Author: Caroline Muriuki

Uganda Securities Exchange

The 10 richest investors in companies that are listed on the USE own stakes amounting to $18.5 million. A huge portion of the market is controlled by institutional investors and parents companies of the listed entities while the 10 richest investors control about 0.30 percent of the market’s $6.1 billion valuations.

The USE was named as the best performing stock exchange in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2010.

Currently, there are nine domestic companies listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.…

Read More
Egypt’s unemployment rate records 7.3% in Q2 of 2021-CAPMAS

The unemployment rate in Egypt recorded 7.3 percent of the total labour force during the second quarter of 2021 according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

In the first quarter of 2021, Egypt’s unemployment rate was at 7.4 percent which marked a 0.1 decrease and a 2.3 percent decrease during the same period in 2020. According to CAPMAS, Egypt’s labour force in Q2 was estimated to be 29.115 million individuals in comparison to 29.284 million individuals in the first quarter which was a decrease of 0.6 percent.

In urban areas, the labour force is estimated to be around 12.981 million persons while in rural areas it is estimated to be 16.134 million persons. The total number of females was recorded as 4.882 million individuals.

According to Egypt’s statistics body, the decline is due to the decrease in both the number of workers and the unemployed as …

Read More
Egypt-China

Egypt-China ongoing cooperation hits $1.8 billion according to Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation.

According to a press statement from the ministry, the cooperation is directed towards the execution of several development projects across various sectors such as education, electricity, technical education, health and agriculture.

Egypt has carried out over 1,100 training programs with China over a period of four years which has benefited over 4,000 government officials. This is in addition to 25 training programs in high priority fields which benefited government units in the fields of health, water resources, population and agriculture.

Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said that the ministry is keen on enhancing the exchange of knowledge, technical assistance and expertise within the framework of its international partnerships with multilateral and bilateral development partners while supporting the country’s vision in building human capacity.

The ministry is working towards advancing economic cooperation with bilateral and multilateral …

Read More
Egypt aims to increase its agricultural production by 30% in 2024

Egypt aims to increase its agricultural production by 30 percent by 2024 and increase the gross domestic product of its agricultural sector to 12 percent in the same period.

According to Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development the sector will create job opportunities and increase small farmers income while increasing the country’s exports in agriculture. The agriculture sector will double its export shares to 25 per cent in 2024 from 17 per cent in 2020.

El-Said was speaking during a high-level dialogue on food security in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region hosted by the World Bank entitled “Food Security in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis: Pathways from crisis to recovery.”

The minister said that the agro-food sector incorporates food processing and agriculture as well as related inputs and trade. The agro-food sector makes up around 23.2 per cent of the added value labour …

Read More
How Africa can attract private finance to its development-IMF

Africa has abundant natural resources and holds immense opportunities for investors to unlock its full potential.

According to the International Monitory Fund (IMF), Africa’s hardwon economic gains for the last two decades which are critical in improving living standards can be reversed from the impacts of the pandemic.

The scope for growth through large public investment programs is limited by the uncertain outlook for international aid and the high public debts levels. In its statement, the IMF notes that if countries in the region are to enjoy a strong recovery and avoid stagnation, Africa’s private sector will have to be more involved in economic development.

According to IMF, the private sector should be involved in both social (health and education) and physical (roads and electricity) infrastructure.

“Africa’s infrastructure development needs are huge—in the order of 20 per cent of GDP on average by the end of the decade. How can …

Read More
high voltage post high voltage tower 1127 3215

West Africa region received $465 million in funding from the World Bank for regional electricity access which will see countries in the region expand electricity to over a million people.

The World group approved the funds to the new Regional Electricity Access and Battery-Energy  Storage Technologies (BEST) Project which will increase grid connections to fragile areas, strengthen WAPP’s network operation with battery energy storage technologies infrastructure and build the capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA).

Through the project, countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will enhance power system stability for 3.5 million people and increase renewable energy integration in the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP).

The project will pave way for increased renewable energy generation, investment and transmission across the West Africa region.

“West Africa is on the cusp of a regional power market that promises significant development benefits and potential for private …

Read More
G7 institutions team up to invest $80bn into Africa’s private sector

G7 Development finance institutions (DFIs) are collaborating with several multilateral partners to invest $80 billion in Africa’s private sector over the next five years.

The investments are aimed at supporting Africa’s economic recovery and growth. The project will boost support for long-term development objectives of the economies that have been affected by the pandemic.

The G7 Development finance institutions consist of the private sector arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The institutions play a key role in helping to build markets, moderate risk and pave way for investors to enter new markets.

This project will make it the first program that the G7 DFIs have made a collective partnership commitment to the African continent.

G7 institutions team up to invest $80bn into Africa’s private sector

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sub Saharan Africa will need $425 billion in additional …

Read More
Grain hands shutterstock 1030322029 E

The Sub-Saharan Africa economic growth is forecast to resume to 2.8 percent in 2021 and further rise to 3.3 percent in 2022 according to World Bank.

The growth is due to higher commodity prices, containment of the pandemic, and stronger external demand mostly from the United States and China.

According to the recently updated report from World Bank, despite the provision of vaccines by COVAX, procurements, and logistics challenges are expected to continue to affect the rollout of the vaccination. In the Central African Republic, Kenya, Niger, and Equatorial Guinea delays in major investments in extractives and infrastructure due to policy uncertainty and the existing effects of the pandemic will affect the recovery of the economies.

“Per capita income levels in 2022 are expected to be 4% lower on average than in 2019. Conditions in the region’s fragile and conflict-affected countries are expected to be particularly challenging; their average output …

Read More
Egypt’s economy to record 2.3% growth in FY 2020//21

Egypt’s economy is expected to grow by 2.3 percent in the 2020/2021 fiscal year from the previous project of 3.7 percent in January 2021 according to the World Bank’s Economic Prospects report June 2021.

According to the report, In the 2021/2022 fiscal year Egypt is expected to see further growth rise to 4.5 per cent down from 5.8 percent in the January report, which is a decrease of 1.3percent. In the Fiscal year 2022/2023, the report projects a growth rise of 5.5 percent.

According to the World Bank, in the first half of 2021 Egypt’s economy remained sluggish despite the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. Following unprecedented support in 2020, fiscal policy is expected to be less accommodative in 2021 while the average primary fiscal deficit is expected to be about 4 percent of GDP which is about two thirds its level in 2020.

“The scope for further financial support is …

Read More
sun setting silhouette electricity pylons 1127 3239 2

Global investment in energy is set to rebound to nearly 10 percent in 2021 to $1.9 trillion according to a report by International Energy Agency (IEA).

According to the report, there are signs that developers are using the opportunity provided by accommodative monetary policy and government backing to plan infrastructure developments and investments in new projects despite many energy companies being in a fragile financial state.

The anticipated improvement in investments in 2021 is a mixture of a recurring response to recovery and a structural change in capital flows towards cleaner technologies.

“With energy investment returning to pre-crisis levels, its composition is continuing to shift towards electricity: 2021 is on course to be the sixth year in a row that investment in the power sector exceeds that in traditional oil and gas supply.” World Energy Investment said in their 2021 report.

In 2021, the report noted that the global power …

Read More