Author: Caroline Muriuki

The  Federal Republic of Nigeria commits  $29.3 million in additional capital to Shelter Afrique making it the second-largest shareholder after Kenya.

Nigeria takes the second largest shareholding after Kenya with each acquiring 14.77 per cent and 14.87 per cent respectively with the African Development Bank acquiring 14.28 per cent of the shareholding.

In additional capital contribution, the Shelter Afrique also confirmed additional funds of $6.6 from Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho, Mali, Namibia, Togo, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland.

The Shelter Afrique’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Chimphondah praised Nigeria’s government for showing confidence in the institution and giving a stamp of approval for the organization’s financial turnaround.

“We are grateful to the Nigerian government for their continued support and the importance they have placed on affordable housing. We are especially grateful to the Honourable Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola for demonstrating this support through honoring this significant payment. We also recognize …

Uganda’s private sector continues to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as business conditions improved in August after a near standstill of activities during the lockdown put in place between March and the end of May.

This is according to the latest  Stanbic Purchase Managers Index (PMI) report which shows that Uganda posted a 54.6 increase from 50.3 in July, which is the highest since February.

According to the report, the reading is above the positive threshold of 50.0 and substantially higher than the 46.5 reported for June.

The PMI is a composite index, calculated as a weighted average of five individual sub-components: New Orders (30 per cent), Output (25 per cent), Employment (20 per cent), Suppliers’ Delivery Times (15 per cent and Stocks of Purchases (10 per cent).

According to Stanbic Bank Uganda head of global markets, Kenneth Kitungulu, the steady improvement is due to the fewer …

The African Union (AU) announced its plan to put in place a guarantee scheme for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) to speed up the economic transformation of the continent.

The director in charge of delivery program and coordination at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Amine Idriss Adoume said that lack of affordable finance is one of the biggest impediments for the expansion of small businesses in Africa.

Speaking during the launch of the Pan-African MSME Academy for Kenya, Mr. Adoume said: “The scheme will be developed jointly with partners and seeks to unlock access to affordable finance for the continent’s small businesses.”

The Pan-African MSME academy plans to launch across Africa with specific content for each country in line with local business environments.

According to Mr Adoume, the academy has been positioned to enable small entrepreneurs to achieve sustainable growth as they emerge through the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Uganda’s insurance companies raised about $144.54 million in the second quarter of 2020 in gross written premiums, a 7 percent increase from about $133.9 million during the same period in 2019.

According to data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) showing performance of the insurance sector from April to June this year, indicates that across all sectors there was an increase in premiums despite the impacts of COVID-19 on economies.

General insurance is also known as non-life insurance registered a 3.4 percent increase in gross written premiums to about $93.9 million in 2020 from about $90.9 million in 2019.

Health membership organizations recorded $10 million in 2020 compared to $9.47 million in the same period in 2019.

Also Read: Taking a looking at Tanzania insurance industry

Life insurance, which has been growing exponentially, collected about $40.49 million in the second quarter of 2020, a 20 percent increase from 2019.

However, …

Trade exchange between Egypt and China recorded $5.2 billion during the first seven months of 2020, according to Nevine Gamea,  Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry.

According to Nevine Gamea, by the end of 2018, the total Chinese investments in Egypt amounted to $7.2 billion, distributed over 1736 projects.

In a statement, Gamea said that China is ranked 20th in the list of the largest countries investing in the Egyptian market adding that in the world, China is Egypt’s most important trading partner.

The Egyptian minister also emphasized the ministry’s keenness to enhance cooperation with the Chinese government in the field of small and micro enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from China’s long experience in this field, especially since small enterprises represent a large segment of the Chinese economy.

China’s General Administration of Customs said earlier that the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and China hit $4.31 billion from January …

Africa’s aviation could lose up to $35 billion according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) compared to its previous estimates of a $28 billion decline.

This is due to the worsening of the impact of Covid-19 on Africa’s aviation industry and economies since IATA’s previous assessment in April.

According to IATA, job losses in aviation and related industries could increase by up to 3.5 million. This is more than half of Africa’s 6.2 million aviation-related employment and 400,000 more than the previous estimate.

The whole of 2020 traffic is expected to plummet by 54 per cent which is more than 80 million passenger journeys compared to last year’s estimated fall of 51 per cent.

”Covid-19 has devastated African economies and brought air connectivity across the continent to a virtual standstill. And the situation is getting worse. The economic consequences resulting from a disconnected continent are severe. Millions …

The government of Burkina Faso and the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $450 million compact agreement to address low access to electricity in the country.

The compact deal will invest in the power sector to broaden and sustain the country’s economic growth.

“We are marking a new chapter in the partnership between the United States and the people of Burkina Faso with the signing of this second MCC-Burkina Faso Compact,” said Sean Cairncross MCC CEO.

“This compact will address the high cost, poor quality, and low access to electricity in Burkina Faso and will also support the country’s increased participation in regional power markets and the development of a potential MCC regional investment.” He added

In addition to the $450 million pledged by the MCC for the second compact, Burkina Faso’s government pledged to invest $50 million toward the compact’s projects.

An estimate of 8 million people …

South Africa’s declining GDP is expected to set back efforts to address unemployment, poverty and inequality according to a new United Nations Development Programme study on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in South Africa by at least five years.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of South Africa is expected to  5.1 per cent and 7.9 per cent in 2020 and recover slowly for at least the next four years.

The study was launched by  Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma South Africa’s Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The study focused on how COVID-19 will drive temporary and long-term changes in poverty levels in the country. According to the study, the number of households below the poverty line will increase as households fall from the lower middle class.

As South Africa’s  6-month stimulus packages come to an end, 54 per cent of households that have been pushed out of the permanent job …

Stanbic Bank Uganda unveiled the Trade Club which allows Ugandan business people to grow their enterprises by getting access to contacts, market information and a platform to network with other people across the world.

“We are pleased to introduce the Trade Club. It’s a new solution designed for Ugandan businesses to connect with other businesses locally, regionally and internationally with a view of easing both import and export trade.  This is a free digital networking platform enabling us to positively contribute to the growth of our business clients, because when they grow and prosper– so do we. By growing our customers’ businesses we can deliver towards our purpose of driving Uganda’s growth.” Said Jonathan Wamara, the Head Universal Trade at Stanbic Bank.

The Trade Club offers trade skill for importers and exporters across 190 countries as well as with over 200 pages of trade information for both importers and exporters, …

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved a $400-million revolving global credit facility agreement for the Export Trading Group (ETG).

Export Trading Group (ETG) is among the largest and fastest-growing integrated agricultural conglomerates in Africa.

The funds will address key challenges faced by African agricultural exporters, aggregating large values of produce in order to enable small and medium-scale enterprises(SMEs) access to regional and international markets.

The agreement will not only allow ETG  to keep playing its vital role in the agri-foods supply chain of efficiently connecting African farmers to markets but also expand access to key inputs to boost agricultural productivity in a continent with tremendous but yet unrealized potential.

Africa spent over $90 billion on food imports in 2019 despite possessing up to 60 per cent of the world’s remaining arable land according to Afreximbank.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Africa’s agricultural production of up to 50 …