Browsing: economy

Zimbabwe’s economic and currency woes run much deeper than the finance minister can allude to. For starters, the country heavily relies on imports; it produces little in the form of manufactured goods for exports. This means that the country’s means of generating income in the form of foreign exchange consist largely of producing and selling raw goods with no value addition.

This phenomenon constrains the country’s ability to generate the foreign exchange it is in desperate need of to help underscore the value of its currency. This is perhaps the biggest stumbling block to the universal adoption and warm reception of the Zimbabwe dollar.

Zimbabwe’s citizens have had unpleasant experiences with the Zimbabwe dollar even before it collapsed in 2009. The country’s citizens have seen numerous bank failures with their savings and receiving no compensation for their losses. This was in 2004 when the banking crisis claimed the scalps of …

Africa’s road infrastructure remains essential for landlocked countries, where opening manufacturing zones are needed. Reliable road transport is required for businesses to import and export goods, complete orders, and procure supplies.…

This shortage of hard currency implies that those businesses that rely on foreign exchange have often had to source it from the parallel market, where it is easily available relative to the formal market.

To mitigate the inflationary pressures caused by businesses looking for foreign exchange on the parallel market and passing on the effect of higher exchange rates to consumers in the form of higher prices, the central bank instituted the foreign currency auction system, which allocates foreign exchange to importers.

This foreign exchange shortage affects all businesses across the economic spectrum and is not limited to retailers only. Manufacturing companies import raw materials and spares. They have recently experienced viability challenges from charging prices in local currency.…

President Mnangagwa said his Government is convinced that the recent exchange rate movements were driven by negative sentiments by economic agents as opposed to economic fundamentals.

“These negative sentiments have been propagating adverse expectations on future inflation and exchange rate movements, thus giving rise to artificially high demand for foreign currency as economic agents hedge against expected high inflation,” he added.

The Government listed measures that are expected to restore macroeconomic stability, support the current robust economic recovery trajectory, boost economic confidence, increase the appeal of the local currency, preserve value for depositors and investors and deal with market indiscipline.…

A report published by Lexology on January 18, 2022, Zimbabwe’s economy is largely driven by the mining, agriculture, and tourism sectors. However, because of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency shortages, there is a significant focus on export-oriented and foreign currency-generating activities.

This allows investors, businesses, and the government to retain value and meet the country’s forex needs. Zimbabwe’s main exports are minerals, agricultural produce, and soft commodities. She also has large reserves of chromite, coal, gold, and iron ore, among others. The country is also one of the world’s largest growers of tobacco.

According to research by Mordor Intelligence, Zimbabwe is a signatory of several bilateral and international agreements (MIGA, OPIC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL) that protect the investments of the companies in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has cheap educated, and competitive labour, well-developed infrastructure, and easy access to regional and global markets through its membership in AU, COMESA, SADC, COPAC, and CISSA. Zimbabwe offers …

According to the review, money supply to accommodative monetary policy measures and supportive fiscal policy during the first half of 2021/2022.

Tanzania is a nation whose economy is driven by the healthy participation of the private sector, the sector fair well amid slow times.

Credit to the private sector grew by 5.9 per cent compared with an average of 5.1 per cent from July to December 2020.…

• Energy, fuel, and utility inflation increased to 5.1 per cent in August 2021 from 3.6 per cent in July 2021
• 12-month inflation remained at 3.8 per cent which is the same rate as the previous month
• Interest rates charged on loans by banks remained unchanged

The Tanzania Central Bank (BoT) released the monthly economic review last week, which breaks down the performance of different economic sectors, of which most portions of the economy portrayed modest performance.

Inflation

The report showed that, in August 2021, twelve-month inflation remained at 3.8 per cent which is the same rate as the previous month, and below the country target of 5 per cent in 2021/2022.

Further, on that line, core inflation which BoT argues, is the index accounts for the largest share in consumer price index (CPI), increased to 4.5 per cent in August 2021 from 4.1 per cent in July 2021—this is attributed …

Qatar Airways made its inaugural flight into Harare this week on sixth opening Zimbabwe to a major airline hub and showcasing its confidence in the Second Republic’s efforts to transform the economy.

Zimbabwe is now connected to the massive hub airport at Doha with all its connections around the world. The new routes were the airline’s fifth and sixth destinations in Africa since the outbreak of the Covid-19 in December 2019.

This agreement will see Qatar Airways fly to Harare three times a week from Doha using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

In lauding this great infrastructural development project, through his representative, and the Principal Director in the Ministry Mr. Allowance Sango at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said that Zimbabwe and Qatar have had good relations and given that the Middle East country has expressed interest in cooperating in critical sectors for the …

Data by the bloc reveals that the sector provides livelihoods for about 80 per cent of the region’s workers, and accounts for about 65 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.

The continent, which COMESA Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe said last month has the potential to feed its self and export to the rest of the world, has remained a net food importer for the last 15 years.…

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 …