Author: Giza Mdoe

When rich folks want to climb to the highest peak of Africa, they no longer have to scrimmage with the rest of us along the old narrow foot tracks, no, they now have an exclusive route cut just for Very Important People (VIP). In an unprecedented move, the government of Tanzania has decided to construct 25-kilometre of road up Mount Kilimanjaro in a bid to provide for the needs of the World’s richest. The features of this VIP route have not been made public but it is expected to be exclusive, private and only for select few who can afford…

For decades now, the word Somalia has become synonymous to malnutrition. You hear Somalia and the first picture that comes into your head is that of the scrawniest infant you have ever seen; hairless, ribs, collar bones and cheeks bones protruding so much it seems the child has no skin, just a pigment on the skeleton.  That is the poor, malnourished Somalia we have all grown up to hear about. In fact, the only other picture of Somalia is not any better, now you hear Somalia and you think pirates; thin, malnourished pirates wielding the menacing Russian made Kalashnikovs.   Why? History would…

The wheels of economy would have it that, where there is oil/gas exploration, the multiplier effect is that businesses blossom within and all along the value chain.   From accommodation that is hotels and guest houses to catering services ranging from high end restaurants for expatriates to Mama Ntilie for the wage workers and everything in between.  That is the smaller picture, the micro-economics of things, however there are sectors like construction, transportation, electricity and water supply, health and financial services. The list goes on and on, both for small, and medium sized companies, the opportunities available at and around an exploration site are enormous.  Also read: Oil price drop should nudge…

It is hard to see how African economies will bounce back to the vibrant fast growing hubs that they were over the past two decades, the pre-corona era. Countries like Rwanda that led East Africa (and most of the World) with annual economic growth averaging 9.4 percent now looks at annual growth rates of a mere 2 percent.  When the tourism and hospitality industries reopen their doors, will tourists and holiday maker flock in triple and quadruple their previous numbers and will they do so long enough for the industries to stabilize and resume growth? Will air travel shake off…

Tanzania relays heavily on the tourism sector for its foreign exchange earnings and to save this vital sector, the country has announced plans to have all hotels and other tourist facilities across the country bear Covid-19 certificates that basically declare the facility a Covid-19 free area. According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) the tourism sector is Tanzania’s top foreign exchange earner clocking USD 2.44 billion last year.  It only makes sense that the country would do all in its power to save the sector in the wake of the pandemic. The move, to have tourism facilities display Covid-19 free…

For over two months now, companies in Tanzania are holding back contractors and supplier payments blaming it on a lack of funds due to the global coronavirus crisis. Chinese companies are particularly in the spotlight with suppliers complaining of delayed payments for goods delivered and services done. In an exclusive with this paper, an aggregate mine operator (name withheld) said payments due to the company from Chinese companies are still pending two months down the road. This is the exact scenario that the government tried to evade when it throughout the Central Bank, Bank of Tanzania, it released a stimulus…

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…

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…

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…

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…