF for debt relief support

“High-quality and harmonised statistics are essential to support economic activity and regional integration as a way to address …