Author: Caroline Muriuki

The 97Fund, a Ugandan based Open-end Investment Vehicle (HoldCo) launched a $1 Million COVID-19 Relief Fund (the “Fund”) to bail out small businesses in Uganda that have been affected by the pandemic.

The 97Fund invests in high growth early-stage companies in Africa and is managed by Ortus Africa Capital.

The fund targets companies in sectors such as  healthcare, tourism, education, finance, New Ways of working (NWoW) such as supply chains and logistics and the digital economy providing market places to businesses.

Kenneth Legesi, Manager of the 97Fund said that the pandemic has  disrupted Uganda’s social and economic landscape as seen through the different sectors across the board.

“The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development projected economic growth would decline from 6 per cent to 5.2 per cent, with an estimate of 2.5 million Ugandans likely to fall back into poverty due to the pandemic. Businesses are feeling the effects …

African businesses are shifting towards new technologies in response to the ongoing pandemic, according to a new report published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The UNECA and the International Economics Consulting Ltd jointly published the report which is the second comprehensive survey on the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact across Africa, according to UNECA.

The online survey was conducted from June 16 to July 20 to provide insights into the effects of the pandemic on economic activity for businesses across the region. The survey mainly identified challenges encountered by African businesses as well as their responses to mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic.

According to the report from the survey among the top three challenges faced by African countries during the pandemic are reduced opportunities to meet new customers drop in demand for products and services, as well as lack of cash flow.

“Companies …

Banks continue to fill the impact of mobile money as it eats into their asset quality and profits despite partnering with telecoms.

According to a 2020 banking sector analysis report by Summit Consulting, increase in mobile money deposits has a negative connection to banks’ return on equity defined as the ability of a firm to generate profits from its shareholder’s investments in the company.

“High volume of mobile money transactions discourages customers from depositing with banks due to convenience,” the report read in part.

Accessibility and convenience of the telecom hosted platform have been boosted by the increase in the number of mobile money agents making it more attractive to the 27.9 million subscribers.

Deposits of mobile money accounted for 37.7 per cent of the slump on return on equity and deny banks of adequate deposits for investment, as most banks get money from customer deposits, which they lend out …

Stanbic Bank Uganda profits dropped by $1.80 million in the first six months of due to the impact of Covid-19 on the businesses of its clients.

The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Anne Juuko, said despite the difficult operating environment, Stanbic’s performance in the first six months of the year has shown the banks resilience and commitment to implementing a vigorous strategy in the current economic conditions.

“We reported Profit after Tax of Shs127.4 billion, 4.9 per cent down from Shs134.0 billion in the previous year, due to the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on clients’ business,” she said.

Stanbic Bank customer deposits from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 grew by $299.64 million which represents a 26.6 per cent year on year growth.

”This growth was enabled by our strong client ecosystem engagement and simplifying client onboarding. Loans and advances increased by Shs661 billion, which represents 24 per cent …

Uganda’s telephone subscribers increased by 1.8 million in the third quarter of 2019/2020 bringing the total number to 28.5 million people.

According to the Uganda Communication Commission’s January to March 2020 quarterly report, in December 2019, the number of subscribers increased from 26.7 million to 28.5 million by the end of March 2020. This was the strongest growth in the Mobile segment while growth in fixed-line subscriptions was minimal with less than 1,000 new connections.

The growth in subscribers in this quarter reflects the highest three-month growth rate in the financial year 2019/20. The first quarter from July 2019 to September had 24.8 million subscribers, the second quarter had 25.5 million, third-quarter had 25.7 million and the fourth quarter 28.5 million.

Also Read: MTN Uganda registers a 9.1% increase in net profit

During the January to March 2020 quarter, fixed Internet subscribers were 30,440 in the broadband segment down from …

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided Egypt and the other four countries with $200 million in loans to strengthen agribusinesses.

According to a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation, the funding also aims at helping local farmers adopt climate-smart agriculture practices as well as strengthening farmers’ agribusinesses and improving their financial wellbeing through financing purchases of various agricultural commodities such as hazelnuts, dry dairy products, grain and onions in the selected countries of operation.

Also Read: East African Agribusiness SMEs to receive $1m

“As one of the only five economies across the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region to receive the loan, the EBRD will help transform Egypt’s agriculture value chain into “smart farming” through new methodologies that include climate-related risk management and stress testing” the Ministry noted in a statement.

This comes at a time when COVID-19 has multiplied the threats to …

The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Canada currently totals $1.7 billion, according to Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development.

She added that the figure is expected to continue increasing due to the mutual interdependence and cooperation between Egypt and Canada and the strength of the Egyptian economy.

She also noted that there’s an excellent relation between the two countries and increased cooperation is needed in various fields, such as artificial intelligence( AI) information exchange.

El-Said added that Canada’s private sector plays a pivotal role in the country, noting that a Canadian company has been awarded the electric monorail project contract in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital (NAC).

El-Said remarks came during her participation in a recent discussion held by the Canada-Arab Business Council via video conference, which discussed the economic and investment relations between the two countries.

Among those present for the virtual discussion were …

Egypt’s imports of non-durable consumer goods declined by 19.7 per cent during the first five months of 2020, to record $5.056 billion compare to the $6.299 billion in the same period of 2019, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

CAPMAS added that in May 2020, imports of non-durable goods in Egypt decreased by 26 per cent to $820.574 million down from $1.514 billion in May last year.

CAPMAS also said that medicines and pharmaceuticals imports decreased by 12.7 per cent during the same period, recording a total of $924.965 million compared to $1.059 billion during the same period in 2019.

Sugar imports declined by 76.6 per cent to $15.489 million during the first five months of 2020, compared to $66.161 million during the same period last year.

Soap and cleaning products dropped by 31.2 per cent, registering $64 million in the first five months of …

The French Development Agency (AFD) signed a partnership with the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) of Eastern and Southern Africa to open a $150 million line of credit to finance sustainable infrastructure in East Africa.

Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a commercial bank owned by the member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the World Bank and China.

The agreement was initiated by TDB’s chairman and CEO  Admassu Tadesse and Ghislain de Valon, Director of AFD in Kenya. According to the  French Development Agency, the aim of the credit line is to support Trade Development Bank in its role as a leading regional bank for climate finance in the region it serves (East Africa).

The funding will also increase the Trade and Development Bank’s supply of climate finance, directly contributing to the achievement of the objectives set out in the National Climate Change (NCC) …

The African Development Bank climate finance continuous to gain ground as the bank in 2019, committed 3.5 billion across the continent to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.

This is according to the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Climate Finance Report 2020, which noted that AFDB’s climate financing mostly targeted renewable energy and resilient agriculture sectors.

According to the report, the climate financing represents 35 per cent of the total the 2019 approvals of projects worth US$ 10.2 billion, representing an increase of 0.3 per cent over 2018 and 26 per cent over 2016.

“As African economies face the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, relaxing action or redirecting financial resources away from climate change will further exacerbate these impacts in diverse and complex ways,” said Anthony Nyong, AfDB Director for Climate Change and Green Growth.

The pan-African financial institution in its report on climate finance published in 2019 pledged …