• Competition for workers is rising significantly as populations age in rich and middle-income countries.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, people with tertiary education are 30 times more likely to emigrate than those who are less educated.
• This migration can aggravate a shortage of skilled workers to provide essential services such as health care. And since governments cannot prevent people from leaving, they need to expand the training capacity for such skills, experts say.

Populations across the globe are aging at an unprecedented pace, turning many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realize their long-term growth potential, according to a new report from the World Bank.

The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies, identifies this trend as a unique opportunity to make migration work better for economies and people.

Wealthy countries, as well as a growing number of middle-income countries—traditionally among the main sources of …

• Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows remittance inflows in March hit $357.0 million compared to $309.2 million in February, an increase of 15.5 percent.
• Kenyans living and working abroad sent home $349.4 million in January, with the February figure being the lowest receipt since July last year. 
• The cumulative inflows for the 12 months to March 2023 totaled $4 billion compared to $3.9 billion in a similar period in 2022.

Kenyans in the diaspora sent home more money in the month of March compared to February and January, defying inflationary pressures being felt by households across the globe.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows remittance inflows in March totaled $357.0 million compared to $309.2 million in February, an increase of 15.5 percent.

The inflows were $349.4 million in January, with the February figure being the lowest receipt since July last year.

The cumulative inflows for the 12 months …

• The credit seeks to restore external sustainability, and strengthen debt management while creating fiscal space for accelerated and inclusive growth.
• The staff-level agreement is subject to IMF management approval and consideration by the Executive Board.
• Burundi’s reform program aims to support economic recovery from shocks.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to dispatch a $261.7 million loan to crisis-saddled Burundi, its first in nearly a decade, as the country moves to bolster economic recovery and reforms.

The IMF boost to the poverty-stricken nation follows “a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms” that was struck for a new 40-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) after the lender’s Mission Chief for Burundi, Mame Astou Diouf, visited Bujumbura in February.

Burundi’s reform program aims to support economic recovery from shocks, restore external sustainability, and strengthen debt management while creating fiscal space for accelerated and inclusive growth.

Since 2015, Burundi…

• Africa is at the center of global sustainability transitions such as decarbonization of production systems.
• The continent is also seeing electrification of transportation infrastructure and accelerated use of renewable energy.
• African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an opportunity to bridge the inequality and vulnerability gap while fostering recovery and transformation in Africa.

Africa – pummeled by a combination of crises – should swiftly invest in and implement people-centered strategies to mobilize financial resources and accelerate continental economic recovery, the Economic Commission for Africa now says.

Speaking during the opening of the ministerial segment of the 55th Session of ECA’s Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, in Ethiopia, Executive Secretary Antonio Pedro said Africa was at the center of global sustainability transitions, such as decarbonization of production systems, electrification of transportation infrastructure and accelerated use of renewable energy, which he said should underpin its recovery from …

• Usable foreign exchange were recorded at USD 6.56 billion last week, which is equivalent to 3.66 months of import cover.
• The shilling has continued to weaken against the US Dollar to a record 130 units to a dollar.
• The country has witnessed a dollar shortage in recent months.

The Kenyan government has put in place a number of measures to tame the country’s dwindling forex reserves and a biting dollar shortage that is being witnessed in the market.

The East African Community (EAC) economic powerhouse is also grappling with a weakening shilling that has dropped by about 12 per cent against the US dollar, the highest in two decades.

It has breached the 130 mark to a dollar, which is a record high. Importers are however accessing the dollar at Ksh145 to the dollar, which has impacted on the cost of imports and commodity prices.

Usable foreign exchange was recorded …

• Inflation is cooling gradually but remains stubbornly high in most economies, including Africa, UK and U.S. despite the efforts of central banks according to economic experts. 
• In 2023 EIU forecast that disinflation in SSA will be slower than on all continents barring Latin America and Asia and Australasia, and that SSA inflation will average 12.5 percent. 
• Markets are now betting on a longer period of higher interest rates as they begin to take heed of the message from central bank officials.

Inflation is cooling gradually but remains stubbornly high in most economies, including Africa, UK and U.S. despite the efforts of central banks according to economic experts.

Average annual inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2022, hit 14.5 percent year-on-year on aggregate according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and is estimated to have been higher than in any other region of the world except the Middle East and North Africa, …