Author: Caroline Muriuki

The International Monitory Fund (IMF) predicts that the economic growth for Ethiopia in 2020 is 1.9 per cent while its growth in 2021 will be at zero.

This is from IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook of Sub Saharan Africa under the title, ‘A Difficult Road to Recovery.’ The report shows how African countries’ economies have been hit severely by the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the report, the economic growth of African countries in 2020 has significantly dropped due to the pandemic and estimates a worse forecast than the ones in its April reports.

The report further states that this year very few countries have has positive improvements in terms of growth while the rest are below zero and the majority are in negative performance.

According to the report,  in the Ethiopia budget for the year that ended on July 7, 2020, the county’s economic growth has shown a massive drop in …

United States (US) investments in Egypt totals to $21.8 billion over the past 12 months according to

US investments in Egypt totalled $21.8 billion over the past 12 months according to Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevine Gamea.  The investments are in sectors such as tourism, agriculture, service, industrial, construction, telecommunications and information technology. 

The minister also added that the trade exchange between the US and Egypt reached $8.618 billion in 2019 compared to $7.53 billion in 2018. 

Gamea’s remarks came during a meeting with a delegation from the US Department of State headed by Keith Krach, Under-Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment who were in the country to discuss joint economic cooperation. 

She also noted that economic relations between the two countries are strategic, based on a long history of joint cooperation in various commercial, industrial and investment fields …

Uganda’s agricultural prices improved by five per cent as the economy begins to recover gradually in the third quarter of 2020.

This is according to a report by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics which noted that food crop activities registered a growth of 4.3 per cent in 2019/2020 compared to the 1.5 per cent growth in 2018/19.

In 2019/2020, Uganda’s livestock activities grew by 7.7 per cent compared to 7.3 per cent in 2018/19.

Speaking during a thought-leadership forum hosted by the Centenary Bank under the theme “ Interventions for Agribusiness Development” the Chief Manager Agribusiness at the bank said “The 5 percentage points price improvement, is largely attributed to the gradual recovery of activities in the agricultural sector and the economy as a whole, case in point is the improved price of Matooke and other foodstuffs.”

He also added that financing is instrumental in boosting agricultural activities and the …

Airtel Africa said its first-half Capex (Capital Expenditure) dropped by 12.4 per cent to $216 million, mostly due to the impact of import logistics during the pandemic period.

In a worst-case scenario, Airtel Africa it could be able to reduce Capex significantly without compromising network quality by prioritising expenditure.

Airtel Africa

The telecom said that it is continuing to invest in the mobile network and it has not changed its commitment to spend planned $650 million to $700 million.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2020-2, Airtel CAPEX in Nigeria was $97 million, in  Francophone Africa at $36 million and in East Africa at $81 million.

The strategy of the telecom group is to invest in the network by expanding 4G coverage and building capacity to cater to the needs of its customers and to continue providing them with high-speed data.

The group said the expansion of 4G coverage and …

Standard Bank and UN Women have come together to equip African women in agriculture with skills and resources to grow their businesses for long term success.

In October last year, the two organisations partnered to empower more than 50,000 women in South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria through modern and environmental friendly farming technologies that increase incomes and productivity.

Local farmer organisations and cooperatives, women farmers and authorities are now able to address structural inequalities in rural economies in Africa, beginning with difficulties that women face in securing tenure for quality farmland through the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) collaboration.

Funding worth $3 million has been provided by Standard Bank as well as ongoing support through financial literacy and other programmes.

“The CSA project supports Standard Bank’s drive to create a gender-equal Africa and aligns with our purpose of driving the continent’s growth. We believe it will meaningfully contribute to the …

Ethiopia attracts $500 million Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) during the first quarter of the country’s current fiscal year according to the investment commission of Ethiopia.

The FDI declined by 20 per cent compared to the amount it attracted in 2019 in the same period due to the impact of the covid-19 according to Lilise Neme, the Commissioner of Ethiopian Investment Commission.

According to Lilise, 42 per cent are registered to invest in manufacturing, 47 per cent in service and 11 per cent are in agriculture sectors.

The commissioner added that the $500 million FDI registered in the three months in the face of a pandemic is promising and considered a victory. She also noted that most of the FDI is from China.

Despite Turkey, China and India being among the top FDI sources in Ethiopia, only one Chinese company appeared in the list of top 200 taxpayers awarded by Ethiopia …

The world Bank signed a $400 million grant to Ethiopia for its urban programs and another $80 million to support the completion of projects started during the second phase of Agricultural Growth Program (AGP II).

The $400 million agreement was signed by the Minister of finance Ethiopia Ahmed Shide and Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan to support Ethiopia’s urban programs. The programs include job creation and productive safety nets program in Ethiopia’s cities.

During the signing ceremony, the government of Ethiopia said it will also allocate an additional $150 million for the implementation of the program aimed to be executed within five years. 83 cities and towns in Ethiopia will benefit from the programs while also 798,500 people living below the poverty line will benefit from the programs.

The $80 million grant aims at supporting the completion of projects started during the …

Google has launched a programme to support Egypt’s digital transformation through a $9m technological training programme according to Hisham Al-Nazer, Director of Google Egypt.

The director said that the moves come at a time when covid-19 pandemic has changed the mode of doing business with people turning to the internet to either buy or sell products and services.

While launching the program, Al-Nazer noted that during the period from March to September 2020, Internet search rates increased by about 43 per cent.

The training is expected to benefit more than one million companies and individuals through the learning of digital skills and develop their businesses before the end of 2021.

He added that Google will secure about  $9 million in funding and advertisements as grants to governments and companies while a total of $4 million has been allocated in the form of financial grants and loans to help small companies.…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects debt-to-GDP ratios to go up significantly to 65 per cent in emerging markets, 50 per cent in low-income countries and around 125 per cent in advanced economies.

This is according to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking during the World Bank’s annual meetings which were organized virtually.

“Today we face a new Bretton Woods moment. A pandemic that has already cost more than a million lives. An economic calamity that will make the world economy 4.4 per cent smaller this year and strip an estimated $11 trillion of output by next year. And untold human desperation in the face of huge disruption and rising poverty for the first time in decades. Once again, we face two massive tasks: to fight the crisis today—and build a better tomorrow,” she said.

Georgieva said that prudent macroeconomic policies and strong institutions are critical for growth, jobs and …

The covid-19crisis could cost the world an estimated $28trn in output losses over the next five years according to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva.

She gave her remarks during the IMF and World Bank Group annual meeting which was held virtually.

“Nine months into the pandemic, we are still struggling with the darkness of a crisis that has taken more than a million lives, and driven the economy into reverse, causing sharply higher unemployment, rising poverty and the risk of “a lost generation” in low-income countries,” Georgieva said.

She added that over the last few months the picture has become less dire although IMF continues to foresee a worst global recession since the 1930 Great Depression. She also notes that in 2020 growth is expected to fall to -4.4 per cent.

She also added that despite there being tremendous uncertainty around IMF’s forecast, they …