Browsing: COVID-19

A photo taken by Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo on Sunday, March 15, 2020 at the JKIA. The coronavirus spread has shaken forcing Africa to close its borders. www.theexchange.africa

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Economies around the world are taking a beating from Corvid-19 as aspects of their production and consumption take a nosedive.

With countries now dependent on each other for trade, sources of raw materials and labour, the coronavirus is bringing an end the approach to doing business globally as we know it. With much more connections through travel, the virus has found a way of stymying growth in several countries- including China, the epicentre of the outbreak- and many others which are still finding ways and means of addressing the challenge.

The worst-hit at this stage are those that depend on goods and services from China.

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

And while Africa is still largely safe from the ravages of the virus, many countries are already feeling the heat since they cannot procure goods from China following the lockdown and …

A themometer pointed at a person BBC

It is now a fact that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a pandemic according to World Health Organization (WHO), and just from that stand-point, the tourism sector is not safe from the pandemic pinch.

The world is on its heels, nations are now rolling a series of aviation restrictions to curb the virus outbreak, limiting numerous economic and societal operations over space and time—which also have ripple effects on the continent’s tourism sphere.

Currently, more than 4,900 people have died and over 132,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO.

In Africa—the virus has recently brought two death (in Egypt and Algeria) and serious cases in several nations, including Ethiopia, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, Togo, and Kenya.

According to WHO, there are now more than 100 cases recorded in 11 countries in Africa, Egypt having more than half of the …

Coronavirus inspired global recession or is it depression for Africa?

Economists define a recession as a subdued growth that lasts at least six months and goes for another 18 months while depression can last up to a decade. The global economy was already heading to a recession even before the outbreak and spread of COVID-19.

What has followed is global market players and governments pumping millions of dollars to contain the spread of the virus that has Wuhan city and its epicenter. The US and Europe have already announced setting up of special kitty to treat, contain and mitigate the effects of the virus both as a disease as well as the economic heat that comes with the disease.

China, the second-largest economy in the world and Italy- Europe’s third-largest economy and 8th globally- have been severely affected by cities like Rome remaining ghost-towns as economic and commercial activities come to a halt. There is a growing fear that the …

Africa's China-led common-man economy in turmoil as it awaits Coronavirus landfall

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 …

China is dominating the global creative goods and services trade beating the US and Japan and European countries like France and the UK. www.exchange.co.tz

China has become the central manufacturing hub of many global business operations and any disruption in its output is expected to have repercussions elsewhere through regional and global value chains.

With the Asian country being an important cog in the wheels of production worldwide, the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan has affected many companies with China’s Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), a critical production index, falling by about 22 points in February.

According to UNCTAD, this index is highly correlated with exports and such a decline implies a reduction in exports of about 2 per cent on an annualized basis.

Considerable impact on the economy and society

In other words, the drop observed in February spread over the year is equivalent to -2 per cent of the supply of intermediate goods, adds the UN’s trade body.

On February 23, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping, in a televised address said, “It …