Author: Joakim Oduor

• Consumer spending in countries like Kenya is projected to increase as inflation slows gradually, but overall spending will be cautious and value-driven.
• Entry-level consumers, who spend between $2 and $4 daily, are expected to drive demand, while preferences in the upper segment will evolve to include more refined tastes focused on luxury and convenience.
• The report states that consumers will be more price-conscious, deviating from general global norms, particularly in Africa..

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, astronomically high commodity prices, global monetary tightening, and food protectionism shaped the consumer landscape in 2023. These realities resulted in a consumer landscape characterized by unhappy consumers with closed wallets, as per the Stears 2024 outlook report.

“World inflation was projected to average 6.9 per cent in 2023, the highest level since 1996, impacting consumer trends globally. However, bright spots exist in the consumer landscape this year,” it says.

Global inflation is …

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has stated that inadequate infrastructure investment in African countries hinders the continent from securing a more advantageous position as a global supply chain destination.
The organization highlights, among other points, in its annual 2023 Africa economic development report, the need to prioritize certain aspects to strengthen Africa’s role in the supply chain, recognizing its potential to become a key player in the global supply market.…

• The economic benefits of green innovation primarily manifest through increased investment in the initial years.
• Research indicates that doubling green patent filings can elevate the gross domestic product by 1.7 percent after five years.
• The IMF advises against the use of government policies that restrict international trade to support domestic industries, cautioning against the act of protectionism.

The IMF states that the momentum of low-carbon innovation has now slowed, as promising technologies are not spreading rapidly enough to lower-income countries including in Africa where they can be particularly helpful.

This is in spite of the progress made in the recent past when green innovation reached its peak at 10 per cent of total patent filings in 2010.

“Since then, it has experienced a mild decline, reflecting various factors, including hydraulic fracking lowering the price of oil and technological maturity in some initial technologies such as renewables, which slows the pace …

• With the cost of living ranking done in terms of countries’ major cities, Kenya’s Nairobi has been ranked position 141 out of 173 cities surveyed globally. 
• For the ninth time in the previous eleven years, Singapore continued to hold the top spot in the rankings as the most expensive city in the world.
• Kenya’s inflation for the month of December slightly eased to 6.6 percent, down from 6.8 percent in November.

Kenya’s ranking in the cost of living improved in 2023, a result of the country’s decreased cost of living in the 12 months leading up to September, as indicated in the latest report from the International Research Unit, Economic Intelligence.

During this period, Kenya fell 33 places in the rankings of countries surveyed on the world’s cost of living, with Nairobi securing the 141st position out of 173 cities surveyed globally.

According to Economic Intelligence, this suggests that the …

• The raid conducted by Nigeria’s anti-graft commission on Dangote’s office on January 4 is sending chills across the boardrooms of businesses in the country.
• Manufacturers in Nigeria express concern that if such an event can happen to Dangote, Africa’s richest man, then it could happen to any one of them.
• The raid is believed to be part of an extensive probe into Dangote, a former Central Bank governor, and the foreign exchange transactions that he oversaw.

A raid conducted by anti-graft agents on the offices of Aliko Dangote on January 4 is sending chills across the boardrooms of businesses and investors in Nigeria, even though sector players were anticipating it.

Dangote, arguably the richest person in Africa by far, owns an empire that controls the Nigerian corporate world and is the former head of Nigeria’s Central Bank.

In May 2023, Dangote completed a massive oil refinery with considerable fanfare, just …

• The World Bank reports that, as of 2022, low- and middle-income nations paid a record US$443.5 billion of their external public and publicly insured debt.
• Over the past decade, the increasing debt stock of these countries has outpaced economic growth, raising concerns about these economies’ ability to service their external obligations.
• The lender anticipates that over the course of 2023–2024, the cost of servicing rising debt will increase by roughly 10% for all developing nations and by 40% for low-income ones.

The World Bank has issued a warning that developing nations’ rising debt obligations are placing a strain on their budgets by taking money away from vital services such as health and education.

Latest statistics from the World Bank’s 2023 International Debt report show that low- and middle-income nations (LMICs), including Kenya, paid a record US$443.5 billion in external public and publicly insured debt.

“Over the past decade, the rise …

• This year, ILO report notes that an additional two million workers are expected to be seeking jobs in Africa and across the globe.
• Last year, the global unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent, reflecting a modest improvement from 2022 when it was at 5.3 percent, accounting for roughly 191 million people.
• Additionally, the global jobs gap and labour market participation rates showed improvement in 2023. However, a new report highlights that beneath these numbers, fragility is starting to emerge.

An additional two million people are projected to be seeking work this year, potentially raising the average unemployment rate in Africa and across the world by about two per cent to 5.2 per cent from last year’s 5.1 per cent.

In its World Employment and Social Outlook Trends: 2024 report, the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that this trend will accelerate growing social inequalities, a key pain point for policymakers across …

• The IMF’s support fund refers to the designated Special Drawing Right (SDR), which serves as an international reserve asset to supplement the official reserves of its member nations.
• It represents a potential claim on the members’ freely usable currencies, primarily intended to provide liquidity to a nation in the event of an economic crisis.
• As of September, Kenya’s SDR quota at the IMF stood at US$542.8 million, equivalent to KSh91.8 billion.

Leaders from developing countries continue to pursue the implementation of the proposed re-channeling of the IMF’s support fund through development banks, aiming for affordability and increased impact scale.

This was evident on the sidelines of the recent COP28 summit, where African leaders emphasized the acceleration of the process towards realizing the proposal. The summit took place between November 30 and December 12 last year in Dubai.

Proposal: IMF’s support fund to come through AfDB

African Development Bank (AfDB) Group …

• Kenya’s tobacco tariffs, as a percentage of the retail price, are 46.12 per cent, 29 per cent less than the global average.
• Experts have also questioned Kenya’s decision to exclude tobacco products from the tax revisions in the Finance Act 2023.
• Lobby insists that taxation on tobacco and nicotine products should continue annually, with the inflation factor strictly embedded in the policy adjustments.

Kenya’s National Taxpayers Association asserts that the country’s current tobacco taxes fall significantly below the World Health Organization’s recommended baseline, which advocates for taxes to be at least 75 per cent of the product’s retail price.

This is despite the acknowledgement that taxes represent the most cost-effective means to reduce tobacco consumption, particularly among youth and low-income groups, thereby lowering the country’s burgeoning healthcare costs associated with treating tobacco-related diseases.

According to the lobby and the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP), Kenya’s tobacco …