Browsing: Tanzania

The private sector is not responsive to the government’s stimulus package as banks report less than desired activities in borrowing. Even though huge fiscal and monetary measures have been taken by the Central Bank, still commercial banks are facing reduced demand on borrowing.

This is evident in weekly turnovers for Interbank trading which is down 92 per cent, the lowest it has ever been over the last decade. Money market analysis for the month of May reported that the Interbank Money Market (IMM) suffered its lowest activities since 2010.

You will recall that 2010 is just two years into the global economic recession that was triggered by among other things, poor lending habits by banks in the US that led to a collapse of the real estate industry.

Numerous banks had to be bailed out just to keep people in their homes as foreclosures were rampant across the country. The …

The African Development Bank Group has got a new member, Ireland, bringing its total number of international members to 27. Ireland’s membership goes along way to boosting the banks financial muscle and with it, the ability to fund development projects across the continent.

Ireland officially joined the Group last month after a declaration of its membership was issued in late April, a little less than an year after the country submitted its application to join the Group mid last year.

Following the declaration, Ireland’s top ranking government official the Minister for Finance Mr. Paschal Donohoe explained that its membership will serve to create investment opportunities for Irish businesses.

Short of detailing what business sectors will be targeted, the minister said the membership will help to advance shared development priorities, a view shared by the Bank’s President, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina,

The Bank’s president maintained that joining of its newest international member …

On Sunday, May 10th, statistics from the WorldOmeter showed that New York state had recorded 41 fatalities in 24 hours, down from a high of almost two thousand deaths in Mid April. This was a significant drop in deaths with total US fatalities dropping to below a thousand.

This is a similar drop being recorded all over the world with record low levels being recorded in European hotspots of Italy, France, Spain, and United Kingdown with figures almost going to double digits. It is expected that the effects of the disease might not be felt in a few months.

However, as global figures decline, the same can not be said of Africa which has since a significant rise, blatant disobeying containment measures, and rise of unscientific measures to curb the disease. According to Africa CDC, the AU backed entity, there are 63,293 confirmed cases spread across the continent with 2,290 …

Even as share values for US futures on crude oil prices hit rock bottom, spotting a worrisome negative figure (-4.0 USD) there are still several functions that claim the crush of oil prices in the US and around the World will have no effect on stock shares in Tanzania, the numbers are giving a different story. Lets start with the optimistic side.

As US futures for oil price continue to free fall some are of the view that it will have no effect on Tanzania’s sole bourse, the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE). Why? Well, simple, most African countries, Tanzania included, are oil importers so, the fall of oil prices will mean positive balance of payments.

In turn, favourable balance of payment means good exchange rates of the shilling for the dollar, again another plus for the shilling. Good exchange rates translates to higher value of the shilling and …

The East African economies were looking forward to 2020 with a lot of optimism. While there were issues with inflation and money circulation in Kenya, projections still showed the country would comfortably manage a growth range of above 5 percent. All the other eastern African countries were projected to do even much better with Rwanda leading in terms of growth averaging 7 percent. Then, Coronavirus happened. This has reversed the projections with fear that the region with the highest growth rate in Africa will stagnate. This has already been felt with stock markets across the region registering massive capital loss and foreign investors shying away from the market. The region is also looking at ways of sustaining their economies amid lockdowns in Uganda and Rwanda, partial lockdown in Kenya and a non-restrained movement approach in Tanzania.

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook projections for 2020 pegs Kenya …

Members of Parliament in Tanzania are urging the government to consider giving tax breaks to businesses in a bid to help them stay afloat.

Alternatively, the government is encouraged, through the Central Bank, to scrap interest on loans so that borrowers do not fall into default.

At the moment, despite the global slowdown, businesses are still operational but they are operating way below their year revenue projections. Already, at the start of the second quarter, the country is facing potentially huge loan defaults by both large corporations as well as small and medium sized companies.

Big businesses are now turning to the government to intervene. While the Central Bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has already issued a stimulus package for commercial banks, the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) is working on an arrangement to save large borrowers from mega defaults that would in effect ripple throughout the economy.

Commercial …

Tanzania’s prime location on the African continent has given it the advantage of connects six land-locked countries to the Indian Ocean.

In addition, the country has abundant and world-class wind and solar resources making a suitable power producer who can export this power to the neighbouring countries.

The country is also the sixth-most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa with vast amounts of natural gas reserves which present enormous opportunities for investment in the sector.

Generating Electricity in Tanzania! How Many Billions Can Solar Light-up?

According to Power Africa, Tanzania’s government has committed to reform the operations of the national utility TANESCO to meet new demand through low-cost solutions.

High reliance on expensive thermal and emergency generation sources have helped make the sector financially unviable. Tanzania has made progress in grid expansion, increasing generation capacity with natural gas, facilitating an enabling environment for solar home systems, and publishing of new standard …

Countries neighbouring Tanzania including Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia have barred truck drivers from the country to cross their borders. The development comes as cases of the COVID-19 in Tanzania now reach 480 with 196 new cases reported both on the mainland and on the island of Zanzibar.

Of these, 174 are from Tanzania Mainland and the other 22 are from spice isles of Zanzibar. The grim news gets only worse with the announcement of six more deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 16.

Not all is doom and gloom, there are reports of 167 people recovering from the virus and of these, 36 are from Zanzibar and 83 are from the Mainland.

Meanwhile, truck drivers are protesting the strict border measures placed on transit vehicles. For example, at the Mutukula border with Uganda, it is reported that several drivers have tested positive for the coronavirus and been denied …

Most businesses are looking for digital options to conduct their businesses and banks are no exception. Already the economy was tipping towards digitizing most all its activities but with the onslaught of the coronavirus, digitizing is no longer optional but a must.

Banks are now pushing for 100 percent digital migration of their customers seeking at least 90 percent of their services to be offered remotely. In Tanzania, CRDB Bank has announced that it is aiming to increase online and simbanking to 90 percent by the end of the year.

To achieve this goal, the bank has launched a campaign to mobilize online and mobile phone services for all their customers. The bank is now working to raise public awareness and increase use on online services rather than going with the traditional way of standing in line at the bank.

The press release quotes a high ranking bank official, the …

The second 20 years Treasury Bond that was auctioned last week by the Central Bank of Tanzania has oversubscribed, again.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) was forced to close the trading session as the market gabbled up the high interest rate bond.

The  bond had an attractive interest rate of 15.85 percent coupon rate was offered in the 20-year instrument held on Wednesday slightly down compared to 16.21 per cent of the session held in February this year.

The auction was meant to serve as a debt instrument that the government targeted to raise only 117bn/-, local media reported mid week. However, interest for the bond was more than anticipated with the government, through the BoT, racking in a whopping 276.86bn/- that is more than double the targeted amount.

As mentioned this is actually the second 20-year Treasury Bond to be auctioned this year and both had good response, both …