Author: Padili Mikomangwa

Climate change is a 21st-century phenomenon that has called the attention of most governments on planet earth. In Africa, the cost of adaptation is estimated at approximately $2 billion per year in the period 2030-2100.

According to a US-based think-tank, Brookings, research finding point out that, bold climate action could deliver at least $26 trillion in global economic benefits between now and 2030. On another, it could also generate nearly 65 million new low-carbon jobs by 2030.

All these benefits safeguard Africa’s prosperous future which is filled with exciting development projects execute across the region’s vast landscape.

As far as the adoption of new climate economy models, such as phasing our fossil fuels energy structures and ushering in renewables particularly solar and wind energy—which is proving to be useful in East Africa, the role of green banks and climate funds is inevitable.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Climate …

Despite the global economic shocks caused by covid-19, in July 2020 the World Bank Group (WB), Tanzania’s development partner categorized Tanzania as a lower middle-income country—which was one of the crucial country milestones achieved over the past year.

Tanzania which is currently eyed to be one of the best performers in the region, despite the pandemic shocks, economy forecasters such as Focus Economics anticipated the East African economy to grow by 5.8 per cent.

However, the WB latest Tanzania economic update proposed several key issues to be prioritized by Tanzania to keep a tight grip on the economic status and ascend further.

Tanzania is currently striving to realize its Development Vision (TDV) 2025 further, by having institutional framework changes on crucial sectors—on the mining sector, taxing, investment and transforming Tanzania into a strategic powerhouse by utilizing its natural gas.

The bank’s Raising the Bar: Achieving Tanzania’s Development Vision, exposed various …

The central bank of Tanzania (BoT) released its monthly economic review on Wednesday 10 2021 for February. The economy was painted by the report on a rather satisfactory base reflected in several sectors of the economy such as exports, food prices, money and credit.

Inflation

In this sector of the economy, the performance was stable, as according to the new published CPI remained within the target range of 3.5 per cent for 2020/21. Further, the twelve-month headline inflation was standing at 3.5 per cent in January 2021 from 3.2 per cent in the previous month and projected to remain low in the remaining period of 2020/21.

Fuel Prices

The report noted that pump prices of petroleum products have been rising since June 2020 attributed to the gradual increase in prices in the world market.

“The prices were lower in January 2021 compared with the corresponding month in 2020. Compared to …

Tanzania—East Africa’s host of the most strategic port (Dar es Salaam Port), anticipates garnering more cargo in the next four years, as the Tanzanian Port Authority (TPA) projects the volume of cargo to rise by almost 43 per cent, according to information from The Citizen.

The Dar es Salaam port handles about 95 per cent of the country international trade, serving other landlocked countries, Malawi, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, according to information from the TPA website.

In the maritime sector, Tanzania has a rather wider potential for expanding its reach in this pool. Tanzania’s coastline stretches of approximately 1425 km across East Africa portrays how the country could transform its economy and vitalize movement of good over the East African region.

The government of Tanzania has been on a mission to transform the sector physically and financially. For instance, in July 2017 President John Magufuli …

The oil and gas industry in Africa is yet another profitable sector that can transform the energy and revenue generation of gas-endowed nations and contribute greatly to their economic development. 

According to the global network firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), by the end of 2017, Africa had nearly 487.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves, comprising 7.1 per cent of global proven reserves. …

The pandemic has shown the globe that more is needed to fortify our systems, as nearly 95 million people have contracted the virus and more than two million people have succumbed to it, while millions face the economic shocks of the virus, particularly those located in developing economies. 

A World Economic Forum (WEF) publication which is part of The Davos Agenda (a virtual global leaders’ meeting on sustaining an inclusive and cohesive future) noted that the pandemic has exposed several threats to the world. …

Africa making huge moves to advance rapidly within the realms of social impact entrepreneurship and innovation.

From smart environmental solution based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania to e-learning innovations in Cape Town, South Africa are filled with rather interesting operations that will levitate the region in the coming decades.

The continent has rather made some great strides over the past years, having platforms such as The Next African Start-Ups program launched in 2018, connecting entrepreneurs with potential investors, financial institutions and policymakers—catering all necessary items for their growth and introduction of fresh services and technologies that will improve lives of people across the region.

Despite the year 2020 being a record market for investment into the African tech startup ecosystem. Whereby more money was raised from a large pool of investors compared to other years before, 2021 came with a dark cloud.

According to information from Bloomberg News which cited …

Zanzibar, one of the most exotic tourist destinations in East Africa marked 100 days since its newly elected President Hussein Ali Mwinyi assumed positions of power.

The archipelago which is the autonomous region of Tanzania has been developing its efforts to enhance economic performance in the island over the past years. According to information from The Citizen, the 100 days old presidency is yet focused on transforming the country economy.

The presidency came to helms of power after the Zanzibar Vision 2020-2050 emerged to revitalize the archipelago economy particularly tapping into the sustainable utilization of the Indian ocean resources.

President Mwinyi told The Citizen that, the country has short- and long-term plans slated to ensure there are a success, accountability and quick decision making, which are key issues to a prompt acquisition of reforms in the island’s economy.

The economy of Zanzibar is rather dominated by agricultural, whereby most of …

Africa’s top economy and oil exporter, Nigeria is battling yet another economic hurdle, as the government disagrees with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)recommendations of lowering its currency that’s more than 18 per cent overvalued to ease external imbalances, according to Bloomberg News.

According to IMF February 8, 2021, press release, Nigeria has been hit quite hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, following a sharp decrease in oil prices and capital outflows, real GDP is estimated to have contracted by 3.2 per cent I 2020 amidst the pandemic-related lockdown.

Bloomberg News reported on February 8, 2021, that, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari administration sees currency pressures stemming from global outflows caused by the coronavirus pandemic and believes another depreciation would add to double-digit inflation.

The devaluation pressure from IMF is not new to Nigeria. In 2014 the Nigerian central bank devalued the naira by nearly 8 per cent and then fixed the official …

The central bank of Tanzania (BoT) published its quarterly economic bulletin on Monday 8 February 2021 for the quarter ending December 2020, and it portrays rather satisfactory performance despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) shocks affecting the global economy.

The report pointed that, in the third quarter, the growth was at 4.5 per cent, leading to the average growth rate of 4.7 per cent in the first three quarters of 2020, compared to 7.3 per cent in the corresponding period in 2019 and 6.9 per cent in 2018.

According to the report, the satisfactory growth was rather contributed by various sectors particularly, construction, agriculture, transport and mining and quarrying.

The government of Tanzania did provide strategic measures to cushion the economy from the virus shocks, this included a deliberate decision of ruling out mandatory lockdowns.

Gross Domestic Product

The performance of the economy was driven by rather four sectors, construction, agriculture, transport, …