Browsing: Cameroon

African business at a glance

Kenya

Tax, costs ‘bigger threat to businesses than COVID-19’

According to a survey by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the majority of Kenyan company chief executives said that the high cost of doing business and taxation posed the biggest threat to their business operations over the next 12 months belittling the financial fallout caused by the pandemic.

The CEOs survey pointed out that progression has been hindered by a challenging business environment despite business leaders projecting a substantial economic rebound in the second quarter of the current fiscal year counting on the improving sales and orders.

CBK said that the effects of the pandemic were lesser compared to taxation issues like the introduction of new taxes and withholding tax/VAT refunds and excise duty on fast-moving consumer goods.

“Businesses were also concerned about the effects of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the success or otherwise of the …

Cocoa beans. The world’s biggest cocoa producers have led a successful cocoa revolution in West Africa by dictating the prices for the commodity. www.theexchange.africa

Up to 50 million people around the world, including around five million smallholder farmers, depend on cocoa which is essential to their livelihoods. 

Africa is the world’s major cocoa producer with West African nations—Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo—producing an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa on 1.5 million farms. The majority of the crop comes from small farms of between three to five hectares. 

Producing cocoa is backbreaking for the cocoa farmers yet they do not earn enough from the product that is a global on-demand ingredient. Most farmers are unable to cover their basic needs despite the fact that the worldwide chocolate market is valued at US$103 billion.…

African Development Bank approves €88m to Cameroon

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank board of directors approved €88 million in loans to Cameroon to finance COVID-19 crisis response. 

The loan to Cameroon’s COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Programme (PABRC) is under the bank’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF) of up to $10 billion which is meant to cushion the impact of the pandemic on health and economy of African Countries. 

For instance, the pandemic has shown the structural weakness of Cameroon’s health system and economy and mostly the limited human and financial resources allocated to the health sector. 

Also Read: AfDB president woos UK investors to take advantage of AfCFTA

The COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Programme (PABRC) aims at checking the spread of the virus, save lives and control the impact on the socio-economy of the country. 

The programme will ensure the reduction of case fatality and improving the

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Three projects financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for US$121.4 million in 2010-2011 are starting to provide Cameroon with more reliable electricity supply, the bank said.

Although Cameroon has suffered power supply for years, it has the second-largest hydroelectric potential in Africa and the 18th worldwide with an estimated 23,000 MW hydroelectric production capacity.

In a statement given on Thursday, AfDB said the Lom Pangar storage reservoir project was complete, although the dam’s generating plant was still under construction. Two other power plants, Kribi and Dibamba, had begun working to strengthen the country’s generating capacity.

In November 2011, The African development bank awarded $62.9 million for the construction of Lom Pangar in the country’s eastern region and a 30 MW hydroelectric generating plant still under construction at the base of the dam. Lom Pangar will provide electricity to 150 locations and significantly reduce power cuts.

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