Browsing: China

China’s influence in Africa has reached historical proportions and the US, coming rather late into the game, is now attempting to ‘change Chinese narrative’ on the continent.

The US is looking to move Africa from training or rather petting the dragon to slaying it, metaphorically speaking.

The new US-Africa policy that was launched in 2018, is designed for this purpose. As a top US diplomat put it, the policy “…will continue to counter China’s influence in Africa in order to slay the dragon.”

The US would have Africa and the World at large know, the continent is now getting “the attention it deserves from senior US officials.”

With the new policy, that is meant to guide bilateral relations with Africa, the US is trying to improve its public diplomacy outreach.

As China continues to assert itself on the continent with ever more development pacts, the US is now trying to …

Anastacia Mukami sells fruits and vegetables at the Kiambu town market, a few kilometers north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Within a month, the price of cloves of garlic has almost doubled, currently selling at 35 shillings up from 15 shillings. This, she says has led to a reduction in the number of cloves she sells in a day as the supply from China becomes more scarce.

Just like the rest of the world, Kenya is reliant on garlic shipped from China, and with the Asian giant facing near lockdown, the supply to traders like Mukami is dwindling and the economic effects of goods from China is starting to be felt across the African continent. The Directorate of Horticulture says that Kenya imports over 50 percent of garlic from China, and some more from Tanzania.

It is not just garlic sellers that are facing a bleak and uncertain future. The eastern …

The world is on its heels as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken superpowers and developing nations hostage, limiting aerial movements, limiting large congregations, and drawing billions into containment plans. With all that in the fold, what has Tanzania installed to contain the virus outbreak ripples?

It is crucial to say China and Tanzania relations are historic, dating back to the 1960s. Prior to the virus outbreak, China and Tanzania had vibrant trading interactions, with bilateral trade volume reaching $3.976 billion according to the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania.

Both China and Tanzania (Ministry of Industries and Trade) have confessed to a serious downturn in trade following the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, Tanzania’s Ministry of Health Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, assured the nation that, Tanzania has no case of coronavirus and it is taking serious measures to keep the situation that way.

However, taking the health landscape into account, still—Tanzania lags …

More than 2,000 delegates are expected to attend the G77+China summit that is to be held in Kampala Uganda between April 17-19.

In the United Nations, the G77 is the largest intergovernmental organization for developing countries. It is used as a platform to articulate and promote the countries collective economic interests and increase their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues.

The coalition was initially started by 77 countries but now it has 135 member countries from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.

In October, last year Uganda was confirmed as the host of the summit making it the first African host for the event.

G77 summit brings together heads of state of the Group of 77 coalition and more than 300 other high-level dignitaries from the United Nations and the member states.

Speaking at the Uganda Media Center the senior advisor for communication and outreach at …

Returning from a global legal onslaught, Chinese owned Opera has moved on to solidify its hold of Africa with the installation of new servers in Mombasa which it says makes browsing four times faster.

The browser with more than 350 million monthly active users has faced legal tackles mainly from US and Europe on how it handles app-based loans. Google play also announced that it will take measures against the company based on how it runs Okash, an online money lending app.

Opera has announced the successful installation of its new local servers in Mombasa, Kenya, through iColo.io MBA1 data center facility which has helped increase the browsing speed significantly. The company said its new server was saving a total of 4400 hours of time waiting for webpages to load.

These servers significantly increase browsing speed up to four times faster than before, meaning that millions of Kenyans who …

Uganda’s Cabinet agreed to borrow about €108 million from China for the construction of oil roads.

Uganda’s government will borrow the money from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to finance the construction of Hohwa-Nyairongo-Kyarusesa-Butoole and Masindi-Biiso, Kabaale-Kiziranfumbi roads.

“Upgrading and constructing the national oil roads will facilitate the efficient development of the strategic national oil resources,” said Denis Katungi, Uganda Media Centre communications and media relations manager.
Mr Katungi did not give more information on the interest rate the government will pay on the loan or the loan period.

Also Read: Uganda’s economy growing but not braced for shocks, says World Bank

He also added that the upgrade will add to the network of road infrastructure required for the movement of construction materials, consumables and workers from other parts of the country to the oil region.

Early last year, Uganda’s government signed a contract with China Railway Seventh …

South African rand has taken a steady stance on Monday, after China intervened to soothe the virus tension and combat the outbreak economic backlash, via its rate cut approach, according to information from Reuters.

Reuters reported that, China’s central bank cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending on Monday as policymakers sought to cushion the drag on business from the outbreak that has immensely disrupted activity.

As of 0245 EAT, the rand was standing at 0.55 per cent firmer at 14.8966, adding to gains from Friday’s session spurred by largely positive reception of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation speech promising faster economic reformer.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported the rand slipped to 14.6570 per dollar on Monday 28 January, its weakest since Dec. 12, with the selloff largely driven by investors dumping emerging-market assets.

Further, the rand and other emerging market currencies had weakened amid investor fears …

The China Coronavirus outbreak has shaken the world with fears of its spread looming.

Global markets have witnessed investors pulling their resources while calculating the economic impacts of the outbreak.

As China dines with Africa on the economic lines of trade, investment, and industrialization, there are rising concerns of whether the continent can contain the virus, which has already taken over 170 lives, with 7,000 confirmed cases and spread in about 15 countries.

Economic ramifications

There are growing concerns about the impact of the outbreak on Africa’s economies, earlier this week, a broad sell-off was witnessed in the global markets, affecting South Africa’s rand performance.

Theafricareport indicated that Johannesburg Stock Exchange plunged by as much as 2.6 per cent on Monday 28, the steepest decline in more than eight months.

South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, and Tanzania are some of the vibrant partners of China, whose economies rely on …

The Tanzanian government has taken serious precautions towards curbing the China coronavirus outbreak that has taken over 170 lives and more than 7000 new cases confirmed.

According to the Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Palamagamba Kabudi, who was quoted by The Citizen, Tanzanians in China, particularly those with plans to travel abroad, have been urged to take attentive precautions related to guidelines issued by the Chinese government.

On the other hand, Tanzania’s national carrier, Air Tanzania told Reuters that it will resort to postpone its maiden flights from commercial capital Dar es Salaam to China.

The state-run carrier has been promoting and planning its charter flights to its historic development partner next month ahead of the expected launch of scheduled direct flights to the key Asia tourist hotspot.

Air Tanzania managing director Ladislaus Matindi told Reuters that, the company is taking precautions for the safety of its passengers, despite acquiring a …

Central Bank of Kenya’s Monetary Policy Committee has lowered the Central Bank Rate for loans to 8.50 per cent from 9.00 per cent, despite the removal of interest rate capping in the country.

READ ALSO:Why Kenya’s Central Bank has retained base lending rate at 9%

The MPC met on November 25, 2019, to review the outcome of its previous policy decisions and recent economic developments.

The meeting came at the backdrop of a domestic macroeconomic stability, the recent repeal of interest rate caps, and heightened global uncertainties and volatility in international markets.

READ:No more lending controls in Kenya as rate cap ‘dies’

READ ALSO:World Bank, IMF biggest winners in Kenya’s interest rates cap repeal

The MPS which is chaired by CBK governor Patrick Njoroge however noted that month-on-month overall inflation remained well anchored within the target range in September and October 2019, largely due to relatively stable …