Author: Padili Mikomangwa

• African economy has sustained significant impacts due to the pandemic
• Several sectors such as tourism and trade have been impacted significantly
• Despite the virus, Africa has demonstrated important issues towards handling pandemics

One of the most vibrant economies in the world, sub-Saharan Africa is slated to bounce back from the shocks of COVID-19 which left a number of economies shaken to the core and hundreds of lives lost.  

Despite the pandemic limiting several economic functions such as international travel—which marred tourism operations in East Africa, the region is expected to score growth of 3.3 per cent in 2021, according to a recent report by the World Bank. 

The October edition of Africa’s Pulse report explicitly noted that the resurgence of the economy is promoted by elevated commodity prices, a relaxation of stringent pandemic measures and recovery in global trade.  

Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, are now working towards building …

• Mobile money is growing fast in East Africa
• Despite of the pandemic, still mobile money regulators enabled its performance
• Financial technologies are changing the way unbanked populations access finance services 

Mobile money is still king in Africa and will be so for long. With more than 548 million (up 12 per cent) registered accounts attached to a 27.4 billion transaction volume worth $490 billion, Africa stands to draw billions from mobile money and transform its economies significantly (GSMA 2021). 

Thanks to financial technology (fintech) which has accelerated financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa, now more than ever, the unbanked population in rural areas of Africa can access financial services seamlessly, even during the coronavirus pandemic’s harsh times. 

Today fintech technologies are challenging traditional financial services, particularly banks in Africa. This has forced banks to adapt to the new game brought by fintech aggregators, including fusing their services to mobile services and …

• Tanzania has went through significant changes in its pension schemes over the past years
• Pension funds have becomes a useful tool in the wake of the pandemic
• Nigeria,Kenya, Namibia, Bostwana and Mauritius demonstrate serious activity in pension fund growth

Pension funds are now an instrumental tool in the economy across Africa that play a major role in building long-term finance and capital markets, through mobilization and allocation of stable and long-term savings to support investment, according to Making Finance Work for Africa. 

In a nutshell, according to Corporate Finance Institute, the pension fund is an endowment that accumulates capital to be paid out as a pension for employees when they retire at the end of their careers. 

In countries such as Tanzania, where pension funds are part of government lending, contributing at least 11.4 per cent of total investment by March 31, 2019, there is a glimpse of hope that …

African Development Banks (AfDB) one of Africa’s vibrant development funders have levitated the cold storage chain industry in East Africa, by supporting it with a $10 million equity investment.

According to the bank’s statement, AfDB’s board of directors approved the sum which is part of the ARCH Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund (CCSEAF), which is targeted at supporting the development, construction and operation of greenfield cold storage, temperature-controlled solutions and distribution facilities in East Africa.

At the moment, several startups and business solutions have been established across East Africa, tackling storage challenges, one of them is Cold Solutions East Africa, which is one of the region’s leading temperature-controlled storage and logistics.

Read: Will the digital economy in Africa just remain a myth?

AfDB is not the only financial institution to throw its resources into the cold storage arena, Rabobank is also dedicated to the same market in East Africa.…

As the world and the East African region continue to recover from different kinds of economic shocks triggered by Covid-19, inflation in Tanzania has also taken different turns. According to the review, in August 2021, twelve-month inflation remained at 3.8 per cent, which is noted to be the same, as the last month.

On the other side of the fence, the review showed that core inflation—of which its index calls of the largest share in consumer price index (CPI), rose to 4.5 per cent in August 2021 from 4.1 per cent in July 2021, this is attributed to the increase in transport costs, “reflecting an upward shift in fuel prices”.

Things seemed to work better in food inflation, whereby annual food inflation—excluding alcoholic beverages, slimmed down to 3.6 per cent from 5.1 per cent, the review argues that this is due to a decrease in prices of maize and maize …

• Energy, fuel, and utility inflation increased to 5.1 per cent in August 2021 from 3.6 per cent in July 2021
• 12-month inflation remained at 3.8 per cent which is the same rate as the previous month
• Interest rates charged on loans by banks remained unchanged

The Tanzania Central Bank (BoT) released the monthly economic review last week, which breaks down the performance of different economic sectors, of which most portions of the economy portrayed modest performance.

Inflation

The report showed that, in August 2021, twelve-month inflation remained at 3.8 per cent which is the same rate as the previous month, and below the country target of 5 per cent in 2021/2022.

Further, on that line, core inflation which BoT argues, is the index accounts for the largest share in consumer price index (CPI), increased to 4.5 per cent in August 2021 from 4.1 per cent in July 2021—this is attributed …

As a low-middle-income country, Tanzania is fairly doing its best in financing its development efforts by utilising its internal funding strategies, and tax is a part of that.

In the past five years, under the leadership of the late President John Magufuli, Tanzania broke its revenue collection record and managed to self-finance nearly 40 per cent of dividends collected from companies it holds a stake in.

Earlier last year, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) hit a record collection of 100.02 per cent of its total revenue in December 2019, of which it exceeded its monthly target, which was more than $860 million.

Read: Tanzania considers tax breaks to cushion economy

“This is the highest score for a particular month since an establishment of TRA” the former TRA Commissioner General, Dr Edwin Mhede noted.

According to the former taxman, this magnificent record-breaking achievement was a fruit of hard labour put on enforcement …

Across the region, agriculture has been a crucial economic activity that has to levitate communities’ economies and promote some major changes, in farmer’s lives. 

Farming has changed significantly over the past decade. This change has not occurred or is being adopted evenly across the globe. Europe, North, South America, and Asia have been developing and utilizing agriculture mechanization quite fast. 

However, the latter has not been active in sub-Saharan Africa for a while. For the record, farming practices present during the 1960s when most of Africa, was liberating itself from colonial hands, are largely being divorced currently. …

As the number of people demanding food supply has kept increasing since 2015 from 1.1 million to 2.7 million, Cameroon is striving to keep its farming systems updated and strong. According to the Aid and International Development Forum, 57 per cent of the rural people live in poverty.

Cameroon has more than 28 million people and like the rest of other African nations, it is endowed with rich natural resources, including oil and gas, but more importantly, Cameroon has a wide variety of agricultural products, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize and cassava.…

Tanzania has always run on a wider and richer path of reliable business partners, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of them. The two countries have been engaging in a number of diplomatic and economic operations since 1974, and they have built a healthy partnership. 

With the new administration led by President Samia Suluhu, which is strictly focused on opening and building strategic partnerships with other countries, the UAE and Tanzania could foster more tangible business relations, from the extractives sector to tourism and hospitality. 

The new administration is now streamlining deliberate efforts to promote tourism and industrial development to create more jobs and improve the national economy. 

At the moment different top-tier investing parties have showcased their confidence in Tanzania, including Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, who plans to construct a fertilizer factory {The Citizen}. 

The UAE holds nearly 10 million people and stands on a $421 …