Browsing: COVID-19

In addition, many African countries are increasing their internet speeds creating an opportunity for the world to outsource to Africa. The continent’s population is largely youth with estimates showing that almost 60 per cent of Africans fall into this category going by 2019 estimates. This effectively makes Africa the world’s youngest continent where the average age is 25. 

The biggest challenge for the continent is youth unemployment which is a ticking time bomb. Unemployment has been a big talking point but not much has been done to move the pin towards substantive employment for the youth who remain in the grim under-employment statistics. …

The US has administered close to 300 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in comparison to the less than 50 million doses administered in the entire African continent. 

Data from the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) shows that the US which is used as a benchmark by many African nations is doing far better but there are many factors favouring this including but not limited to manufacturing and transport logistics. …

AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene notes that a uniform payments platform will eliminate the costly process on converting currencies which contributes to the inefficient trade patterns on the continent.

In addition to this good news, the Covid-19 pandemic was a silver lining for Africa’s integration since the continent has to create its own solutions to its problems. As such, Africa needs not only to harmonise its financial systems but also step up productive and infrastructural integration.…

The MPA outlines proposals to support robust economic and manufacturing sector recovery, consistent with the government’s post-Covid-19 recovery strategy. The Priority Agenda highlights the importance of a competitive local manufacturing sector.
With the globalization of world economies, it is impossible to insulate production or demand from global competition and changes. As such, manufacturers in Kenya must battle it out with formidable competitors such as China, India, Egypt, and South Africa. Improving regulatory efficiency, promoting access to quality, affordable and reliable energy, reducing transport and logistics costs, and enhancing cash flow for manufacturers will drive our competitiveness.…

Tourism and Hospitality management group, Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) is upbeat of positive performance going forward offsetting the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in FY2020.

The Rainbow Tourism group which is located in Zimbabwe, has an extensive portfolio of owner-managed or leased hotels and conference facilities in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as a tour operator company.

As countries implement Covid-19 vaccinations to its residents as part of efforts to limit the spread and severity of the pandemic, the group is hopeful of the economic recovery with anticipation healing on the travel and tourism sector across the globe.

“The tourism industry was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the current situation is likely to persist into early 2021, we remain confident that the tourism industry will in time rebound and set the hotel business on a path towards recovery.

“A glimmer of hope has come from the ongoing …

The African Development Bank is working on a financial facility to support Seychelles in its COVID-19 recovery programme according to a top official of the bank.

During a courtesy call on President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House today April 7, The executive director of AfDB, Cheptoo Amos Kipronoh, said that Seychelles the bank will support the government to heal the economy of its country.

“The facility will try and help Seychelles fully in the recuperation of its economy. I am seeing that the recovery process is going very well and the country has been able to vaccinate 60 percent of its population,” said Amos Kipronoh.

“We are also seeing that the hotel businesses are also recovering and the bed occupancy is now very high. So we are working closely with the government to ensure a strong recovery process so that the economy becomes more resilient,” he added.

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The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is currently causing a significant adverse impact on the global economy occasioned by countries imposing measures to mitigate increasing cases and also sanctioning countries with more cases.

Governments around the world are implementing various fiscal measures to mitigate the adverse effect and provide relief for businesses and households. Across the Eastern African region, the impacts of COVID-19 are being felt in different ways and the measures taken by the respective governments have also differed on the areas of focus and comprehensiveness.

The third wave of coronavirus in Kenya saw President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a couple of measures restricting movement by locking the Capital city Nairobi and Neighboring counties as a one zoned area.

Also Read: Tanzanian Ambassadors Urged to Explore Markets for Tanzanian Products

Kenya’s decision to halt the movement of interstate buses across its border following a surge in Covid-19 cases has left many business …

Among the measures that SASRA implemented to cushion SACCOs against the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were the suspension of AGMs last year; online approval of SACCO’s audited accounts and allowing SACCOs to restructure member loans. …

Ghana has moved into the next phase of Covid-19 vaccination.

The exercise that targets all health care workers in other districts and regions in Ghana kicked off on Monday, March 22.

According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the AstraZeneca vaccine that is being administered is safe.

Approximately 90,000 health workers are being targeted in this next phase of the vaccination programme in Ghana.

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye said this includes both public and private sector health workers and that their names and locations have been vetted and each district will have two sites for vaccination.

According to him, all health workers would have been covered across the country within a week, or two weeks.

Additional vaccines

Speaking on Sunday afternoon during a press briefing, Dr Kuma Aboagye said Ghana was still pursuing additional vaccines as well as sustaining the public education on adherence to …

 Economic prospects are predicting that 2021 will be a happier year for Pension Schemes. The devasting impact of Covid-19 had far reaching implications on the pension sector, especially in 2020 caused by several factors.

Also Read: Covid Economics: Kenya’s navigation of debt relief

• We had massive payouts, especially in the hospitality sector as companies closed down and retrenched. Pension scheme members made early access to pension benefits to cushion their financial well-being.
• A number of employers could not afford contributions funding to pension scheme and So they adapted to this challenge by obtaining a reprieve from the Retirement Benefits Authority to have temporal suspension of contributions deduction and remittance.
• The stock market also had a significant dip in valuations occasioned decline in earnings from a number of counters especially banking sector.
• In 2020 the GDP growth dropped to 1% growth compared to the projected growth of about 5%.

Despite the …