Author: Giza Mdoe

• AfDB announces US$ 1.5 billion funding for emergency food responce
• AfDB pledges seeds & fertilizers for 20 million smallholder farmers
• Oxfam warns of famine in Somalia

In May 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Board of Directors approved $1.5 billion in funding for what the bank called the African Emergency Food Production Facility; one year down the road, has the funding achieved its purpose?

AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina described the facility as a necessary support for Africa’s emergency food response in the face of shortages caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The bank’s President said the funding will help to significantly increase food production in Africa and avert what he at the time described as ‘the looming food crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.’

Making the announcement at the Summit of G7 leaders last year in Washington, Mr. Adesina announced that the African Development Bank (AfDB) would out of its own …

• As a signatory to the ICC, South Africa is under a legal obligation to heed the warrant and arrest the leader of Russia.  
• The European Union, as well as the United States, have all sent diplomatic envoys to South Africa urging the administration in Pretoria to broker some kind of peace talks.
• South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor raised the issue of double standards in the ICC. 

South Africa has extended an invitation to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to attend the BRICS Summit later this year in South Africa amidst an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.

BRICS is made up of the world’s largest emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The five countries will be holding their 15th annual summit in Durban South Africa later this year.

Following the issuance of …

• The fintech industry is Africa’s financial inclusion solution for all vulnerable groups including women.
• Sub-Sahara Africa, fintech startups recorded 894% year-on-year growth in funding in 2021
• More than 400 million new mobile subscribers expected to sign up globally by 2025

A report published by McKinsey claims that the number of tech start-ups in Africa tripled to around 5,200 companies between 2020 and 2021 and just under half of these are fintech startups.

In the report titled ‘Fintech in Africa:The end of the beginning’ McKinsey shows that in line with global market leaders, the African fintech industry enjoyed revenues of between US$4 billion and US$6 billion in 2020 and average penetration levels of between 3 and 5 percent.

The fintech industry is Africa’s financial inclusion solution for all vulnerable groups including women, the elderly, and the larger section of the population in remote rural settings.

“What you have here is not …

• Price of staples goes up 300 percent compared to the same time last year.
• UNICEF estimates more than 4.8 million children are in dire humanitarian need.
• Over 500 000 people displaced 

The social and economic impact of tropical cyclone Freddy on Malawi continues to worsen as inflation kicks in on all staple foods.

While recovery efforts are ongoing, Malawi is now under high pressure to stabilize food prices. It is now over ten days since the South-Eastern African country was hit by what is considered the worst-known tropical cycle to ever occur anywhere in the world.

“Very intense Tropical Cyclone Freddy was an exceptionally long-lived, powerful, and deadly storm that traversed the southern Indian Ocean for more than five weeks in February and March 2023. Freddy is both the longest-lasting and highest-ACE-producing tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide,” reports the World Food Programme (WFP).

The report cites 1,078mm of rain fell …

• Tanzania signs 161.47 million US dollars to implement Kakono HPP in Lake Zone
• European Union (EU) to chip in additional 35 million Euro for Kakono HPP 
• Kakono HPP will take five years to complete, feature a primary school, health centre

The government of Tanzania has secured funding for the Kakono Hydropower Project (Kakono HPP). The project is in line with the country’s Third Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP III) and aligns with President Samia Suluhu’s plan to foster a competitive industrial economy.

The Lake Zone, in the north-western part of Tanzania, is one of the country’s highest fossil fuel consuming region due to the low coverage by the national electricity grid. The region uses diesel generators making the region expensive for investors and residents.   

Funding a US$325 million power project in E. Africa

Also Read: French Development Agency provides $30 million for African SMEs

With assistance from the African Development Bank …

• The kit has all the basics for adaptation in rural settings; affordability, accessibility, and ease of use and maintenance.
• This micro-irrigation kit brings much needed watering solution in arid and semi-arid regions as well as in the highlands where access to water can be limited.
• The project has already reached some 4,275 micro-investors operating across 115 savings and loan groups

A low-tech micro-irrigation solution is providing high impact results for thousands of farmers in Tanzania.

The tech is a small irrigation gear referred to as a micro-irrigation kit that has been introduced to farmers in Tanzania’s Southern regions like in the Kigoma Region.

The kit has all the basics for adaptation in rural settings; affordability, accessibility, and ease of use and maintenance.

This micro-irrigation kit brings much needed watering solution in arid and semi-arid regions as well as in the highlands where access to water can be limited.

The irrigation …

• According to the US review has maintained a solid macroeconomic foundation, sound fiscal policies, and rich natural endowments.
• The report credits Samia’s administration for its ‘strong regulatory framework, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and creation of a vibrant financial market.’
• the US recognizes Tanzania’s favorable investment policies under president Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan promised reforms to improve the country’s business climate when she came into power in 2021 and singled out attracting foreign investment as a key priority. Suluhu’s shift in policy to attract investment will be part of the discussion with US Vice President Kamala Harris who visits the country this week as part of a three-state visit by Harris.

“This commitment to increasing investment has continued throughout her tenure and economic issues remain at the forefront of the administration’s policies, strategies, and goals,” notes the U.S. Department of State.

Absa Bank Africa Financial Markets Index 2022 …

• US President Biden supports an African permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
• Vice President Harris’ visit to pave way for Biden Africa tour later this year
• US increased investment in Africa,still lags behind China

The United States Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to land in Africa this week where she will tour at least three countries. Her itinerary includes Ghana on March 26, then Tanzania on March 29, and finally Zambia on March 31.

This trip paves the way for the even more anticipated visit by President Joe Biden, as promised at the US-Africa Summit held in Washington in December 2022.

A little over a decade ago, former US president Barack Obama showed America’s commitment to Africa’s growth through wide-ranging programmes and initiatives that aimed at cementing the US-Africa relations. But Donald Trump’s lukewarm relationship with Africa and the continuous rise of China’s influence has made the US …

• Facebook accused of unlawful termination of Kenyan content moderators
• Kenyan Labour Court rules Facebook parent company Meta has a case to answer 
• Facebook and Meta’s unlawful termination case follows initial hazardous working conditions lawsuit

Facebook parent company Meta has a case to answer in an unlawful termination lawsuit, a Kenyan Labour Court has ruled.

The lawsuit comes against a backdrop of negative headlines in East Africa ranging from not censoring hate messages in Ethiopia to unlawful termination and hazardous working conditions in Kenya.

The Employment and Labour Relations court in Nairobi stopped the social media giant from ending a contract with a third party that hires hundreds of workers that work in the content moderation division.

At the start of the year, some 260 Kenyans hired as Facebook content moderators in Nairobi were issued termination letters that they claim are without just cause and unlawful. 43 of them moved to …

• EU insists it has not put sanctions on food and fertilizers from Russia
• Malawi receives the first consignment of 20,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizers
• The EU, UN might consider releasing more fertilizers and food embargoed at European ports to Africa

The EU insists that food and fertilizer are not part of the sanctions it has imposed on Russia due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, yet the global supply of much-needed fertilizer is in short supply which begs the question; is Russia hoarding fertiliser supplies?

While the EU says it is not to blame, Russia says it is the Western sanctions that are causing the decrease in fertilizer exports. It only makes sense that Russia would hold back fertilizers to increase its own domestic food production in the face of future uncertainties in the still very volatile situation.

The sanctions on other sectors of Russia’s economy are spiralling to the …