The economy is now projected to grow by 4.6% during 2022, a downward revision from…

Tanzania’s Energy Minister Hon. January Makamba invites participants to TEC Patrons to review opportunities in…

This shortage of hard currency implies that those businesses that rely on foreign exchange have often had to source it from the parallel market, where it is easily available relative to the formal market.

To mitigate the inflationary pressures caused by businesses looking for foreign exchange on the parallel market and passing on the effect of higher exchange rates to consumers in the form of higher prices, the central bank instituted the foreign currency auction system, which allocates foreign exchange to importers.

This foreign exchange shortage affects all businesses across the economic spectrum and is not limited to retailers only. Manufacturing companies import raw materials and spares. They have recently experienced viability challenges from charging prices in local currency.

The 2022 Africa Wealth report by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth ranked Kenya as the fourth country in Africa with the highest number of dollar millionaires.

Kenya has over 340 individuals with a net worth of US$10 million (Sh 1.19 billion). The political elite form the bulk of these moneyed individuals.

With rich pockets, most millionaires have acquired helicopters to help them move around the country for leisure, business, and politicians – to popularise themselves.

In September last year, the government started making quarterly token payments of $100,000 to each of the 16 Paris Club creditors as it sought ways to extinguish the mounting debt.

As of the end of May, Zimbabwe had made $8 million in token payments to multilateral banks and $4.8 million to the Paris Club creditors.

The article added that Zimbabwe is already defaulting on active loans from China, which is affecting the disbursement of funds for ongoing projects, the debt management office said in the report.

African countries have started recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic after most economies shrunk due to the crisis.

The continent is home to over a billion people who live in low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries.

The economy in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region is projected to expand by 3.6 per cent in 2022, down from 4 per cent in 2021, according to World Bank.