Author: Giza Mdoe

Tanzania has joined the rest of the continent in lowering borrowing rates for commercial banks in a bid to maintain their liquidity.

Tanzania’s Central Bank the Bank of Tanzania, (BoT) has cut down interest on borrowing from 7 percent to 5 percent, a move that has been welcomed by the business community.

It has also chopped rates on government securities by half, starting with treasury bills which it brought down to 5 percent from 10 percent and treasury bonds to from 40 percent to 20 percent.

These latest series of monetary measure is backed with the lowering of the required minimum cash reserve that commercial banks are otherwise required to maintain at the Central Bank.

The goal is to stimulate the economy by giving commercial banks the leeway to lower their lending rates which in turn should see business access the operating capital they need. The BoT did not stop …

When something grows by 50 percent, we say it has doubled, when it grows by 100 percent, it has quadrupled and so on and so forth. You want to know by how much telecommunication companies in Rwanda have grown during the onslaught of the coronavirus? I will tell you, an amazing 450 percent.

According to the Rwanda Utilities Regulation Authority, between January and April alone, telecom companies in Rwanda have amassed over USD 42 million that is an average of USD 10 million a month.

This impressive performance is representative of a drastic paradigm shift, the migration from a pre-dominantly cash based society to one that has gone almost absolutely cashless. Rwanda has in the fight against the spread of coronavirus gone cashless, switching from use of cash payments to digital platforms via mobile money transfers.

Last month, The Exchange published an article titled Digital Africa in which it was …

On the onset of the pandemic, the two countries, like all other countries in the region and elsewhere in the world, Tanzania and Kenya closed their borders, for awhile. However it soon dawned on both countries that closing their borders from each other (and their neighbours) is but a band-aid solution. 

The underlying trade logistics are already so entwined that no country could do without the other, short of losing hard gained economic ground. So, no sooner than they closed their borders than the two countries were forced reopen them. 

That is where the third set of complications surfaced, the first was not by any fault of the countries, the onset of the coronavirus. The second was their own doing, the closure of their borders in-line with international recommendations and the third was the lack of concerted, joint response. 

Also read: 

Last year Africa spent more money servicing debts than on the health issues of its public.   According to World Bank, Africa is home to the world’s highest number of heavily indebted poor countries owing a total of US$493.6 billion in long term debts. 

As the World Bank and IMF issue funding aid to help support Africa respond to the effects of COVID-19, countries including Tanzania and Rwanda have asked that the international community focus more on debt relief. 

The IMF issued a statement listing certain countries as being eligible for debt relief and asked others to state their case—to explain why they deserve debt relief. 

The Institute for International Finance, a club of some 450 banks and financial investment firms from across the globe, say they are working on temporarily suspending debt financing by the poorest countries, most of which are in Africa. 

 Also Read: Why high

The Tanzania Horticultural Association (Taha) is reporting an increase in revenue from the export of avocados which until now were not considered key export cash crop. 

However growing demand in the US and Europe has seen the sub-sector increase revenue to US$23 million annually. 

Tanzania is the second largest producer of avocado fruit in Africa second only to Kenya. Over the past five years, avocado exports have leap-frogged from 1,877 tonnes in 2014 to 9,000 tonnes in 2019 and were it not for the COVID-19 outbreak, this figure was expected to go higher. 

Also Read: COVID-19 response must target African agriculture and the rural poor

Kenya is already doing much better with its estimated annual output of about 190,000 tonnes as the country exports an average of 10,000 metric tonnes annually. 

In Tanzania, there are about 10,000 farmers of the crop who …

There is no sugar in Tanzania. The little that there is, is very hard to come by and when you do find it, its many times more expensive than you would have bought it last month. It is barely a fortnight since the government confidently said the country has enough sugar and went ahead and placed a cap on sugar prices.

To bring things under control, nationwide crackdowns were carried out and several warehouses were found with allegedly hoarded sugar, fines were issued and arrest made in shops and other outlets where the sellers were price above the government cap, even awhile consignment was seized been smuggled out of the country.

Yet still, two weeks later, there is no sugar. Been the Holy Month of Ramadhan, lack of sugar severely affects the day to day social well being. Most of the staples and beverages need sugar, the tea needs sugar …

Did you know, last year (2019) Africa spent more money servicing debts than the amount it spent on health issues of its public? This obviously a general statement, it does not mean that each and every country in Africa spent more on debt servicing that the money it allocated to its health center, but the fact holds true for most of Africa’s 53 countries.

It is not that Africa does not care about the health of its people, on the contrary, its just that, according to World Bank stats, Africa is home to the World’s highest number of heavily indebted poor countries owing a total of USD 493.6 billion in long term debts.

As the World Bank and International Monetary Fund issue funding aid to help support Africa respond to the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many African countries including Tanzania and Rwanda have asked that the international community …

Phase one of Tanzania’s Stand Gauge Railway (SGR) that extends from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro is almost complete.

The railway which covers over 300 kilometres is almost complete and the country is now getting ready to buy the trains that will run on the track.

Even though its first phase is not entirely complete due to the ongoing heavy rains that have stalled construction work, the country is ready to move on and buy and test the trains.

Unofficial reports say the government of Tanzania has started bidding for trains and is actually in the process of finalising procurement of at least two locomotives already. That’s not all, the required trains should have at least eight compartments for passengers and same number of wagons for cargo transportation.

Already the testing of trains has started, a senior official of the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) intimated. It is expected that the …

The Tanzania Horticultural Association (Taha), is reporting an increase in revenue from the export of avocados which until now were not considered key export cash crop.

However growing demand in the US and Europe has seen the sub-sector increase revenue to USD 23 million annually.

Tanzania is the second largest producer of avocado fruit in Africa second only to Kenya. Over the past 5 years, avocado exports have frog leaped from 1,877 tonnes in 2014 to 9,000 tonnes in 2019 and were it not for the COVID-19 outbreak, this figure was expected to go only higher.

Kenya is already doing much better with its estimated annual output is about 190,000 tonnes every year as the country exports an average of 10,000 metric tonnes annually.

In Tanzania, there are about 10000 farmers of the crop who are spread out across the country and of these, now most have turned to the …

China has been funding a lot of Africa’s development especially in the past two decades and in that time, Beijing has loaned to Africa a whopping USD160 billion.

This debt burden is here to stay, and to stay for a long time, that is unless China is willing to forego or at least ease the terms of the loans.  To put it in the words of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo;

“It is something that the African countries should consider, too, in asking China to possibly enter debt relief on some deals that have incredibly onerous terms that will impact the African people for an awfully long time, if relief is not granted.”

This should not be a problem for the runner’s up for World’s biggest economy, in fact China is among the world’s richest 20 countries which are known as the Great 20 or more …