Author: Padili Mikomangwa

 The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has announced the presence of the first case of the coronavirus on Monday, March 16. The case was found in Northern part of Tanzania, on a female Tanzanian patient, 46-year-old, who arrived in the country on March from Belgium onboard RwandAir plane and landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on March 15. The patient also visited Sweden and Denmark between March 3 and 13, before her return to Tanzania. Despite Tanzania being prepared with thermal scanners installed in all airports, the patient passed the health checks undetected, as her body temperature was at the normal…

South Africa, Africa’s second-largest economy is still experiencing power cuts off as the national power utility stated today on Thursday that, nation-wide power cuts across South Africa of up to 4,000 megawatts will last throughout the weekend and power kicking back on Sunday According to information from a South African financial publication Moneyweb, the power cuts are due to the wait of regulatory approval to reconnect a unit at a nuclear power station in Cape Town (Koeberg). Eskom, which produces more than 90 per cent of the electricity in Africa‘s most industrialized economy, ramped up power cuts to 4 000 MW…

It is now a fact that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a pandemic according to World Health Organization (WHO), and just from that stand-point, the tourism sector is not safe from the pandemic pinch. The world is on its heels, nations are now rolling a series of aviation restrictions to curb the virus outbreak, limiting numerous economic and societal operations over space and time—which also have ripple effects on the continent’s tourism sphere. Currently, more than 4,900 people have died and over 132,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO. In Africa—the virus has recently brought two death (in…

Tanzania’s ministry of finance revealed on Wednesday, that it was exploring various techniques, including fostering supervision of the use of Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS). This is part of the government’s plans to raise revenue collections and speed up the process of creating an enabling environment for Tanzania’s industrialization journey, according to information from The Citizen. It is another step taken by the Tanzanian government to enhance revenue collection to fund various development projects, as frequently rallied by the Tanzanian President John Magufuli. Just last year, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collected over $ 735 million in taxes in September 2019, the…

The deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) which has now spread over 60, with 93,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths in China, is projected to hurt the African airline landscape, taking away $40 million in revenue. At the moment, Africa has witnessed confirmed cases in Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The outbreak has made big-industrial players such as British Airlines, United Airlines, Cathay Pacific to trim their routes to various destination, including northern Italy, South East Asia, to evade further trouble with the virus. On that line, African airlines have taken their own path to curb the scenario, as Tanzania’s…

Nigeria has just become the leading nation with the largest economy in Africa, after South Africa recent economic slump, when its economy contracted and sliding into a second recession in two years. South Africa and Nigeria make up almost half of sub-Saharan Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While South Africa statistics office highlighted bad news for the nation, suffering from power crisis, Nigeria statistician showed a rather positive performance of the economy, which grew at about 2.55 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019. This growth was the highest quarterly performance since the 2016 recession. It is argued that…

The world is on its heels as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken superpowers and developing nations hostage, limiting aerial movements, limiting large congregations, and drawing billions into containment plans. With all that in the fold, what has Tanzania installed to contain the virus outbreak ripples? It is crucial to say China and Tanzania relations are historic, dating back to the 1960s. Prior to the virus outbreak, China and Tanzania had vibrant trading interactions, with bilateral trade volume reaching $3.976 billion according to the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania. Both China and Tanzania (Ministry of Industries and Trade) have confessed to a…

South Africa’s economy has reduced by 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, this is according to information from the South African statistician on Tuesday. This scenario followed a contraction of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, which means that the economy was in recession for the last half of 2019. South Africa last entered a recession – when the GDP falls for two consecutive quarters – in the second quarter of 2018. This is South Africa’s third recession since 1994. Further, the stats office highlighted that, for the whole of 2019, the South African economy grew by only…

African Green Resources (AGR) in Zambia launched an $81 million financing programme on Sunday, whereby the company and its partner are slated to provide farm supplies and technology to farmers in exchange for grain According to information from Reuters, the company chairperson Zuneid Yousuf said in a statement that, AGR plans to invest $150 million in the country, for projects including a 50-megawatt solar farm and irrigation dam, AGR will target 120 commercial farmers and 250,000 small and middle farmers with the new programme to boost food security in Zambia and the surrounding region. However, the scheme—will cover 60,000 tonnes…

The United States, one of Africa’s strongest development partners—will provide Zambia with a $389 million grant (one-year bilateral grant) aimed towards AIDS relief. According to information revealed by Reuters, Zambia ministry of health revealed, the grant will be starting from October after Congressional approval. Further, the grant under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) follows a meeting on Zambia which was held last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. Zambia and U.S relations towards eliminating HIV/AIDS kick-started in 2004, whereby since the U.S. government through PEPFAR has partnered with the government of Zambia via the Ministry of Health…