Browsing: Featured

The tourism industry is unlikely to return to pre-COVID arrival levels until 2023 or later, following the ravaging effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is according to the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which reveals that nearly half of the experts interviewed see a return to 2019 levels in 2024 or later.

Quoting its World Investment Report 20201, UNWTO says the main barriers of full recovery are travel restrictions, slow containment of the virus, low traveler confidence and a poor economic environment.

Dubbed ‘COVID-19 and Tourism’, the report reveals that travel has adapted to the impact of COVID particularly in terms of travel restrictions.

“Domestic travel has increased, but this does little to help developing countries that are dependent on international travel. Retirees, who tend to spend more per trip, are more likely to stay at home,” the report says.

In Kenya for instance, domestic tourists cut their holiday …

According to the brewer, profit after tax for the period declined 1 per cent to Sh7 billion mainly impacted by cost inflation, tax and foreign exchange impact.

Further, the COVID-19 related tax reliefs in Kenya on corporation tax and VAT ended in December 2020, resulting in higher tax charges for the year as the rates reverted back to pre-COVID levels.

The company said the slower profit growth rate was driven by the impact of cost inflation, adverse foreign exchange and tax charges.…

The top 10 banks in 2020 in Kenya accounted for 77.7 percent of industry assets, 80.7 percent of loans and 78.6 percent of deposits, with the proportions largely unchanged from their 2019 levels.

This is according to a new report by Kenya Bankers Association which reveals that over the same period, the bottom 10 banks accounted for 2.5 percent, 2.2 percent and 2.0 percent of industry assets, loans, and deposits, respectively.

During the period under review, banking sector total assets expanded in 2020 by 12.4 percent, ending the year at Sh5.4 trillion from Sh4.8 trillion in 2019, data from the Kenya Bankers Association has shown.

The 12.4 percent strong growth in assets, compared with 9.4 percent in 2019, was driven by a faster expansion in non-loan assets, mainly investments in government securities, which grew by 18.5 percent, compared to 6.7 percent growth in gross loans and advances.

Bankers: Poor financing …

Lufthansa Group’s newest leisure airline Eurowings Discover has commenced direct flights to the Kenyan coast, at a time when the country’s tourism sector is expected to post modest recovery in 2021.

Eurowings Discover commenced its flights on the 24^th of July 2021 with two weekly flight services from Frankfurt, Germany to Mombasa, with onward flights to the region.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala said the flights will result in the region receiving more international tourists.

This comes at a time when a study by Deloitte has forecast Kenya’s international arrivals to rise by 37 percent to 806,000 this year.

Balala said that the flight was a testament to the strides Kenya is making in the recovery of tourism activities, which were minimal due to restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that the Kenyan coast was a popular destination for European …

Kenya’s economic indicators by sector for the first quarter of 2021 point to continued recovery from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as normalization of the domestic and global economy continues.

This is according to a finding by the Central Bank of Kenya which however warns that the services sector continues to bear the brunt of the pandemic, attributable to COVID-19 containment measures which disrupted travel and hospitality services during the quarter under review.

According to the Quarterly Economic Review for January – March 2021 released last week, growth of the agriculture sector is expected to remain strong, supported by increased production of key crops following favorable weather conditions experienced during the quarter.

In the horticulture sub-sector for instance, total exports of horticultural crops increased by 10.6 percent compared to the previous quarter, boosted by continued normalization of international demand.

The report adds that significant growth in exports realized …

FAO says that in addition to lost agricultural assets, the state of core basic services across northern Ethiopia is impeding relief efforts.

“Electricity and fuel are lacking, cash and credit are not to be found, and there is only one functional road in and out of the region”, noted Paulsen.

According to the organization, the conflict commenced at the peak of what would have been the main Maher season harvest before many households had the opportunity to harvest their crops.…

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Devolution and the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) have signed the Anticipatory Action and Response Plan for Pastoral and Agropastoral Communities in ASAL Counties of Samburu, Isiolo, Turkana, Garissa, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir and Tana River in Kenya.

In a statement, FAO says this is in response to drought alert sent in June 2021 where 12 of the 23 ASAL counties were in the alert drought phase, while 16 reported a declining trend. This is an abnormal occurrence at the immediate end of the season.

‘Livelihood conditions have declined as a result of reduced access to pasture even as 56 percent of the ASAL counties reported increased trekking distances to water sources for livestock and domestic use. This is expected to get worse in the coming months hence the need for urgent anticipatory action,’ said Carla Mucavi …

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) says it has stepped up plans to guarantee quality medical products and technologies supply to more than 8,000 facilities in the national public health care system, with a floating of two competitive tenders for pharmaceutical products.

In a statement, KEMSA says the newly floated tenders are open for local manufacturers and related suppliers, including youth, women and persons with disability-owned enterprises, which can participate under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) program, among other supplier categories.

Kenyan and international bidders seeking to supply Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) under a two-year framework model converged at the College of Insurance, Nairobi, Monday for a pre-bid conference.

The move comes at a time when the Authority is trying to regain trust and revamp its public image following the questionable and inflated Sh7.8 billion Covid-19 supplies tenders in which billions might have been misappropriated or stolen.…

The United Nations has released a report indicating that there was a dramatic worsening of world hunger in 2020, much of it likely related to the fallout of COVID-19.

The multi-agency report estimates that around a tenth of the global population – up to 811 million people – were undernourished last year, even though the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped.

The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030.

This year’s edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is the first global assessment of its kind in the pandemic era.

The report is jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization …

African Development Bank Group has approved two grants worth $83.6 million to boost cross-border trade in electricity between Ethiopia and Djibouti and to deepen integration in the Horn of Africa sub-region.

In a statement, the bank’s board said the funds comprise a $69.65 million grant to Ethiopia and a second grant of $13.93 million to Djibouti.

Both have been sourced from the African Development Fund, which is the African Development Bank’s concessional financing window.

The Ethiopia–Djibouti Second Power Interconnection project will entail the construction of nearly 300 km of interconnector line, 170 km of transmission lines, and new construction or renovation of substations in the two countries.

Commenting on the approval,  Bank’s Director of Power Systems Development Batchi Baldeh said the first interconnection line is reaching its power transfer capacity limit due to several developments in both countries, such as the industrial development in the eastern part of Ethiopia, the …