Browsing: Kenya

Climate change causes natural disasters in Africa. www.theexchange.africa

According to a Fair Tech Institute whitepaper by Access Partnership, a global public policy firm for the technology sector, the annual number of natural disasters is set to increase by 37 per cent from 442 to 541 occurrences by 2025.

The whitepaper highlights the urgency with which national governments and the private sector must attach satellite technology to implement more effective disaster management efforts in Africa and globally.

The whitepaper comes after several organizations agreed that climate change would make weather-related disasters more frequent and widespread in coming years.

The war between Russia and Ukraine could revamp Exports in Africa. www.theexchange.africa

Ethiopia is the biggest Wheat producer in Africa, producing about 5.1 million tonnes in the 2020/2021 financial year. Russia’s restriction on the importation of Wheat has created a business gap in the African market and all over the globe.

Russia and Ukraine account for more than 70 per cent of Egypt’s imported wheat demand. In 2019, wheat imports from Russia to Egypt were worth US$2.55 billion, and Nigeria’s imports amounted to US$394 million. Other countries that import Russian Wheat include Sudan, Senegal, Tunisia and Morocco. Ethiopia will hold talks with Egypt and Sudan in March 2022 over the Nile waters’ use. Both countries are importers of Wheat, and production in Ethiopia could fulfil the demand from these two countries without exerting pressure on their production.

The East African Community, through the East African Business Council to boost intra-EAC trade. www.theexchange.africa

The CET maximum rate was a realization by the EAC Secretariat on the proposed Common External Tariff (CET) rates of 30 per cent, 33 per cent and 35 per cent classified under the fourth (maximum) band, which include textiles, iron, steel and motor vehicles.

The East African Business Council (EABC) urges the partner states- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan- to adopt the maximum CET tariff trade to spur industrialization and strengthen the regional value chain.

In 2020, the total intra-EAC trade stood at 11.8 per cent, amounting to US$6.39 billion. The proposed 35 per cent tariff is set to boost the trade between EAC member states to US$6.4 billion.

Central Bank of Kenya launches a National Payment Strategy. www.theexchange.africa

The first National Payments Strategy implemented in 2004 through to 2008, was aimed at addressing challenges across risks due to the absence of a real-time settlement system, limited trust in payment instruments such as high-value cheques and an under-developed policy, legal and regulatory framework.

The NPS is motivated by a desire to meet the diverse needs of the Kenyan people and its economy and support our nation’s ambition for a digital, inclusive and 24/7 economy. The Strategy will also be the basis for consolidating and extending Kenya’s global leadership in digital payments and innovation. Finally, the Strategy will provide the overarching policy framework that will guide the work to strengthen the NPS legal and regulatory framework.

President Uhuru Kenyatta encourages investors to invest in the country. www.theexchange.africa

According to the Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Khalifa Fund, and the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development Chairman, the directive of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to establish a centre for innovation and tech-focused entrepreneurship in Kenya comes as part of the UAE’s ongoing commitment to contribute towards empowering talented innovators and entrepreneurs globally.

“With centres such as these, we provide entrepreneurs with resources, support and guidance to contribute to their local and global economy, bringing about positive economic implications and security,” Al Shorafa said.

He added that the collaboration between the United Arab Emirates and Kenya through the Khalifa Fund would see Kenya having the same levels of achievement as has been experienced in the United Arb Emirates.

World food prices increased in April, for the first time in a year.

With so many more mouths to feed every year, the World’s ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, particularly on poverty eradication and ending hunger, seem further away than ever before.

The trend is global, and on October 16, 2021, the UN admitted and warned that the global fight against hunger is being lost.

With the warning, the UN called for action to improve food security for the world’s most vulnerable people, African coming on top of that list. For a place that relies so heavily on substantial farming for a livelihood, Africa faces a most daunting reality, clear forests to farm, lose potential output.