Browsing: Africa

Forbes recently. released a list of Africa’s top dollar musicians and here is the list in descending order.

1. Youssou N’Dour (Senegal) – Net worth $145

Youssou N’Dour, AKA Youssou Madjiguéne Ndour, is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and, wait for it, a politician too. Yes, Africa’s wealthiest musician is shooting for the executive office and is not the only one on the list with aspirations of becoming their country’s president.

Youssou owns the biggest media house in Senegal with radio and Tv stations. He also boasts vast investments in real estate.

1. Akon – net worth $80 million

World fames Akon is Africa’s second richest musician. Born Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, the US based star is also originally from Senegal. Akon who is also an actor and a businessman, has accumulated wealth from a diverse range of investments.

Akon writes songs and produces …

Tanzania set aside over 110 hectares for the construction of the Mtwara Free Port Zone over a decade ago (2009) but since then, only 10 hectares have been put to use. Now Tanzania’s parliament wants answers as to why the project is lagging behind.

Special Seats Member of Parliament (CCM) Anastasia Wambura raised the concern recently in the August House citing that the project was very promising yet little groundwork has actually been done.

Responding the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe acknowledged the slow pace of investment in the Mtwara Free Port Zone but blamed it on the overall drop in global economies that have affected the oil (and gas) industry gravely.

However, as to the MP’s suggestion that the government reassign the remaining 100 hectares to some other economic activity, Minister Bashe who was addressing the House on behalf of the Minister of Industry and Trade, said the …

According to a data released on Monday by the Central Bank of Egypt, Egypt’s current account deficit climbed to $7.6 billion in the first half (1H) of the current FY2020/2021 from July to December 2020 up from $4.6 in the same half of FY2019/2020.

This Increase in the current account deficit is associated to the decline in service balance surplus and the increase in the non-oil trade balance

ALSO READ: KENYA SEEKS $600M FROM CHINA TO PLUG BUDGET DEFICIT

According to CBE, due to the decline in the investment income balance Service balance surplus contracted by 69.9 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21 posted $1.9 billion, down from $6.3 billion in the 1H of FY2019/20.

The decline in Investment income had a larger effect on the Tourism sector with the CBE showing that tourism revenues dropped by 75.3 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21, reaching $1.8 billion.

In April 13 …

Nigeria’s oil production has fallen by 30 per cent in the last four years to 1.423 million barrels per day, mb/d in 2020 from 2.041 million barrels per day, mb/d in 2017.

This is according to a recent investigative study by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, which includes pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger-Delta.

The figure excludes 2020 condensate production, according to the data obtained by Vanguard Energy from OPEC’s monthly market reports between 2017 and 2020.

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The nation’s output declined by 19.3 per cent to 1.648 mb/d in 2018 from 2.041 mb/d in 2017 Year-on-year, YoY.

The production level, however, rose by 6.6 per cent to 1.765 mb/d in 2019 from 2018 figure before declining again by 19 per cent to 1.423 mb/d in 2020.

THE IMPACT

The gradual drop in output is a …

The diplomatic ties between the two neighboring countries of Kenya and Somalia has been a bone of contention for months now, this is after Somalia severed diplomatic ties with Kenya in dead of night of December 14, 2020 citing interference and violation of her sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In announcement, Somalia Minister of Information Osman Abukar Dubbe said that cutting ties with Kenya at around 1:40 am Mogadishu time on state-run SNTV, hours after President Uhuru held talks with break-away Somaliland President Muse Bihi at State House, Nairobi, he said that Mogadishu will withdraw all its diplomats from Kenya and has ordered Kenyan diplomats to leave the country within 7 days.

But while everything to restore the diplomacy sanity between the two warrying nations proved to be a difficult thing Qatar stepped in overseeing the mediation of the whole process, in an interview Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign …

Within her first two months in the executive office. With Uganda, President Samia Suluhu Hassan and counterpart Yoweri Museveni inked an oil deal with Total and China’s CNOOC to start the construction of a $3.5 billion pipeline to export Ugandan crude oil to international markets.

Right after that, President Samia went on to Kenya where together with her Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta, she signed a pact to start working on a gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa.

In their subsequent speeches, the two leaders said the gas deal is part of a long-term project to share energy resources. Rebuilding wary diplomatic ties, Tanzania’s President Samia made it clear that the two countries will build more interconnecting infrastructure including roads and rail and that the gas pipeline was but a starting point.

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in Natural Gas Transportation means the countries’ ministers …

ECOWAS countries in West Africa have long reasoned that the issue of food security cannot be left to a single country to shoulder. Instead, the regional bloc embraced the fact it takes collective efforts to secure the food security of a single nation and in so doing protect the whole region.

In is address to member countries during the ongoing virtual meeting, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Sékou Sangaré said the regional goal of stockpiling some 40, 000 metric tonnes of food reserve is a visionary course that will protect each member state of the sub region.

The conference begun on April 28^th and will carry on through to May 10^th. The conference falls is part and parcel of the EU-funded Support Project to the West African Food Security Storage System.

The Food Security Storage System came into being back in 2015 and …

However, long-term trends, assessed in decades rather than years, demonstrate that African countries are becoming increasingly appealing as investment locations. All of this is taking place in the world’s last demographic dividend region: Sub-Saharan Africa will soon be the only place on the planet with birth rates at or above replacement level. Telecommunications platforms, agribusiness, and energy are all emerging as new value chains.
However, the shift away from extractive sectors isn’t solely due to improved investment climates in Sub-Saharan Africa – extractives, for example, account for a lesser portion of total investment, but the rate fluctuates in reaction to oil prices. Other countries in the Global South have advanced, resulting in increased labour costs and mature consumer markets, implying reduced long-term profits.…

The government of Tanzania is working on a blue print to increase sell of the country’s agro-produce by setting up bonded warehouses in foreign markets in a bid to boost sells.

The bonded warehouses will for starters be piloted in China and Saudi Arabia and are expected to ease access to markets for agro-produce.

Well first things first. What is a bonded warehouse? These are building or other secured areas in which dutiable goods may be stored or even manufacturing without payment of duty.

Bonded warehouses provide specialized storage services such as deep freezers for perishables as well as bulk liquid storage. They also allow for commodity processing and make up an integral part of the global supply chain by giving the importer opportunity to bring in raw goods, process, package and then sell the final product all under one roof with no duty charged.

Further still, bonded warehouses may …

“The change of tone ushered in by President Samia Suluhu Hassan over the last month could indicate a welcome to a whole new economic direction in Tanzania’,” remarked Peter Leon, Partner and Africa Co-Chair, Herbert Smith Freehills

Investors have been wary of dipping their feet in Tanzania’s investment pool, more so investors in the extractive industries. In March 2017, a total ban on the export of unprocessed mineral concentrates and ores was instated.

Just four months later, in July 2017, after six days of deliberation, three new laws assented. The new laws gave significant power to the government, empowering it to control the extractives sector autonomously.

The three laws that were altered are:

• The Natural Wealth and Resources Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable Terms) Act, 2017 (Unconscionable Terms Act);
• The Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act, 2017 (Permanent Sovereignty Act); and
• The Written Laws(Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017 which