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Browsing: China
Covid 19 wreaked havoc to the economy and no sector was worse hit than the tourism and hospitality sector. Air travel restrictions, mandatory quarantine of arrivals and the shutting of businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors along with crumple of demand have led to an unprecedented shock.
So bad was the situation that last year, tourism operators in Tanzania forecast revenue contractions of 80% or more while the World Bank’s 14th Tanzania Economic Update (TEU) showed that Tanzania’s economic growth slowed down to 2.5% from the 6.9% growth reported the previous year. (santacruzcore.com)
But there is light at the end of the tunnel, with eased travel restrictions, Tanzania is witnessing a revamp in both the tourism and hospitality sectors. Global top brands like Onomo Hotels have opened shop in the commercial capitol Dar es Salaam.
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 …
Until 2019 Africa and china had an eccentric lending experience. This includes the lending spree featuring more than $10 billion a year from 2012 to 2017, higher than $1 billion in 2001, sadly China lending to Sub-saharan Africa has fallen short due to serious defaulting fears.
A detailed study executed by John Hopkins University’s China-Africa Research Initiative pointed out that, debt sustainability concerns have triggered lending to the African government to drop by 30 per cent in 2019.
China—the world top industrial economy has been a close lender to Africa—the world’s top raw material producer and fastest-growing economy over the past decade.
On the side of the fence, according to China’s 2021 White Paper on International Development Cooperation published in January, China has steadily increased the scale and further expanded the scope of its foreign aid, giving high priority to the least developed countries in Africa (Global Times).
Several media …
You have a debtor, it is time for them to pay, you pick up your mobile phone dial the number and the most annoying automatic response comes on; ‘Sorry, the number you are calling is not available.’
Upset you hang up and redial, same message, now you are really getting mad, you hang up redial and voilà! You are connected. You exchange a barrage of why are you switching off your phone, they reply no, my phone was on, you finally settle on, it must be bad network! (https://vulcanpost.com/)
Sound familiar?
Well here is some good news, finally the telecomm services watchdog, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has taken note of this poor service ordeal and taken action.
Six telecoms fined for poor service delivery
Six major mobile phone operators have been slapped fines reaching a grand total of USD16.4 million for what authorities …
China has a well-established presence on the African continent. On the positive side, a lot of infrastructure development taking place is a direct result of Chinese funding. In addition, several big Chinese companies have taken root in Africa becoming significant contributors to employment and GDP. Examples include Citic Constructions, Sunshine group, and FAW. Mckinsey and Company research group estimates that in 2012 there were over 10000 Chinese-owned companies operating in Africa, the number has since increased.
However, there has long been suspicion around Chinese funding, especially through debt as most deals are shrouded in mystery and hidden behind closed doors. One example is Zambia’s current debt conundrum, in which reports indicate the country owes China large sums of money but circumstances around the debt are unclear in terms of the duration and the cost.
Additionally, indications are that some of the debt facilities come with collateralized arrangements in which Africa …
Tik-Tok and We Chat Now Banned in the United States.
The US has banned the popular video challenge App Tik Tok along with the mobile payment platform WeChat, citing home security threats.
In a move that was widely unexpected, despite the mounting Sino-US trade tensions. Tik Tok is very popular in the US (and around the world) and wracks in millions in advertisements and fees.
As of tomorrow (Sunday 20th, 2020) We Chat will be shut down in the US but Tik Tok will have some leeway all the way to November. Should the supposed threat be neutralized before then, then the US will lift the ban, China has been informed.
Explaining the ban, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said “The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the US.”
Home security threat …
Across the continent to West Africa where we find one of Africa’s largest economies, Nigeria. Here we find another railway deal gone bad, the $500 million Lagos – Ibadan railway.
In a similar manner to Kenya’s SGR debacle with China, which resulted in Kenya sinking heavily into debt that it simply cannot afford to pay and restructure, Nigeria is now finding a similar fate.
According to the country’s Director General for Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) Patience Oniha, when making a deal with China, ‘…the Chinese determine the cost of projects, give us loans tied to the projects and the projects must be executed by Chinese firms alone.’
It is alleged that not only does China force importation of even the smallest of laborers but also all the equipment and guess where they are imported from? Yes, China.
It is further argued that by so doing, China is using these …
In the past 5 years, Southern Africa had seen a great influx of Chinese capital in any areas of investment. Many Chinese companies invested large amounts of capital in various sectors including infrastructure, but the one that seems to be getting the most attention lately is the Oil and Gas sector.
Governments would sign multi year contracts granting exploration rights and concessions to oil and natural gas reserves to Chinese companies and negotiate royalties and equity in exchange.
The system worked as a co-ownership that was observed in various countries for the great part of the last decade. Since late 2018, or early 2019, China and the United States have engaged in an economic battle that has seen threats and embargoes being set by both sides. The tensions have not eased with the current pandemic as some world leaders chose to blame China’s lack of transparency to the current pandemic …
Five years ahead of schedule Tanzania achieved middle income status. To be exact, the World Bank changed it's classification from ‘a low-income to a lower-middle-income country.’
East Africa’s sleeping giant is finally awakening. Right in the middle of the global Coronavirus pandemic, Tanzania has provided a rare piece of good news — on 1 July 2020, the country achieved its middle-income vision five years ahead of schedule. – The Africa Report
The World Bank’s news was announced to the country by it’s President John Magufuli bringing even more recognition to the achievements of Tanzania’s fifth administration.
In his twitter handle, the president posted the new country status emphasizing the achievement was accomplished five years ahead of time.
“Today, July 1, 2020, the World Bank announced that Tanzania has become a middle-income country. I congratulate my Tanzanian colleagues for this achievement. This is a big feat that we have accomplished and…
Ethiopia’s Jobs Creation Commission has partnered with the MasterCard Foundation to conduct a US$11.8 million job creation initiative dubbed Enabling Ethiopia.
The five-year project is meant to serve as one of the country’s implementing tools for Ethiopia's Plan of Action for Job Creation (PAJC – 2020-2025). The project aims at fostering innovation, policy reform, inclusiveness and advocacy.
The ambitious project looks to create some 14 million jobs by 2025 by creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem, cultivating the necessary human capital, adopting pro-job macro policies, and supporting inclusive innovations; these are just some of the major focus areas of this long-term plan.
The goal is to have a private sector-led economy that is coordinated and supported by the government. The project aims to support the adoption of job-rich macro policies and the implementation of innovative job creation programs.
To achieve this, the initiative acknowledges the need to build capacity of implementing…