Author: Caroline Muriuki

Uganda Revenue Authority(URA) disagreed with importers over a recent proposal to amend payments of customs duty.

URA wants custom duty to be paid at the port of entry while importers prefer payments to be made under the current system which is once the goods are in the country.

A notice signed by the Uganda Revenue Authority commissioner customs, Dickson C Kateshumbwa, stated that all payments for home consumption declarations to Customs will be valid for only 72 hours from the date of assessment as opposed to 21 days reflected on payment registration notices which it said will be effective immediately.

Bond warehousing has been banned for milled and broken rice, sugar, wines and spirits except at duty-free shops. Also, building materials, tubes and motor vehicle tyres motorcycle tyres, used motor vehicles that are 14 years old from the date of manufacture, garments, dentifrices and footwear were also included.

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Equity Group Holding announced it had entered into an agreement with the Commercial bank of the Congo Banque commercial du Congo by assets.

The regional lender aims at merging its business with that of the existing Congolese subsidiary. It is on course to establish a presence in ten African countries with a cautious entry into Zimbabwe which is currently weighed down by a volatile exchange rate and hyperinflation.

The takeover of the Zimbabwean lender BancABC (Zimbabwe) which serves both corporates and retail was part of Equity’s grand Atlas Mara deal. With the deal, Equity gains entry into two additional countries Zambia and Mozambique through acquisitions.

BancABC is officially known as ABC Holdings and is a fully owned subsidiary of Atlas Mara which acquired the bank in 2014 for an estimated $265 million. It has subsidiaries in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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East Africa’s life insurance business is experiencing an upward growth trend fuelled by the increasing demand for life products among the middle class.

According to a survey done by Deloitte, the Middle class is the largest class for the life insurance business while the motor and medical business classes are among the most loss-making businesses. It suggested that insurers look into other emerging business classes that have the potential for growth for them to diversify their business.

According to the survey group, life faces slower growth compared to other business classes within the life insurance mostly due to price wars that have been prevalent among the industry players.

The rising costs of fraud give the insurers the challenge of being unable to adequately price risks which have led to deteriorated returns to equity.

It is estimated that fraud accounts of the total cost of insurance premiums for Kenya are 25 …

East Africa Community (EAC) plans to have a single East African currency by 2024 has collapsed, sending member countries back to the drawing board.

The East Africa Community (EAC) Council of Ministers, the central decision-making and governing organ of the EAC, resolved that the five years deadline by which the region was supposed to have created a monetary union and adopted a common currency is not attainable.

The Council, which had a day-long meeting in Arusha, resolved to draw new timelines to achieve the ambitious target of creating an EAC Monetary Union, which is one of the four pillars of regional integration.

The EAC is behind its plans in setting up relevant institutions to support a single currency. The East African Monetary Institute (EAMI), the equivalent of a regional central bank that was supposed to be up and running in 2015.

Member countries were supposed to comply with the EAC…

Angola’s President Joao Lourenco said the country would increase its daily oil production next year by more than 35,000 barrels in a bid to revive an economy hurting from drought.

Angola’s President said output would jump from 1,401, 235 barrels per day to 1, 436,900 barrels per day.
Angola continues to heavily depend on oil, which contributes half of the country’s economic wealth, 95 per cent of exports and 80 per cent of government revenue. However, it is struggling with a biting drought that has cost both commercial and traditional cattle farmers without grazing land.

Angola’s economy has been affected by the sharp decline in oil prices and the government is looking for ways of diversification. Oil production is a major employment sector with President Lourenco saying 161,000 jobs were created in the public and private sectors between 2017 and 2019. The job creation is below the 500,000 jobs he …

Increased competition between Simba cement and Kampala cement is driving prices down in Uganda.

A 50-kilogramme bag now retails at an average price of $7.5 from $10.8 with some brands charging even lower.
Before the entry of Simba cement and Kampala cement, Hima Cement and Tororo Cement have been the dominant market players in Uganda.

The drop in prices has been long coming following last year’s drastic measures by Uganda’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives to fast track licensing of new cement manufacturers. The removal of 10 per cent import duty on clinker has also lowered production costs.

Some cement manufacturers rely on clinker as a raw material in their production while Tororo and Hima rely on pozzolana as their raw material which is mined in Kasese and Tororo.

The government of Uganda had threatened to allow imported cement to come into the country on a special …

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been strengthening its presence in Mozambique with it becoming the third-largest exporter of diverse products to Maputo in 2018.

The UAE investment level approved by the Agency of Investment and Export Promotion (APIEX) reached over $1 billion between 2014 and 2018, with 20 companies from the UAE investing in Mozambique market.

Abdulla Momade, representative of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce in Maputo said that their investments in Mozambique have focused on energy, logistics and real estate.

Looking at commercial transactions, the volume of trade between Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates is reported to be around US$700 million. In 2018 alone, trade between the two countries was US$500 million.

Also Read: Qatar Airways plans to buy shares from RwandAir

The Persian Gulf country exports to Mozambique products such as lubricants, various machinery and motor vehicles while it buys from Mozambique ores, tobacco, aluminium, precious stones …

East Africa economies are seen to outshine growth of other regional blocks this year due to the fall in the price of oil and commodities that has hit the North, Southern and western countries.

In its latest economic update, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has projected that East African economies will post a GDP growth rate of 6.3 per cent this year.

The GDP expansion is higher than the projected estimated growth in North at 2.8 per cent and West Africa at 3.4 per cent.
Southern Africa is expected to record a slow pace of 1.3 per cent, due to the region struggles with policy uncertainty, rainfall deficit, effects of cyclones and power rationing.

The regional director for the Middle East, Asia and Africa at ICAEW, Michael Armstrong said that East African economies like Kenya and Tanzania are shielded from global shocks as they are …

Qatar Airways plans to buy shares that RwandAir is in the process of selling, the succession of the deal is expected to shake up the country’s aviation industry.

Aviation experts say by Qatar buying shares in RwandAir, it could enable it to solidify its presence in the African market given its current woes with its Gulf neighbours.

Qatar Airways was banned from flying over Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates. since mid -2017 it was also banned in Bahrain due to a dispute between it and the Gulf states. Therefore, buying a stake in the RwandAir will support its expansion into Africa as an alternative market after the ban from its key markets.

Despite still making loses, RwandAir has been expanding over the past decade, due to financial injections from the government, many of which are from external loans like the Eurobond.

With Qatar buying shares in RwandAir, it …

Uganda spends less money in the agriculture sector than any other East African country a World Bank report on public expenditure review shows.

The report shows that Uganda spends only 3.6 per cent of its budget on agriculture, which is the lowest in the region. Rwanda spends 5.3 per cent more on agriculture than any other country in the East African region. Kenya follows closely spending spends 5.2 per cent of its budget on agriculture while Tanzania spends 3.9 per cent, which is slightly above what Uganda spends.

Agriculture in Uganda remains the largest employer with 68 per cent of the population engaged in this sector. Still, much of this sector is still largely subsistence due to lack of funding to support the commercialisation drive.

Presenting findings of the report, Dr Ladisy Komba Chengula, the World Bank lead agricultural economist said that Uganda’s share of final public expenditure in the …