Author: Caroline Muriuki

Increased gold export in recent months has strengthened the Ugandan shilling, helping ease inflationary pressure from imported goods.

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics reported that the annual headline inflation had slowed to 1.9 per cent in the month of September compared to 2.1 per cent registered in August, which is largely attributable to a stronger shilling.

Data from the Bank of Uganda shows that the shilling which was trading at 3,765.6 against the dollar in May, has remained stable at just over the 3,600 units for the months of August and September.

Since May, Uganda’s earnings from gold exports have been increasing from $78.7 million to $97.3 in July.

Dr Fred Muhumuza, a development economist, says the shilling which had been destined to reach the 4,000 units to the dollar mark, is now gaining strength thanks to Uganda’s gold exports.

Also Read: Tanzania state gold-miner quest for the local market

Toyota South Africa announced an R454m investment in the production of the Hiace Ses’fikile minibus vehicle in Durban.

The Hiace Ses’fikile minibus serves South African taxi industry which has grown to R90 billion. It is the most popular mode of transport in South Africa catering for over 15 million daily commuters and employs over 600,000 people.

Toyota’s investments entail expanding the existing production facility in Durban making its investment in Hilace since 2012 to more than R1 billion.

Speaking at the launch of the facility, trade and industry minister Ebrahim Patel said the automotive industry should prioritise local production of vehicles in line with the automotive master plan that the government unveiled in 2018.

By 2035, Toyota’s master plan seeks to achieve 1% of global vehicle production, which will increase its production from 600,000 units to almost 1.4 million units per year.

Also Read: Ugandan based motorcycle hailing SafeBoda gets

Zimbabwe expressed concern over the United States’ ban placed on its diamonds to prevent it from being imported over concerns of forced labour.

The US Customs and Border Protection banned targeted products from China, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This has risen suspicion of the blockade being an extension of Washington DC’s trade war with China.

The US said that they issued a Withhold Release Order of the artisanal rough-cut diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond field due to evidence of forced labour and the US law prohibits importation of goods made with forced labour.

The Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr. Nick Mangwana responded, “There is virtually nothing like this in our diamond industry. Zimbabwe is replete with a highly qualified labour force which is neither forced nor compelled at any point along the mining and processing value chain.”

He pointed out that Zimbabwe …

Bottom and top hospitality investment markets in Africa as shared by Wayne Troughton of HTI Consulting.

According to Troughton, the hospitality sector continues to attract investments from both international and African investors.

“We are tracking investment from structured funds, predominantly from Europe and the Middle East; an increasing percentage of High Net Worth Individuals from Europe, Middle East, and Africa itself), Owner-operators that invest from Europe, Africa and the USA), as well as Family Offices Middle East, the UK, Europe, and SA.”

In East Africa the top hospitality investments markets are Kampala, Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam with Nairobi and Kigali ranked at the bottom. Nairobi ranked at the bottom for oversupply while Kigali due to oversupply and limited demand.

Kampala

Troughton said Kampala is one of the next hubs for investments due to its limited branded supply and with the oil prices entering a recovery period; it …

The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines Group made a total profit of 8.9 billion birrs ($326 million) before tax.

The Ethiopian Airlines Group made the revenue from transporting passengers and goods as well as providing other services by its group’s companies such as training, catering among others. This is according to a report done by the Ethiopian Public Enterprises Assets and Administration Agency, which evaluated the performance of the Group.

The report shows that from the total revenue the company generated, $3.9 billion is collected in hard currency from international customers.

During the current Ethiopian year which started on July 8, 2019, Ethiopian Airline Group has planned to collect total revenue of 155 billion birrs which is about $5.7 billion. It also stated that the group aims to report a gross profit of 19 billion birrs which is about $696 million at the end of the year – July 7, 2020.

Also

East African Community (EAC) countries rank among the top 20 global trades markets with the potential to grow their economies.

This is despite the existing trade disputes and prevalence of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in the region.

A new study carried out by the British Standard Chartered Bank shows that Kenya leads the East Africa region in terms of putting in place the right foundations to support future growth trade such as physical and digital infrastructure, e-commerce and ease of doing business.

Uganda and Tanzania followed while Rwanda and Burundi were not included in the study.
Kenya was ranked second after china globally with Uganda coming at number 17 and Tanzania number 19.

According to the report, Kenya is the only East African Community country that has improved its trade readiness, which is paying off through investments in infrastructures and improvement in its business environment.
Tanzania has made significant steps in …

Airtel Uganda has been awarded the largest taxpayer in Uganda and recognised for its compliance in remitting taxes to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

The company paid Ush 136 billion in the financial 2018/19 that led them to win the Excel Award for the year during the Uganda Revenue Authority 14TH Taxpayers Appreciation Awards – 2019

“Airtel has contributed over Ush136 billion in the financial year 2018-19 making it the biggest contributor of income tax in the last financial year,” a statement from Uganda Revenue Authority read.

The Minister of Finance Hon. Matia Kasaijja congratulated Airtel upon the achievement and applauded the company for their contribution towards the development of Uganda through tax.

Mr. V.G. Somasekhar, the Managing Director of Airtel Uganda, thanked Uganda Revenue Authority for recognizing their contribution to the country’s GDP and the work they are doing to remain compliant.
“It is an honour for Airtel to …

Zambia’s external debt stock had increased to $10.23 billion by end of June 2019.

With the International Monetary Fund warning that the country’s debt was becoming unsustainable, Zambia’s finance minister Bwalya Ng’andu said Zambia would postpone and cancel some planned loans, refinance existing ones and stop offering guarantees for quasi-public entities.

He added that the treasury would also be more cautious in contracting new debt as he read a surplus budget that will be partially financed by external partners.

“The government proposes to spend Kz106.0 billion ($8.03 billion) in 2020, representing 32.4 per cent of GDP of this amount Kz72.0 billion ($5.5 billion) will come from domestic revenues while the balance will be raised through domestic and external financing,” Dr Ng’andu told legislators.

The finance minister said the government will not replace its value-added tax (VAT) with a controversial non-refundable sales tax which met fierce opposition from businesses, opposition and …

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed a deal with Uganda to open its East African branch in Kampala.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Benedict Oramah, Afrexim bank president signed the deal which will see Uganda as its fifth branch.

Afrexim bank which is a pan-continent investment lender has other branches in Abuja, Cairo, Abidjan and Harare.

Prof Oramah said that the opening of an East Africa branch would deepen the bank’s involvement with the region’s institutions.

The Kampala branch will start operating end of October 2019 and will serve 11 countries: Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and Comoros.

Kudakwashe Matereke Afrexim East Africa chief operating officer said it is in talks with Uganda’s  National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to have it join others in the region like Rwanda’s social board to become one of the lender’s institutional investors.

Also Read: New bank

National air service Uganda Airlines is to add three more regional flights to its schedule this month increasing its destination to seven.

Jenifer Bamuturaki the airlines’ commercial director, said the ai shuttle will make its debut flight to Bujumbura, Burundi at a promotional fee of $255 on September 30th and on 11th October it will fly to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and to Mombasa, Kenya at a cost of $165 and $312 respectively.

These flights will be an addition to the initial routes of Mogadishu, Nairobi, Juba and Dar es salaam.

Ms Bamuturaki said the air carrier is planning to increase the frequency on some of the routes that have a growing number of passengers. The increase in flights will see three daily flights to Nairobi from the initial two flights and two flights to Juba from the initial one flight, which she said will depend on the acquisition of more …