Browsing: Developing nations

• Kenya’s high-interest rates hit 13 per cent in the last review by the Central Bank of Kenya.
• Since mid-2023, however, the World Bank’s index of commodity prices has remained essentially unchanged.
• World Bank reiterates that between mid-2022 and mid-2023, global commodity prices plummeted by nearly 40 per cent.

Kenyan consumers will have to bear the high cost of borrowing for much longer as Central Banks will not loosen their monetary policies any time soon, the World Bank has said.

The lender says the continued tightening will be a result of the prevalent global economic shocks, such as the Middle East conflict, which is threatening to halt the inflationary decline that has occurred in the past two years.

“Global commodity prices are leveling off after a steep descent that played a decisive role in whittling down overall inflation last year,” the World Bank says in its latest commodity markets outlook. “However,

The United Nations (UN) has called for major reforms for two institutions considered key players in the new world order. Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, is pushing for major changes in the IMF and the World Bank.

According to Guterres, the International Monetary Fund has profited the rich nations at the expense of the developing ones. The UN secretary-general describes the response by IMF and the World Bank towards the COVID-19 pandemic as a “glaring failure” that left most developing nations significantly indebted.…

Former President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade said this in 2002 during his reign; “I’ve never seen a country develop itself through aid or credit”. These words remain true to date, where we see different countries in Europe, Asia and America which achieved success through capitalist reforms and free markets. The fact that Africa remains the poorest continent despite receiving the most aid is a testament to the inadequacy of aid in achieving economic development.

Africa has utilised aid in financing development projects, importing some critical commodities and for technical assistance. Aid is inevitable, but it is the complete reliance on it that cripples the economy as it leads to complacency on the part of Africans. Not all aid is bad, it is the long-term financial transfers or loans aimed at improving the economic development that hurt the economy. Grants that are aimed at famine and disaster relief are of great …