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- Kenya, Tanzania braces for torrential floods as Cyclone Hidaya approaches
- EAC monetary affairs committee to discuss single currency progress in Juba talks
- Transport and food prices drive down Kenya’s inflation to 5% in April
- Payment for ransomware attacks increase by 500 per cent in one year
- History beckons as push for Kenya’s President Ruto to address US Congress gathers pace
- IMF’s Sub-Saharan Africa economic forecast shows 1.2 percent GDP growth
- The US Congress proposes extending Agoa to 2041, covering all African countries
- Millions at risk of famine as fuel tax row halts UN aid operations in South Sudan
Africa
- Kenya and Tanzania, already reeling from nature’s fury, now confront the looming threat of Cyclone Hidaya.
- Cyclone Hidaya’s trajectory places the eastern coast of Tanzania squarely in its crosshairs as neighbouring Kenya braces for floods.
- The relentless deluge gripping East Africa finds its origins in the El Nino weather pattern.
Millions of people in Tanzania and Kenya are on edge as Cyclone Hidaya, a formidable tempest, barrels toward the region, exacerbating the havoc wrought by ongoing heavy downpours and catastrophic floods that have claimed hundreds of lives across East Africa.
Kenya and Tanzania, already reeling from nature’s fury, now confront the looming threat of a cyclone poised to unleash further devastation, with forecasts predicting a grim landfall later on Friday, May 3rd.
At the moment, Cyclone Hidaya’s trajectory places the eastern coast of Tanzania squarely in its crosshairs, with fears mounting over its potential impact on neighbouring Kenya. As …
- US Congress members ask Speaker Mike Johnson to invite President Ruto to address the assembly.
- President Ruto will be visiting the US on May 23 to mark 60 years of US-Kenya diplomatic ties.
- If invited, President Ruto would become the first Kenyan Head of State to address a joint session of US Congress.
In a historic plan highlighting the deepening ties between the United States and Kenya, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (Republican – Texas) and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (Democrat – New York) have jointly sent a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Republican – Los Angeles, asking him to extend a formal invitation to President William Ruto of Kenya to address a joint session of Congress during his upcoming visit to the US, slated later in May.
“This year, we are celebrating the historic 60-year anniversary of the U.S.-Kenya diplomatic relationship. Such an invitation …
- The IMF has identified South Sudan, Burundi, and the DRC as East African Community member states poised for significant economic growth in the 2024–2025 period.
- GDP growth in Burundi is projected to increase from 4.3 to 5.4 percent and in the DRC from 4.7 to 5.7%.
- Kenya leads regionally with a projected GDP of $104 billion, ranking 7th overall among the continent’s largest economies.
The economic outlook for East African Community member states South Sudan, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is poised for significant economic growth in the 2024–2025 period. This prognosis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) comes despite these nations grappling with conflicts, marking them as among the most fragile in the region.
In its latest regional economic outlook report for Sub-Saharan Africa, the IMF forecasts a noteworthy 1.2 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for South Sudan, from 5.6 to 6.8 percent, despite …
Africa’s healthcare sector is on the verge of digital transformation.
This is according to a policy paper that indicates that while governments are accelerating formal digital health strategies, 41 out of 54 African countries have a digital health strategy in place.
Vodacom’s e-health policy paper also finds that consumers are dramatically increasing their engagement with digital health services via their smartphones. Official data forecasts that by 2025, smartphone reach in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by almost 70 percent.
The policy paper indicates that as a result of increased smartphone reach, informal use of digital healthcare solutions has increased, with 41 percent of internet users across Africa regularly using their mobile phones to search for health information.
Overall, the policy paper notes that there has been an exponential rise in the number of people engaging with digital health services through their smartphones, creating vast potential for countries to deliver access to …
In Kenya, businesses are condemning the high cost of doing business, amidst the economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, business owners have expressed concern on the current focus on politics without practical solutions to bring local businesses back on the recovery track
The Association’s Chairman, Mucai Kunyiha, raised concerns on the severity of the additional taxes imposed on businesses in addition to inflation adjustment on specific rates of duty.
“It is becoming more expensive to operate in Kenya due to the introduction of taxes, fees, levies and charges,” he said.
Kunyiha pointed out the Crop (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations 2020 which introduced new fees and levies as a measure to control thirteen (13) scheduled crops.
“Through the 2021 Finance Act, the government has introduced excise tax on raw materials and 16 percent VAT on the supply of some products, effectively increasing …
Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) says it has surpassed a crucial stage in the ongoing USD 6.2 million geothermal drilling contracts in Ethiopia.
According to the firm’s Managing Director and CEO Rebecca Miano, a team of KenGen engineers have so far crossed the 450 meters of drilling depth of the first of eight geothermal wells for the state-owned electricity producer, Ethiopia Electric Power Company which commenced in May this year.
“The first 450 meters is the most difficult phase of the entire geothermal well drilling process which can go upto a depth of 3,000 meters,” Miano said.
“This particular one is being done under peculiar circumstances including unforeseen delays occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.
The CEO added that they will be drilling at a rate of about 50 meters per day going forward and therefore expect to complete the remaining part on schedule in about two months.…
Economic transformation in Zimbabwe requires the nation to look carefully at where the rest of the world is going. The rest of the world is in the middle of the third industrial revolution driven by technology and services. These two comprise what is now known as the knowledge economy and represent a clear departure from the significance of the primary/extractive and secondary industries. These same industries are what have anchored the economy from the time the southern African country became a nation. Technology and services are where the greatest value can be appropriated, and it is in technology and services where the key to exponential growth in productivity lies.
The most magnificent thing about technology and services is that it pervades every sector of the economy and we have seen it converge with just about every area of the economy in recent times. The concept of the internet of things …
Oude Meester the alcoholic spirits brand once carried an advert many years ago that described the life trajectory of a successful businessman or businesswoman in a leading South African business weekly. In that advert was a picture of a bottle of brandy and its image was a timeline of the journey a businessperson takes starting right at the bottom when his or her entrepreneurial journey begins having started a business, grows that business, listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and then culminates in that individual running for president of the country.
The advert drew its context from the times. Back then Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale, political stalwarts within the establishment of the African National Congress had taken sabbaticals from the political sphere and had gone on to achieve notable success in the private sector. Both men had expressed ambition for the presidency. Only one of these men succeed …
The lockdown occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic saw new e-commerce users rise by 5 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 when compared to the active base the previous year.
This is according to a report by VISA, which attributes this to a preference of e-commerce to fill the void left by the closure of face-to-face retail, which was implemented across many parts of the world, including the region, to fight the viral disease.
The ‘e-commerce developments across Su-Saharan Africa’ report also notes the economic shocks that followed COVID-19 have reduced spending power across the world, including in the region, but the closure of physical stores has provided a growth opportunity for digital payments and e-commerce itself.
Where, how to invest in Uganda’s e-commerce
As such, VISA projects that e-commerce sales will grow to US$7 trillion across the globe by 2024, with the Asia Pacific, specifically, China, India, and Southeast Asia, …
