Browsing: African Development Bank (AfDB)

On the bright side, even with the credit growth slowdown, it remained positive, growth still maintained and upward trajectory. This is also for both domestic credit extended to the private sector as well as the central government too.

Growth is expected to improve as the global economy normalizes over time but meanwhile, the government, through the central bank is instituting measures to increase liquidity and reduce lending rates, which in turn is expected to allow the private sector to have increased access to credit.

As part of these fiscal measures, the BoT has already issued TShs1 trillion to commercial lenders to help beef up their lending capacity and to do so at lower interest rates. This in turn is meant to encourage the private sector to borrow and increase production.…

The Lesotho Revenue Authority is set to receive a loan of $4.25 million from the African Development Bank Group to provide digital tax services, including e-taxation and e-payment that will broaden the country’s tax base and boost government revenue.

In a statement, AfDB says the funds will be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Group’s concessional lending window and will go to support the Supplemental Financing of the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project.

The project follows the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project (LTMP) approved in November 2017, and for which the African Development Bank Group provided $7.09 million, in financing.

The financing will especially be used to procure and install e-taxation, e-payment, and e-invoicing software and hardware and to integrate financial institutions and mobile money providers into e-payment systems.

Kenya, Lesotho sign three deals to ramp up bilateral ties

According to the Bank’s Director of Governance and Financial Management Coordination, Abdoulaye …

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a €39 million (46.3M USD) loan package for the construction of the Kinguélé Aval hydroelectric project in Gabon.

The package comprises €20 million (23.7 million USD) from the African Development Bank, €10 million (11.87 million USD)from the Africa Growing Together Fund and €9 million (10.7 M USD) in concessional financing from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, a special multi-donor fund managed by the African Development Bank.

Additional financing to meet the project’s €133.8 million (158.9M USD) budget will come from the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, the Canada-IFC Program for Renewable Energy in Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Development Fund. The loan funds will be disbursed to Asonha Énergie S.A., a company created to manage the project.

Also Read: Tanzania’ Largest Gold Producer To Increase Investment…

The decline in economic output brought about by certain policies and measures to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of debt defaults among African countries.

This was revealed on Friday July 2, 2021 during the launch of the African Development Bank’s comprehensive five-year Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (SEGA).

According to the document, public debts had exceeded 50% of GDP. According to AfDB,  Africa has increased its debt at a faster rate than any other region over the last decade.

The bank said that there had been a corresponding increase in the risk of debt defaults following the increase in public debt stock.

It also revealed that at least 24 African countries had applied for the Paris Club–led Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

“The risk of defaults on debt, much of which is now non-concessional, has increased. At least 24 African countries have applied for the Paris Club–led …

The Republic of Burundi has a new president, it has taken steps to rebuild regional and international relations and its economy is starting to pull up, as such, leaders of the East African Community (EAC) are vouching in favor of the country and imploring the European Union, it is time to lift sanctions.d

The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against the Republic of Burundi back in 2015 when the late President Pierre Nkurunziza extended his tenure in office seeking a third term. At that time, army officials in the country are reported to have attempted a coupe that did not succeed.

Speaking to the press mid this week, the Secretary-General of the East African Community (EAC), Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki appealed to the European Union (EU) member states to lift sanctions against Burundi saying, ‘the country has opened a new page and was ready to move forward.’

“I appeal to …

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 …

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 …

It is early January, the World is still celebrating the new year , so is Somalia, the Horn of Africa. Two F-35B, single pilot airstrike jets strike at al-Shabaab operatives killing three members of the terrorist group, reported the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.

An African Defense Post Abroad

The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), is a joint military command body of the US for African military response against mainly terror threats.

However, AFRICOM is nowhere near Africa, on the contrary, it is across the seven seas in Europe, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. Now Africa wants the command post brought closer to the continent, after all it was formed to address terror threats on the continent was it not?

During its formation in 2007, the White House announced that AFRICOM “will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in …

In 2021, it is estimated that 39 million Africans could fall into extreme poverty while in 2020 about 30 million Africans were pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic, African Development Bank said in its report.

In its African Economic Outlook 2021 report, African Development Bank said that the most affected people are those with lower levels of education, working in informal jobs and those with fewer assets.

According to the report, in order to lift the newly extreme poor to the $1.90 per day poverty line, the monetary cost is estimated at $4.5 billion in 2021 which is about $90.7 million on average per country.

The report noted that women and households headed by females could represent a large proportion of the newly poor. It also said that inequality will increase to the vulnerable groups such as women, youths and low skilled informal workers as they …

Sounding a note of optimism at the European Union-Africa Green Investment Forum on Friday, African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina reminded global audiences of the continent’s vast opportunities for green growth.

“Africa is a huge market offering incredible opportunities. The recovery pathway offers enormous opportunities. Recovery must be green and build climate resilience. Recovery must boost green investments,” Adesina said in a keynote address.

The hybrid forum was convened by Portugal and the European Investment Bank to mobilize private and public capital towards the green transition in Africa. The high-level event brought together leading government and business figures, international and development financial institutions, civil society and academia.

Adesina identified energy, agriculture and infrastructure as key areas of investment potential for a post-Covid-19 recovery in Africa. With abundant solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy resources, Africa’s energy transition alone presents a $100 billion per year investment opportunity, …