Browsing: Africa

Africa’s economic growth remained stable in 2019 at 3.4% and is on course to pick up to 3.9% in 2020, and 4.1% in 2021 as revealed in the African Development Bank’s 2020 African Economic Outlook.

The bank said that the slower than expected growth is partly due to the moderate expansion Africa’s Big five such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – whose joint growth rate compared with the average of 4.0% for the rest of the continent was at an average rate of 3.1%.

In 2019, investment expenditure for the first time in a decade accounted for over 50% of GDP growth compared to consumption.

The bank noted that the shift can aid in sustaining and potentially speeding the future growth in Africa, increase current and future productive base in Africa while improving the productivity of the workforce.

Also Read: Africa can no longer be ignored- AfDB

Dr. Esther Njoroge-Muriithi is the Vice President and Regional Director for Smile Train Africa.

When we speak of inclusivity in healthcare, cleft lip and palate surgery is often considered a footnote in the priorities given to healthcare financing. Many children with clefts around the world live in isolation, making it difficult to make friends and go to school, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing, and speaking. As we seek to achieve Universal Health Coverage, the long-term benefit of treating a single cleft at an early stage can bring in as much as $50,000 to the economy. This economic benefit therefore deserves to be considered a priority as governments address pediatric surgical care.

The Fourth meeting of the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery (GICS IV) which took place in Johannesburg from 17^th-18^th January 2019, brought together providers and implementers of surgical services for children, along with health, …

Norfund has closed an investment agreement with the mini-grid company We Light. The aim is to build mini-grids in hundreds of villages in Madagascar, and thereby improve the rural population’s access to cheaper and more reliable electricity – at work and at home. We Light will also explore opportunities elsewhere in Africa.

To date, approximately 500 000 households have solar home systems in Madagascar. We Light’s hybrid plants, with solar, battery and diesel generators are very flexible and scalable. They can optimize electricity generation as best suited to the load pattern of the customers, and thereby be a reliable and cost-effective source of electricity for the village.

For the rural population, this means amongst others that kerosene lamps can be replaced with safe lamps with improved light. Mobile phones and computers can be charged whenever needed, and the public information will become easily available through internet, TV and radio.

The …

Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations will strongly defend multilateral trading systems in order to protect themselves from unfair trade practices, its leadership has said.

This has emerged from the 9th African Caribbean and Pacific Summit of Heads of State and Government in Nairobi.

READ:Africa, Caribbean and Pacific leaders expected in Nairobi for ACP Summit

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has taken over the chairmanship of the group of 79 countries said.

He will spearhead reforms and reinvigoration of the ACP for the next three years.

He said that under his stewardship, Kenya will seek to promote and protect the interests of the group at the regional, continental and international levels.

“I will also champion the group’s solidarity and unity; advocate for an enhanced intra-ACP and South-South and Triangular Cooperation; Champion a Reform Agenda for the ACP Group; push for the integration of our States into …

Kenya has become one of the latest countries to strengthen the fight on tax evasion and profit shifting with signing of a tax treaty, in the wake of rising malpractices by global multi-nationals.

The national efforts to strengthen the country’s bilateral tax treaties, have received a boost with the signing of a multilateral convention to end tax avoidance in France.

This week, the country signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Convention at the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) in Paris.

The Convention is the first multilateral treaty of its kind, allowing international collaboration initiatives to end tax avoidance among multinational firms under the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

READ ALSO:Kenya’s tax evaders put on notice by President Kenyatta

The OECD/G20 BEPS Project delivers solutions for governments …

Trade and investment between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates is set for a major boost after chambers of commerce from the two countries reached a new agreement.

The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry have signed an MoU to open a satellite trade office in the United Arab Emirates.

READ ALSO:Kenya seeks mineral market in the United Arabs Emirates

The agreement will enable and provide strategic bilateral cooperation between the business communities in Kenya and UAE with an objective to foster cooperation in trade, investment, joint activities, information and services and trade policy support programmes.

The agreement was announced at the UAE-Kenya Trade and Investment Forum where Kenya hosted a delegation of over 20 top companies from the United Arab Emirates.

READ ALSO:UAE tightens its grip over Zanzibar

The Forum organized by Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry and …

A high-level meeting of policymakers, regulators and industry experts in the field of pharmaceuticals and trade has discussed a bold path towards affordable pharmaceuticals through leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area.  The Continent is home to 11% of the world’s population yet it carries 25% of the world’s burden of disease.

If implemented, pooling procurement of essential drugs and products and expanding local pharmaceutical production on the continent is seen as a critical pathway to the prosperity of African citizens, thereby achieving universal healthcare in Africa.

Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa Vera Songwe told the meeting that 50 % of all children who die before the age of 5 in the world are in Africa. “We cannot build a prosperous Africa if we have such a high mortality rate. The pharma initiative seeks to reduce costs and increase healthcare access.”

“The tragedy is that these diseases …

Africa needs cumulative investments of $2.6 trillion between 2019 and 2040 to meet the rising energy demand and provide more accessible facilities to citizens as the continent’s population expands report shows.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released its Africa Energy Outlook 2019 report, in which it said that Africa is experiencing the fastest progression of urbanisation in the world. While accounting for half of the global increase, the report said that Africa’s overall population is projected to expand by 600 million before 2040.

According to the report, the shifts will drive the continent’s economic growth, infrastructure development and energy demand, which is predicted to rise by 60 per cent.

“While this energy gap remains a significant barrier to Africa’s sustained economic development, it inversely presents several opportunities for many African nations such as current advancements in the liquefied gas (LNG) market, potential for realising onshore value, while simultaneously driving …

More than 66 per cent of total employment is Sub-Saharan Africa is from the informal sector, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has revealed, the biggest provider of employment in Africa.

Informal economies are typically characterised by low productivity and non-exportable goods and services.

READ ALSO:Sectors that will grow West Africa’s 15 economies

On the other hand, the sector also provides crucial livelihoods to the most vulnerable of the urban poor.

It is projected that the informal sector is likely to absorb many of the continent’s young employment seekers who are mainly today’s millennial digital natives – educated, learned and very adaptive to global trends.

READ ALSO:Industry Review: Jua Kali sector in East Africa

The Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) recently has held its 18^th Africa Resource Bank Forum in Nairobi in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom(FNF), under the theme: “The Future of Africa’s Informal …

African governments are harnessing digital technologies to support ongoing reforms and better serve the interests of citizens, according to industry experts at the Global Business Forum Africa 2019 in Dubai.

Innocent Muhizi, CEO, Rwanda Information Society Authority who spoke during a session entitled Rethinking Government – Working with the New Guard, explained how the government agency partnered with companies to develop an e-procurement platform that handles proposals and contracts and said the government in Rwanda operates like a private sector entity by setting KPIs and working towards ambitious targets.

Hon. David J. Francis, Chief Minister, Republic of Sierra Leone, noted that his country was in the process of creating a “new direction government” built around digital innovation, science and technology. He explained that his department has piloted iPads to reduce stationery, introduced an automated public expenditure policy and expanding internet and mobile coverage, providing real-time data to citizens – …