Browsing: EAC

The economic impact of fake and substandard oil on the global economy is valued in the billions of dollars. The business is tempting, it has cheap overhead and high profits and so the black market for fake goods is growing .

The counterfeits black market affects all types of good, from food products to toys, to cosmetics to jet fuels, you name it, it has a counterfeit.

In Kenya, millions of litres of crude oil has been barred from entering the country via an oil tanker on April Fools. News of the cargo ship, No. K07/2020 has just been released to local media saying was the oil tanker, MT Ocean Tiara belongs to a subsidiary company of a Nigerian oil giant and was seized after it berthed at Mombasa port waiting to moor and dump the fuel.

The tanker and its cargo have several discrepancies and the long arm of …

A new study has placed Nairobi at the peak of the African continent as having most English proficient speakers.

According to the English Proficiency Index 2019 (EPI), residents of Nairobi were found to have the highest knowledge of spoken and written English at 61.94 per cent for any African city.

Out of the 100 countries that were ranked as well as regions, only Nairobi and Lagos (which scored 58.47 per cent) are in high aptitude level. 13 African countries took part in the survey.

Although Nairobi ranked the best as a city, Kenya itself came in second after South Africa globally at position 18 and six respectively.

In addition to ranking countries, the EPI also looked at the correlation between English proficiency and its impact on the economic competitiveness of a country including increased labour productivity as well as higher income. While there is no direct evidence that English proficiency …

After three decades of austerity measures on Somalia, the otherwise economically embattled East African nation is now, 30 years later, in good standing with the World Bank.

Well, before we start tipping our hats, let’s put ‘good standing’ in perspective, Somalia is now in good enough standing to receive grants but it is yet to get to economic stability that would warrant it WB loans.

To put it in the words of the World Bank, the international lender is now ready to ‘normalize relations’ with Somalia. The bank credited turning the new leaf with Somalia on its reasonably strong record of fiscal and political reforms over the last few years.

As World Bank’s Country Manager for Somalia, Mr. Hugh Riddell was quoted mid this month, good relations means that “…going forward, Somalia will be able to access grants to finance poverty reduction.”

In his media brief, the WB country executive …

The European Union is one of Uganda’s major trading partners with annual trade balance books exceeding USD 1 billion every year.

However, more and more free trade pacts are been signed across Africa, opening ever more doors to new markets right within the country and this may upset the traditional foreign trade reliance.

For, now, international trade remains business as usual, why only last month, the EU announced that it is extending Uganda some USD97.5 million as grant financing to fund development projects in this financial year.

This latest grant pact further strengthens bilateral relations between the two even as EU investments in Uganda surpass the USD 2 billion mark per year.

To put icing on the cake, the Pearl of Africa is also expected to get foreign direct investments worth USD 733.3 million that EU firms, according to local media intend to invest over the course of the next …

Half a decade after 22 African countries signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, only 8 countries have ratified the treaty.

Inked back in June of 2015 in the northern African state of Egypt, the agreement is meant to unify previously existing regional trade bodies the EAC, SADC and Comesa. A noble cause backed by an elaborate list of merits.

This latest free trade pact, the TFTA is an engine to foster intra-Africa trade that is seen as a vehicle to widen Africa trade markets within the continent itself. It is also envisioned to attract more investment, catalyze the development of regional infrastructure and very importantly, give member states a competitive trading age with the rest of the World.

Sounds ice cream coated candy, sweet deal, but five years down the road majority of the member countries remain reluctant to ratify it, why? It begs the question, is another …

Binary code is a series of 0’1 and 1’s and thanks to the digital revolution that has since unfolded, these series of 0’s and 1’s and is, in multiple digits, lifting Africa out of poverty.

Take Tanzania for instance, a low income East African nation that now has the capacity to increase its annual tax base by a whopping USD 477 million should it better regulate, promote and develop the digital money industry in the country.

Other than the financial gains that are all too obvious, using digital transactions allows for increased transparency in government payments and reduced bureaucratic inefficiencies across most all government ministries and agencies.

Tanzania ranks way up there in Africa’s digital money penetration. In just a handful of years, Tanzania’s mobile money penetration has been unprecedented. With it, “Tanzania is building a firm foundation for strong and inclusive growth and we look forward to further progress,” …

The deadly coronavirus has brought the World to a standstill, spread through touch, African financial institutions are now going cashless to beat the virus.

The exchange of money, in cash, risky further spread of the virus, an obvious solution is to go cashless, use digital payments only. However is Africa ready?

In the face of this global tragedy, Africa’s fast digital penetration seems to have come in the nick of time. Led by the telecom companies, Africa leads the globe in use of mobile transactions.

Even in the most remotest corners of the continent, peasant farmers, pastoralists herding cows, all can be found with a mobile phone registered for mobile money transactions. Even the smallest shops accept mobile money payment for even the smallest purchases. The only limitation has always been the expensive cost of the service, however that cost is irrelevant if the money is not withdrawn to cash.…

CRDB Bank, a leading bank in Tanzania, has announced plans to register its own insurance subsidiary firm.

The bank is currently already a broker and enjoying considerable premium back payments which almost double in the span of just 3 years (2016-2019).

In an interview with local media, CRDB’s Broker General Manager, Mr Arthur Mosha said in that short time, their premium levels is up from 44.2bn/- from 25bn/-

Not surprising, Tanzania’s insurance market grew by 8.6 percent in gross premiums over the course of the last financial year. As of 2018, Tanzania’s insurance industry had 31 insurance companies, 109 insurance brokers and 635 insurance agents.

For a country of 56 million people, the sector is hardly sufficiently serviced and there is enormous room for growth.

The bank’s brokage services target mainly their own customers who now represent 70 percent of all their insurance customers. At the moment, the leading products …

Tanzania is looking to be the regional leader in production of sunflowers and with it to become the lead producer of edible oils.

To meet this target, Dodoma, the nation’s administrative capital has been selected to grow both sunflower and groundnuts too.

A 4.4bn/- investment is slated to kick start the project while at least one refinery plants valued at 1.5bn/- is expected to produce at least 30 tonnes. While the regional production capacity has not been made public, Dodoma and its vicinities already boasts of over 10 small and medium sized plants.

Experts say the region has the perfect climate for sunflower and groundnuts production. The semiarid climate has in the past worked for the production of groundnuts in large amounts and was the leader in export of the legumes.

Now years later, the region maybe revived to its glorious days. However to achieve this, public private partnership is …

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 …