Author: Padili Mikomangwa

The central bank of Tanzania (BoT) released its monthly economic review for April 2021 and it analyzed Zanzibar economy performance rather closely, whereby inflation, government budget operations, imports and exports performance depicted moderate improvement.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of the United Republic of Tanzania, made up of two main isles Unguja and Pemba. There more than 1.7 million people in the archipelago.

The isles are mainly known for their exotic tourism landscapes and agricultural exports particularly spices.

However, the office of the Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar (OCGS) published an interesting consumer price index for April 2021. The report showed that Zanzibar annual headline inflation rate for the year ended April 2021, increased to 1.9 per cent compared to 1.5 per cent for the year ended March 2021.

Inflation developments in Zanzibar

According to the report, during March 2021, annual headline inflation declined to 1.5 per cent from 5 per …

The future of Africa is fenced around its ability to utilize renewable energy potential. Harnessed effectively, Africa stands to become the next world powerhouse and take over energy production once and for all.  

In this context, the African sun has plenty of potential to transform the continent’s energy generation landscape.  Africa is endowed with plenty of renewable energy, hydropower and natural gas. 

The International Energy Agency points to Africa as a region harbouring nearly 17 per cent of the global population but it only holds four per cent of global power supply investment. …

Unification is the key to success in the 21st century. This can be seen with the advent of development pacts across the world, particularly the G5, G20, and SADC (Southern African Development Community) to mention a few. 

According to the Kenya High Commission in Dar es Salaam, Kenya and Tanzania have maintained close relations over many years founded on similar ideas in areas such as the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, social and economic order, and good governance, and with a special focus on economic and financial market issues. …

Tanzania is yet another country making a series of moves within the realms of the economy. At the moment the sixth President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan is laying another foundation on top of the late John Magufuli presidency’s legacy, which was cut short before it took off for a major portion of its second term. 

Earlier in April Tanzania and Uganda managed to strike a victory on the crude oil pipeline project that had stalled. In effect, President Hassan managed to pass another crucial item left by Magufuli’s presidency forward. …

It is a sad day for Africa and Mozambique as Total SE the French energy company seal its $20 billion liquified natural gas (LNG) project in the security risk country rich in natural gas reserves, according to information from Total.

“Considering the evolution of the security situation in the north of the Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, Total confirms the withdrawal of all Mozambique LNG project personnel from the Afungi site. This situation leads Total, as operator of Mozambique LNG project, to declare force majeure,” Total statement reads in part.

Mozambique as one of the few countries with natural gas reserves has been ravaged by frequent attacks executed by Islamic insurgents in Cabo Delgado province.

READ:Mozambique gas: Amid conflict, harmony gazes at Tanzania 

Various media sources, including Aljazeera, reported that the project has been stopped indefinitely due to an escalation of violence in the areas with LNG projects.

“The …

The central bank of Tanzania (BoT) released a monthly economic review report this week the report depicted the performance of different sectors of the economy.

Inflation

Tanzania has been maintaining its inflation rate over the past month in 2021. According to this monthly report, inflation has continued to remain down, evolving within the country and regional targets.

The report argued that the twelve-month consumer price index (CPI) headline inflation eased to 3.3 per cent from 3.5 per cent in the previous month, which is rather widely driven by the slowdown in prices of non-food consumer goods and services.

“On a month-to-month basis, headline inflation was 0.9 per cent in February 2021, compared with 0.8 per cent in the preceding month. Inflation is projected to remain within the target range of 3-5 per cent for the remaining period of 2020/21,” the BoT report noted.

Within the same context, the report pointed …

If you are reading this in East, Central, North or Southern Africa, you have probably heard these hit songs “Number One”, “Waah”, “Nana”, and “Jeje” performed by Diamond Platnumz.

Tanzania as another country in Africa with plenty of music potential has seen its very own raw talent, Diamond Platnumz raising the country’s flag with his unique and eccentric Bongo-Flava hits, but also drawing more receipts probably more than any other artist in Tanzania’s history.

The East African country has produced more successful musical talents including AY, MwanaFA, Lady JayDee and Ali Kiba to mention a few. However, Diamond Platnumz has become a shiny icon that has drawn more accolades to the table, from MTV awards, Future Awards, South African Music Awards, BET Awards, and Tanzania Music Awards.

The Tanzanian best male artist has been in the industry for more than ten years as of now he has pinned the music …

East Africa (Tanzania and Uganda in this case) is endowed with plenty of natural resources that mark it as a potential region for investment and economical prosperity. The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is another milestone that will levitate Tanzania to a good position economically.

The crude oil project which was stalled since 2019, has taken a new leap that sounds promising to the two countries which are eyeing maximizing the potential of $15 billion in investment (The East African 2021).

Earlier this week, the project was signed off by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni in the nation’s capital, Kampala and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu. The process was postponed from the original date of March 22 after the sudden death of President John Magufuli.

The EACOP project landscape

This historic project plans to transfer crude oil via a 1,445 long pipeline extending from western Uganda to the Indian ocean in …

Until 2019 Africa and china had an eccentric lending experience. This includes the lending spree featuring more than $10 billion a year from 2012 to 2017, higher than $1 billion in 2001, sadly China lending to Sub-saharan Africa has fallen short due to serious defaulting fears.

A detailed study executed by John Hopkins University’s China-Africa Research Initiative pointed out that, debt sustainability concerns have triggered lending to the African government to drop by 30 per cent in 2019.

China—the world top industrial economy has been a close lender to Africa—the world’s top raw material producer and fastest-growing economy over the past decade.

On the side of the fence, according to China’s 2021 White Paper on International Development Cooperation published in January, China has steadily increased the scale and further expanded the scope of its foreign aid, giving high priority to the least developed countries in Africa (Global Times).

Several media …

African cities are prone to flood damage, which can be widespread leaving hundreds homeless, communities and economic systems destabilized and infrastructures costing millions to build, destroyed. 

All these issues factor in an uncomfortable reality that African communities cannot afford. According to a 2018 publication by The Conversation, floods cost Tanzania up to $2 billion annually, while tracing back to 2012, Nigeria—Africa’s top economy suffered its largest floods in the century which wiped out assets worth nearly $10 billion. …