Browsing: COVID-19

Over 46 African nations are feeling the coronavirus pandemic pinch, and much more scenarios are unveiled as days go.

Mandatory curfews are some of the measures being rolled out in East Africa (Kenya, and Uganda), Tanzania’s with hotels running low on customers and even considering a  possible shut-down. The tourism industry is slowing down too.

However, the COVID-19 could also cause serious trouble, within economic lines for Africa, as the world economy hangs in the balance.

According to information from Bloomberg, the fear of the pandemic could trigger investors to exit markets.

Few emerging-market currencies have been spared as the spread of the coronavirus causes investors to dump riskier assets and the dollar to surge. But Africa has been hit harder than most — and the signs are there’s worse to come.

Kenya’s shilling, Angola’s kwanza and Zambia’s kwacha have all fallen to record lows this month. Ghana’s cedi and …

On March 13, 2020, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) warned that the covid-19 coronavirus crisis could seriously dent Africa’s already stagnant growth.

Oil-exporting nations could lose up to US$ 65 billion in revenues as crude oil prices continue to tumble. Having already strongly hit Africa’s major trading partner, China, covid-19 was inevitably impacting Africa’s trade.

ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, said: “Africa may lose half of its GDP with growth falling from 3.2 per cent to about 2 per cent due to a number of reasons which include the disruption of global supply chains.”

She added that the continent’s interconnectedness to affected economies of the European Union, China and the United States was causing ripple effects.

US$3-billion facility

Songwe said that Africa would need up to US$ 10.6 billion in unanticipated increases in health spending to curtail the virus from spreading, while on the other hand revenue losses could …

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that almost 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide as a result of covid-19.

Globally, the coronavirus pandemic could cause an economic and labour crisis where unemployment could range between 5.3 million in a “low” scenario and 24.7 million in a “high” scenario from a base level of 188 million in 2019.

In comparison to the 2008-9 global financial crisis, the effect on job losses could now be higher by about three million jobs from the 22 million registered in 2008/9.

How is Africa suffering from US-China trade wars?

During the 2008/9 crisis, Africa largely weathered the impact of the crisis but suffered lower commodity prices, trade volumes, remittances, and foreign direct investment. The financial contagion hit both developed and developing countries by shaving off about  5–7 per cent of GDP which was worth two to three years of growth in rich countries. In …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is in East Africa, and has now penetrated Tanzania whereby until yesterday 12 (4 foreign national and 8 Tanzanian citizens) cases were reported.

Hence—unequivocally the Tanzanian government stated that almost 20 samples tested were negative, including the first patient.

According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic which has spread in more than 170 countries, taken more than 14,000 lives, and infected over 300,000 people.

Hence, this pandemic brought Tanzania President John Magufuli before the public, and addressed the nation of more than 55 million, to stay strong and be resilience through the outbreak.

The outbreak has also taken a toll on Tanzania’s economic landscape, hurting trade operations particularly between Tanzania and China of which their bilateral trade volumes stand at almost $3 billion.

Air Tanzania Company Limited has also seen a revenue loss of about 2 to 3 per cent, and just last week, the …

For decades, African leaders have remained detached from the realities of life for the majority leading to neglect of key and essential infrastructure like healthcare.

With the covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, the systems that have been neglected for as long are starting to show signs of breaking even with the enormity of the virus still way below what some individual countries have suffered.

Most of these leaders have always sought treatment abroad, even for basic illnesses and conditions that can be taken care of at home. But with the distrust in the local systems, they have chosen to always fly out and then come back once they have stabilised to continue with the same cycle of plunder and ignorance of what needs to be done.

See: Coronavirus shakes economies, world forced to change perspective on Africa

The latest cases have been those of Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria who spent the better …

According to the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, All 27 people who came in contact with the first patients tested negative for Coronavirus.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit Tanzania, and it is taking a rather serious toll in the East African nation of more than 55 million people, forcing lifestyle choice to change and economic operations to shrink.

In the past weeks, Tanzania had no cases, but currently, there are 6 cases registered in Tanzania. Since the virus made its way to Tanzania, the government of Tanzania has instructed closure of schools, higher learning institutions, and rolled in precautionary measures to various sectors including transport and health.

The ministry of health revealed on 18 March 2020, that the task force tracked all contacts related to the patient, of which have now risen to 27, and tested negative for COVID-19

Since the first case broke, Tanzania has seen a stark rise in hand-sanitizer …

Infections in Africa have been steadily rising after initial indications had shown the continent was not affected by Coronavirus compared to other regions. What started with a few cases in Nigeria and Egypt has risen to over 500 cases and a dozen deaths.

Now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says there could be more cases that what is officially documented. The explanation according to Ethiopian born and head of WHO is that the tests being conducted by the local governments are not as robust.

“I think Africa should wake up. My continent should wake up,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

WHO reports that there are over slightly over 591 coronavirus patients in Africa and the numbers are rising each day.  Egypt reported the largest number of positive cases (196), followed by South Africa (116), Algeria (72), Morocco (49), Senegal (31), Burkina Faso (20), Cameroon (10), Rwanda (8), Democratic Republic …

The airline business is becoming messier by the day as the covid-19 coronavirus continues disrupting business in a way never seen before.

From manufacturing to travel, entertainment to medicine, all sectors of the economy have been jolted by the virus whose epicentre is Wuhan, China. The disease, “a pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China,” was first reported to the WHO Country Office in China on 31 December 2019. From then, it has been a rollercoaster.

The real magnitude of the virus is starting to manifest with deaths, infections and isolations becoming the order of the day worldwide. While the disease in itself is not a death sentence, the fear that people may contract it en masse burdening health infrastructure in several countries has led to people isolating themselves, and observation, in what has now become the norm- social distancing.

See: Coronavirus shakes economies, world forced to change perspective

In 2017, 11 of the 43 major infrastructure projects in East Africa were in Kenya and while these numbers may have shifted, the dynamics have not changed much for the region.

For the past 20 years, East Africa has experienced an unprecedented real estate boom which has transformed the skylines changing the building landscape and inventory.

While the demand continues, especially for affordable housing targeting the low-income bracket, the shopping malls and office spaces are outpacing demand leading to declining returns in the sector for some.

The East African region still has a high and unmet demand for warehouses, hotels and student hostels as more and more students continue seeking education far from home.

Read: Intra-regional trade could create 2 million new jobs for East Africa

Over the course of time, construction has primarily focused on high-end assets due to the belief that they delivered higher margins and higher returns …

The World Bank Group gave $12 billion to help countries that are dealing with the health and economic effects of the global outbreak of coronavirus.

As coronavirus reaches more than 60 countries in the world, World bank’s financing is designed to help it’s member countries take constructive action to respond and reduce the tragic effects caused by the virus where possible.

Through this new package, the World Bank Group will help developing countries strengthen health systems, by bettering access to health services to protect people from the virus, strengthening the virus surveillance, improving the public health interventions and to reduce the impact on economies by working with the private sector.

To support country-based responses, World Bank’s financial package will be globally coordinated with financing drawn from across International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Through the coronavirus support package, initial crisis …