Browsing: East Africa

A recent report showcasing how Covid-19 has affected travel with restrictions has shown that Kenya is the recent most banned nation across East Africa.

Kenyan’s are banned from travelling to at least 54 countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The East African nation is cited to be among countries due to be hit by the fourth wave of the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant virus. The country’s Health Ministry made the announcement recently urging its citizen to act with caution.

This fourth wave is said to be much more transmissible than the earlier two varieties. It was first identified in India but has now been reported present in western Kenya as well. From there, it is feared that infections may affect all of Kenya over the course of the next two months hence there is no surprise that increasingly more countries are barring Kenyans from entering their borders.

The estimate …

Rural businesses in Africa will benefit from an ambitious new financing programme launched by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as part of its broader efforts to address rising hunger and poverty levels in the world’s poorest countries.

In a statement, IFAD says the programme, dubbed ‘The Private Sector Financing Programme (PSFP)’, aims to spearhead an increase in private investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), farmers’ organizations and financial intermediaries servicing small-scale farmers, which are too often neglected by investors.

It will provide loans, risk management instruments (such as guarantees), and equity investments.

Commenting on the development, Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD said there is need to urgently stimulate more private sector investments to rural areas and unlock the immense entrepreneurial potential of millions of rural SMEs and small producers.

“With access to capital, they can attract more investors and partners, grow their businesses and create …

That year, in 2015, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania settled for a three-year plan to phase out the importation of used clothes, a major exporter been the United States. To realise the intended ban, taxes were increased on second-hand clothes were increased effectively deterring their importation. The plan was to completely ban the import of second-hand clothes as of 2019.

This ambitious vision was never realized as the Trump administration issued an ultimatum for EAC to rescind the ban on second-hand clothes by 23 February 2018 or, as the DW writer Isaac Mugabi puts it ‘face the consequences.’…

Economic activity in East Africa is estimated to have declined to a growth of 0.9 percent in 2020 from 6.6 percent in 2019 and is projected to recover to a growth of 3 percent in 2021.

This is revealed in Deloitte’s East Africa Economies Report 2021 which attributed the expected growth to the projected increase in private consumption and domestic demand after the easing of travel restrictions and roll out of COVID-19 vaccinations.

The report shows that massive job losses, disruptions in food value chains and multiple shocks of desert locusts saw an additional 30 million Africans pushed into extreme poverty in 2020.

“About 39 million more Africans could fall into extreme poverty in 2021 if governments do not intervene with food relief measures,” it reveals.

The report puts loss of jobs in 2020 at 30 million, 10 million higher from the previous forecast of 20 million in Deloitte’s previous …

If death could be bribed, the rich men would never die, this old African saying has come to life as new light is shown on Ugandan doctors over charging Covid-19 patients for treatment. After all, once diagnosed, one is ready to pay any amount to rid themselves of the dreaded virus, so the doctors put two and two together and charge more.

Here is the shocking and even upsetting if not downright despicable testimonial of a patient who was been swindled after he was diagnosed positive of Covid-19. He speaks of what happens as he is admitted in to a private hospital in Uganda mid last month.

“After two days of admission, the hospital told me they needed me to advance some money, $750…I did not have it anyway…when discharging me, that’s when they gave me the full medical bill of $2,482.”

This is just one patient, but he represents …

The shareholders of Equity Group Holdings Plc have passed resolutions that will reinforce the governance structures of the Group, continue to diversify the Board composition, and also assure investors of dividend pay-out every year as long as the Company posts profits.

In a statement, the Group says shareholders voted for the Amendment of Articles 1 and 79 of the Articles of Association of the Company thereby reinforcing its governance structure and signaling the growing significance of Equity Group Foundation as the social impact investment arm and custodian of the purpose of the Group.

Speaking after the AGM, the Group Board Chairman Equity Group Holdings Plc (EGH Plc), Professor Isaac Macharia said the move will further strengthen the structures to ensure the Board is reinforced through diversified representation for effective oversight.

“In so doing, the shareholders have passed a resolution enabling shareholders with more than 12.5 percent shareholding to participate directly …

Covid 19 wreaked havoc to the economy and no sector was worse hit than the tourism and hospitality sector. Air travel restrictions, mandatory quarantine of arrivals and the shutting of businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors along with crumple of demand have led to an unprecedented shock.

So bad was the situation that last year, tourism operators in Tanzania forecast revenue contractions of 80% or more while the World Bank’s 14th Tanzania Economic Update (TEU) showed that Tanzania’s economic growth slowed down to 2.5% from the 6.9% growth reported the previous year. (santacruzcore.com)

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, with eased travel restrictions, Tanzania is witnessing a revamp in both the tourism and hospitality sectors. Global top brands like Onomo Hotels have opened shop in the commercial capitol Dar es Salaam.

Meet ONOMO General Manager Mark Soderlund as he gives us an inside …

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 14 – South Sudan will benefit from two new projects totaling $116 million that aim to strengthen the capacity of farmers, improve agricultural production, and restore livelihoods and food security.

This comes at a time when the East African nation is facing increasing levels of food insecurity despite increased production, with exceptionally high food prices constraining access to food for large segments of the population and desert locusts devouring crops.

Available data projects that 7.2 million people will face acute food insecurity in the coming months, which is the highest number since the country’s independence.

The first project is dubbed ‘South Sudan Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP)’, and will provide a grant of $62.5 million to support investments in training for farmers to help them efficiently manage their organizations, adopt new technology, and use climate-smart agriculture practices to boost their yields.

The funds will also be invested …

The Republic of Burundi has a new president, it has taken steps to rebuild regional and international relations and its economy is starting to pull up, as such, leaders of the East African Community (EAC) are vouching in favor of the country and imploring the European Union, it is time to lift sanctions.d

The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against the Republic of Burundi back in 2015 when the late President Pierre Nkurunziza extended his tenure in office seeking a third term. At that time, army officials in the country are reported to have attempted a coupe that did not succeed.

Speaking to the press mid this week, the Secretary-General of the East African Community (EAC), Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki appealed to the European Union (EU) member states to lift sanctions against Burundi saying, ‘the country has opened a new page and was ready to move forward. (https://www.tnsdiamonds.com/) …