Author: Wanjiku Njugunah

Lufthansa Group’s newest leisure airline Eurowings Discover has commenced direct flights to the Kenyan coast, at a time when the country’s tourism sector is expected to post modest recovery in 2021.

Eurowings Discover commenced its flights on the 24^th of July 2021 with two weekly flight services from Frankfurt, Germany to Mombasa, with onward flights to the region.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala said the flights will result in the region receiving more international tourists.

This comes at a time when a study by Deloitte has forecast Kenya’s international arrivals to rise by 37 percent to 806,000 this year.

Balala said that the flight was a testament to the strides Kenya is making in the recovery of tourism activities, which were minimal due to restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that the Kenyan coast was a popular destination for European …

Kenya’s economic indicators by sector for the first quarter of 2021 point to continued recovery from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as normalization of the domestic and global economy continues.

This is according to a finding by the Central Bank of Kenya which however warns that the services sector continues to bear the brunt of the pandemic, attributable to COVID-19 containment measures which disrupted travel and hospitality services during the quarter under review.

According to the Quarterly Economic Review for January – March 2021 released last week, growth of the agriculture sector is expected to remain strong, supported by increased production of key crops following favorable weather conditions experienced during the quarter.

In the horticulture sub-sector for instance, total exports of horticultural crops increased by 10.6 percent compared to the previous quarter, boosted by continued normalization of international demand.

The report adds that significant growth in exports realized …

Tanzania’s financial services sector, which contributed approximately 3.8 percent to the country’s total GDP on average over the past five years, was weighed down by subdued loan demand in 2020.

This is according to a report by Deloitte which indicates that the slowdown of the economy owing to the coronavirus pandemic as well as declining income levels also affected the sector.

According to the report, loans and advances to customers on the other hand increased by approximately 4.5 percent in 2020 compared to 13.6 percent in 2019 as people turned to credit for relief.

“Economic uncertainty coupled with contracting income levels in 2020 decreased loan demand, subsequently leading to a suppressed credit growth of 4.5 percent in 2020 compared to 13.6 percent in 2019,” the report says.

The report also reveals that the country’s banking sector assets accounted for about 13.8 percent of total GDP while customer deposits accounted for …

The slow growth in the retirement benefits assets in Kenya in the second half of 2020 has been attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Retirement Benefits Authority Chief Executive Officer Nzomo Mutuku revealed the sector only grew by 5.77 percent from Sh1.322 trillion to Sh1.398 trillion, owing to the pandemic which adversely affected the financial markets and the wider economy in the first half of last year.

Major consequences of the pandemic in the country include massive job losses, which put contribution towards retirement schemes under pressure.

Mutuku said that fund managers and approved issuers in the country held majority of the assets amounting to Sh1.286 trillion.

During the period under review, Mutuku revealed that schemes continued to invest heavily in government securities with the asset class accounting for 44 percent of the total assets under management.

This was followed by immovable property which accounted for 17 percent, investments in guaranteed …

The EAC bloc should urgently work to attract international investors and embark on joint regional investments in the vaccine manufacturing industry for quick economic recovery.

This is according to East African Business Council Chairman Nicholas Nesbitt who is calling for a coordinated approach on COVID-19 measures to spur EAC economic recovery and growth.

Nesbitt noted that joint EAC investment offers a larger pool of capital resources, expertise and market.

At the same time, EAC’s board has directed the EABC Secretariat to champion advocacy on the adoption of open skies and one network area to reduce the cost of doing business in the region.

The board said that open skies attract regional tourism and improve consolidation of EAC exports to overseas markets such as horticulture.

According to the board, open skies are also critical in supporting the resilience and recovery of tourism, hospitality and transport sectors, which were highly impacted by …

The public sector in many African countries continues to struggle to deliver healthcare.

This is according to data by Medical Credit Fund which indicates that more than fifty percent of Africans are forced to use private healthcare facilities as an alternative.

Medical Credit Fund is a not-for-profit initiative exclusively dedicated to financing small and medium-sized healthcare companies in Africa.

The Fund notes that many private healthcare facilities are mainly run as health small and medium sized healthcare companies and are the ones that serve the lower income groups.

These however have poor infrastructure and equipment and limited means to invest in quality improvement.

The Fund also reveals that commercial banks often shy away from health SMEs because they consider them to be too risky.

IMF approves $1b to Ghana to address COVID-19

Change of Tune

To grow this SME sector, those in business are now turning to credit.

According to …

The World Bank has announced its first investment in Somalia’s health sector in 30 years.

In a statement, the bank says it has approved the Improving Healthcare Services in Somalia Project, known as “Damal Caafimaad”.

The project is financed by a US$75 million International Development Assistance (IDA) grant and an additional US$25 million grant from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF).

The organization says the project will deliver essential health and nutrition services and improve health service coverage and quality in some of Somalia’s most disadvantaged areas.

These include Nugaal (Puntland), Bakool and Bay (South West), Hiraan, and Middle Shebelle (Hirshabelle).

World Bank projects that around 10 per cent of Somalia’s population, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) and nomads in the target regions, will benefit from the project’s activities.

It is also expected to strengthen the stewardship capacity of Somalia’s Federal and State Ministries …

The media and entertainment have seen a shift in favour of individual influencers who are now competing against established companies for advertising revenues.

This growth of micro-influencers has allowed advertisers to target influencers in their niche markets helping to lower advertising costs and maximize their returns.

The report expects the country to be a key driver of media industry revenues in Africa, on account of high internet and smartphone penetration.…

The Lesotho Revenue Authority is set to receive a loan of $4.25 million from the African Development Bank Group to provide digital tax services, including e-taxation and e-payment that will broaden the country’s tax base and boost government revenue.

In a statement, AfDB says the funds will be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Group’s concessional lending window and will go to support the Supplemental Financing of the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project.

The project follows the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project (LTMP) approved in November 2017, and for which the African Development Bank Group provided $7.09 million, in financing.

The financing will especially be used to procure and install e-taxation, e-payment, and e-invoicing software and hardware and to integrate financial institutions and mobile money providers into e-payment systems.

Kenya, Lesotho sign three deals to ramp up bilateral ties

According to the Bank’s Director of Governance and Financial Management Coordination, Abdoulaye …

Families across the globe are increasingly unable to access and afford a diet needed for a healthy life due to loss of income, price increases and disruption in food and health care systems.

This is according to new research that indicates that in many populous low- and middle-income countries, the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic effects are projected to cause a devastating increase in child malnutrition, a difficult situation that is likely to get worse if no urgent action is taken.

The Standing Together for Nutrition consortium (ST4N) research suggests that without immediate action, an additional 283,000 malnutrition-related deaths in young children are estimated by 2022 – equivalent to an additional 258 children dying per day.

Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe: A Crisis in the Making?

For those who survive, an additional 3.6 million stunted children will be affected by life-long physical and cognitive impairments, and 13.6 million more will become …