Author: Giza Mdoe

• US World Bank President nominee Ajay Banga chooses Africa for his first tour
• AfDB president Dr. Akinwumi Adesina calls for a new measure of economic growth
• AfDB launches Adesina Africa Industrialization Index (AII)

The World Bank is getting a new president and it will be likely US-nominee Ajay Banga who for his first global tour, chose to visit Africa. What does this maiden tour mean for the continent?

Back in February, US President Joe Biden announced Ajay Banga as the United States’ nominee for President of the World Bank Group. Should he be approved, Ajay Banga will be replacing the incumbent president, David Malpass, whose term ends in June.

Among his first moves on his way to the top office in the world’s largest financial institution, Banga, is making a strategic visit to Africa.

For the first stop of his World tour, Mr. Banga flew to Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire on …

• The influx of used clothes from the west in effect affects the development of textile industries in the EAC
• Five years later, a new administration, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war not to mention a stronger China economy, the US may reconsider EAC state’s position.
• EA States have 2 years to consider if they want AGOA renewed

In 2015, all major economies in East Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia proposed to ban the importation of second-hand clothes but the US would have none of it.

The intention was good, even noble: Banning second-hand imports would strengthen the domestic textile industry which would create jobs and other positive ripple effects.

“The US claimed this proposal goes too far and violates the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which aims to expand trade and investment on the continent,” the media reported.

Once the US pulled the AGOA card, the East African …

Against all odds, Africa is enjoying faster economic growth than the rest of the world, and it will continue to do so for the next foreseeable future. This is according to the latest review by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) which projects that the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow 4% annually, on average, much better than the global average.

Released in Abidjan, Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook Report indicates that in the medium-term, most regions in Africa will have moderate to strong economic performance.

“Despite facing significant headwinds due to global socio-economic shocks, all the five regions on the continent remain resilient with a steady outlook,” the report reassures stakeholders.

Also Read: Financing SMEs: Basis for impressive economic outlook

However, the report does highlight some red flags to watch out for that will require robust monetary and fiscal measures and structural policies.

The report is released at the …

• Tanzania inflation hits five year high
• Zanzibar bans export of food commodoties ahead of Holy Month
• China reopens market, expected to speed global recovery

Tanzania’s annual inflation rate has hit its highest point in five years clocking 4.9% in January 2023 and at the close of February the rate was no better.

According to the Tanzania Central Bank The Bank of Tanzania (BoT), the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages went up by 9.9% up from 9.7% in December of last year.

The BoT monthly economic update report showed similar increase in prices across all sectors and indicator that the cost of living in Tanzania has increased drastically. Wit no matching increase in income, this means that the burden of acquiring daily basic needs like food has become worse for Tanzanians.

With percentages in the brackets here are how several sectors are suffering from price increase in Tanzania: Transportation (6.2% …

• The government of Tanzania is looking to make the country cooking oil self-sufficient by 2025, that is in just two years.
• ASA reports that it has 13 farms covering a total area of 16,588 hectares, but unfortunately, of these, only 12,731 hectares are suitable for farming.
• The deficit costs the country US$ 250 million every year in palm and other edible oil imports.

Tanzania is short of 650,000 metric tons which is over 60 percent of its requirements plugged by imports. Now the country wants investors to close this gap.

Speaking recently to farmers in South Tanzania, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa challenged local and foreign investors to see this demand gap as an investment opportunity.

The deficit costs the country US$ 250 million every year in palm and other edible oil imports, making the edible oil sector, the second-highest foreign exchange earner by the value of transactions.

“However, the government …

• Australian firm Magnis wins deal to supply Tesla’s graphite
• Magnis subsidiary to mine under Special Economic Zone license
• Tesla to import in excess of 17000 tonnes of graphite annually

Tesla, the American multinational automotive company and the World’s leader in electric vehicles, is expected to benefit from Tanzania’s graphite through a supplier that has been given mining rights to export 17,500 tonnes of graphite annually as of 2025.

Despite the ‘lack of official communication from Tesla’ local media reports that a third party, Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd, has in fact entered into a ” …fixed pricing Binding Offtake Agreement with Tesla, Inc. for the supply of Anode Active Material (AAM) that will commence in February 2025.”

Confirming the pact was Magnis Chairman, Frank Poullas, who expressed his company’s excitement over the Tesla deal.

“We are really excited to bring our high-performing AAM to a market that requires no chemical or …

• U.S.$304.93 million will go to supportive programmes in sustainable rural water and sanitation
• 300 million US dollars is the International Development Association (IDA) concessional loan
• Another US$ 25 million is also part of the grant money, but this time from the Global Financing Facility for Women Children, and Adolescents Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

Tanzania is to receive U.S.$ 550 million in a concessional loan to improve its Maternal and Child Health programme.

The World Bank loan comes along with a side package of U.S.$ 29.93 million in grant money, the government has reported.

Finance Minister, Hon. Mwigulu Nchemba issued a statement to media specifying the funds’ planned disbursement as follows: U.S.$304.93 million will go to supportive programmes in sustainable rural water and sanitation and U.S.$275 million will go directly to maternal and child health programme.

Of this money, 300 million US dollars is the International Development Association (IDA) concessional loan and …

• DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
• Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
• EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo …

• The change in patterns of trade triggered by these two major events is now forcing the MNCs to go back to the drawing board.
• MNCs need to reconfigure their trade routes. They have to re-lobby for assured capital and they have to broker new destinations for their goods.
• With the changing global trade polarities, the MNCs are rethinking China, and eyeing future giants like Africa. 

The much acclaimed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that came into being last year may just have saved Africa from a new world trade order.

Thanks to the global pandemic and then the Russia-Ukraine war, the plate tectonic of global trade is shifting. The resulting divergence and convergence are squeezing and pulling in different directions.

Multinational Companies (MNCs) have, for the last three decades or more, controlled trade. These international corporations have enjoyed the fruits of globalization more than any other business entity.

They …

• The DRC is viewed as a most promising member of the regional bloc offering a market of over 96 million people.
• DRC is also rich in many coveted minerals such as cobalt and Nickel, gold, and diamonds, which has caused a long-standing conflict.
• The EAC peace forces in the DRC were sent in early last year to restore peace and stability in the region.

The East Africa Community (EAC) has been touted as a model for regional economic blocs in Africa but the tension between Rwanda and the bloc’s newest member, DRC, is threatening to derail the region’s social and economic integration.   

The two neighboring countries have had a dicey relationship in the recent past with the largest country of the EAC, the DRC, accusing the smallest country in the region, Rwanda, of supporting rebels within its borders.

The DRC is viewed as a most promising member of the regional …