Author: Caroline Muriuki

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 …

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 …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approved $165.99 million to help the Republic of Madagascar to address the urgent balance of payment that needs stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds were under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). RCF provides rapid concessional financial assistance with limited conditionality to low-income countries (LICs) facing an urgent balance of payments need.

Madagascar’s economy has largely been affected by the coronavirus pandemic with the country’s tourism dramatically declining, trade and investments declining as well as interferences in the manufacturing and mining exports.

The government of Madagascar is taking immediate actions to mitigate the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic by putting immediate fiscal measures to strengthen social protection and support the most vulnerable in society.

Suspension of fees and social contributions to aid the private sector in the country, donating staple food and also providing liquidity to preserve the stability of …

The World Bank Group gave $12 billion to help countries that are dealing with the health and economic effects of the global outbreak of coronavirus.

As coronavirus reaches more than 60 countries in the world, World bank’s financing is designed to help it’s member countries take constructive action to respond and reduce the tragic effects caused by the virus where possible.

Through this new package, the World Bank Group will help developing countries strengthen health systems, by bettering access to health services to protect people from the virus, strengthening the virus surveillance, improving the public health interventions and to reduce the impact on economies by working with the private sector.

To support country-based responses, World Bank’s financial package will be globally coordinated with financing drawn from across International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Through the coronavirus support package, initial crisis …

The World Bank approved two grants worth $160 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to help Burundi improve essential services through solar power and local development in rural and remote areas.

Solar Energy in Local Communities (SOLEIL) will get $100 million in subsidies which aims to increase access to energy in Burundi by almost 100 per cent by electrifying schools, businesses, families and centres of the less privileged communities in the country.

More than 91,000 households, 4,000 SMEs, 400 health centres and 500 schools will have access to electricity all du to solar energy. 400 schools and 300,000 households will also have ecological fireplaces.

The remaining $60 million from the IDA will go to Integrated Community Development. The project will improve access to basic services and economic opportunities and nutrition for the less privileged populations in the country, including refugees. The project will also allow the creation of 1,000 …

The World Bank said that Uganda should work on the processes for the Final Investment Decision (FID) by the oil and gas firms, saying further delay will undermine the country’s economic outlook.

Delays in oil exports beyond 2024 could lead to liquidity pressures in the country warns that the released 14th Economic Update, a bi-annual publication by the World Bank.

“Subsequent delays in oil exports beyond 2023/24 could result in liquidity pressures, given the current heavy borrowing for oil sector related infrastructure that is relying on an enhanced repayment, capacity from oil exports, and especially if more non-concessional borrowing occurs,” the report cautions in its Economic outlook and risks.

Presenting the findings at an event held in Kampala, Mr Richard Walker, a senior economist with the World Bank, said that the recent termination of the Tullow deal has increased uncertainty for oil sector-related investments in the country.

Also Read: Uganda

Uganda will find itself with a crisis of more workers than jobs unless the country’s economy grows faster than its current pace world bank report says.

According to “Uganda: Jobs strategy for inclusive growth” a new World Bank report released early last week, Uganda has seen more than 300,000 additional workers enter the job market per year between 1992 and 2014. Between 2030 and 2041, the number is set to rise to over one million annually.

The report said that With the country’s growing population, an economic transformation that will create jobs creation requires faster urbanisation with industrialisation, which should start with the developing commercial agriculture.

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The agricultural sector in Uganda accounts for around 80 per cent of the annual export earnings and employs nearly 82 per cent of the workforce.

Three-quarters of young Ugandans entering the labour market work in agriculture …

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) received €11 million contribution from the European Union as the UN agency steps up efforts to fight the desert locust outbreak.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu received the contribution to help fight the locust upsurge which has now spread from East Africa to the Persian Gulf.

The European Commission announced that €10 million would come from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO). While another €1 million will come from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

“I want to thank the European Union for its generosity and support as the Desert Locust threatens to provoke a humanitarian crisis in East Africa,” Qu said.

Qu also added that the situation is extremely alarming in a region where 20 million people are already considered food insecure.

The locust outbreak is the worst in the last 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia and …

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Mozambique and the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, KFED and signed a $25 million Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to support entrepreneurship and innovation projects for women and the youth.

The chairman Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, and Adriano Afonso Maleiane, Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance signed the MoU in the presence of UAE Ambassador to Mozambique, Khaled Ibrahim Shuhail and other of officials from both sides.

During the five-year as per the Mou, Hussain Al Nowais said the agreement will provide funding for 4,800 projects which will generate 11,000 job opportunities.

‘Some 40 per cent of the targeted projects will be to empower women, while the remaining will be allocated for other members of the remote and poor communities,’ he explained.

Hussain emphasized the importance of creating opportunities for the women and youths to realise …

Africa is set to become one of the fastest-growing regions for aviation in the next 20 years with an annual expansion of nearly 5 per cent, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), this growth is being driven by African and international carriers adding more routes on the continent and scaling up their operations by acquiring or getting partnerships with other airlines operating in the region.

Turkish Airlines in the past decade tripled the number of African cities it serves from 18 to 56, while other Middle Eastern, European and Asian airlines, are adding routes as well.

Meanwhile, other African carriers are rushing to raise capital to fund their expansion, by offering to sell stakes in their companies to other airlines on the continent.

Like in 2018 Ethiopian Airline, the continent’s largest airline by revenue and profit signed a deal to …