Browsing: Africa

The construction of the Lagos-Abidjan Highway has the capacity to unlock 85 per cent of trade within the ECOWAS sub-region according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The Highway which is 1,028-km project will span across different countries which includes Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria -and traverse the economic capitals of the five coastal countries, starting from Abidjan and ending in Lagos, while equally straddling eight border crossings.

Lamin Barrow the Director-General of AfDB who represented Akinwumi Adesina the AfDB President appearing on Tuesday as a panelist at a one-day webinar to showcase the investment opportunities from the Federal Government of Nigeria’s reforms and privatization activities, said that while the Federal Government had spearheaded various reforms in the banking sector that enhanced the resilience of the financial system, there was a need to stay the course in completing the bold reforms initiated to restructure the energy sector.

Nigeria’s …

Multinational companies will cut suppliers for failing to curb carbon emissions, with 78 per cent of multinationals (MNCs) planning to remove suppliers that endanger their carbon transition plan by 2025.

This is according to a new study by Standard Chartered which says that this could mean a loss in export revenue of USD3.9 billion for Kenyan suppliers who fail to transition alongside their MNC partners.

As per the finding, 87 per cent of MNCs with a supply chain in Kenya have set emission reduction targets for their suppliers, asking for an average reduction of 35 per cent by 2025.

Read: Bamburi Cement Parent Company Signs Net Zero Pledge

However, the study also reveals a USD1.6tn market opportunity for suppliers who decarbonise in line with MNC net-zero plans.

According to the Carbon Dated report, which looks at the risks and opportunities for suppliers in emerging and fast-growing markets as large corporates …

A recent report showcasing how Covid-19 has affected travel with restrictions has shown that Kenya is the recent most banned nation across East Africa.

Kenyan’s are banned from travelling to at least 54 countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The East African nation is cited to be among countries due to be hit by the fourth wave of the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant virus. The country’s Health Ministry made the announcement recently urging its citizen to act with caution.

This fourth wave is said to be much more transmissible than the earlier two varieties. It was first identified in India but has now been reported present in western Kenya as well. From there, it is feared that infections may affect all of Kenya over the course of the next two months hence there is no surprise that increasingly more countries are barring Kenyans from entering their borders.

The estimate …

Rural businesses in Africa will benefit from an ambitious new financing programme launched by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as part of its broader efforts to address rising hunger and poverty levels in the world’s poorest countries.

In a statement, IFAD says the programme, dubbed ‘The Private Sector Financing Programme (PSFP)’, aims to spearhead an increase in private investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), farmers’ organizations and financial intermediaries servicing small-scale farmers, which are too often neglected by investors.

It will provide loans, risk management instruments (such as guarantees), and equity investments.

Commenting on the development, Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD said there is need to urgently stimulate more private sector investments to rural areas and unlock the immense entrepreneurial potential of millions of rural SMEs and small producers.

“With access to capital, they can attract more investors and partners, grow their businesses and create …

That year, in 2015, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania settled for a three-year plan to phase out the importation of used clothes, a major exporter been the United States. To realise the intended ban, taxes were increased on second-hand clothes were increased effectively deterring their importation. The plan was to completely ban the import of second-hand clothes as of 2019.

This ambitious vision was never realized as the Trump administration issued an ultimatum for EAC to rescind the ban on second-hand clothes by 23 February 2018 or, as the DW writer Isaac Mugabi puts it ‘face the consequences.’…

If death could be bribed, the rich men would never die, this old African saying has come to life as new light is shown on Ugandan doctors over charging Covid-19 patients for treatment. After all, once diagnosed, one is ready to pay any amount to rid themselves of the dreaded virus, so the doctors put two and two together and charge more.

Here is the shocking and even upsetting if not downright despicable testimonial of a patient who was been swindled after he was diagnosed positive of Covid-19. He speaks of what happens as he is admitted in to a private hospital in Uganda mid last month.

“After two days of admission, the hospital told me they needed me to advance some money, $750…I did not have it anyway…when discharging me, that’s when they gave me the full medical bill of $2,482.”

This is just one patient, but he represents …

The Rural Electrification Authority of Zambia and the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to monitor and support the country’s electrification efforts through data collection and analysis.

In particular, the MoU outlines a joint effort to leverage the Edison data platform. The platform was originally developed to monitor and support Zambia’s broader electrification efforts with advanced data collection and analysis on behalf of the Rural Electrification Authority (REA). This underscores both organizations’ commitment to promoting and engendering access to modern, clean energy for rural and underserved Zambians.

The REA has the mandate to provide electricity infrastructure to Zambia’s rural areas using appropriate technologies and they aim to increase the country’s electrification rate to 51% by 2030. Over the next few years the Authority is the focal point of a number of initiatives including capital subsidy support, solar, mini-grid and hydro projects meant to …

As Agricultural activities intensifies to provide sufficient food for a growing population in south Africa climate change and its manifestations, which includes extreme weather events, have been featured as prominent risks on the radar of investors, banks and commercial farmers bearing in mind that South Africa has a market-oriented agricultural economy that is highly diversified and includes the production of all the major grains (except rice), oilseeds, deciduous and subtropical fruits, sugar, citrus, wine and most vegetables.

In Illustration, the World Economic Forum ranks environmental risks among the top five global risks in its ‘2020 Global Risk Report’.

The 2020 Global risk report discusses the prominence of extreme weather, failure to adapt to climate change, environmental damage caused by humans, major biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and major natural disasters.

Financial institution Nedbank believes that, while agriculture is a key contributor to environmental impacts, it finds itself on the receiving end …

With peace and stability returning to Somalia, the country is beginning to enjoy international banking and financial services that can link the country to global financial networks for ease of doing business, and also support the growth of local industries.

On Wednesday July 7, The American digital financial payments service Visa announced its partnership with the International Bank of Somalia (IBS Bank), which will see the introduction of Somalia’s first Visa financial card payment service. This partnership opens up Somalia to the cashless payment services for international and local transactions.

Mahat Mohamed Ahmed,the IBS Bank Chief Executive Officer Speaking at the launch of this mega event he said that the introduction of Visa in Somalia was a great Milestone and that Somalia was on track to the right path of growth and progress.

“We’ll continue to make partnerships, and bring convenient and innovative financial solutions to the people.”

The Visa …