Browsing: Tanzania

For over two months now, companies in Tanzania are holding back contractor payments blaming it on the global coronavirus crisis.

Chinese companies are particularly in the spotlight with contractors complaining of delayed payments for goods delivered and services done. In an exclusive with this paper, an aggregate mine operator (name withheld) said payments due to the company from Chinese companies are still pending two months down the road.

This is the exact scenario that the government tried to evade when it throughout the Central Bank, Bank of Tanzania, it released a stimulus package to cushion the economy to ensure business stay liquid and are able to make all due payments.

It is not far fetched to think companies are taking advantage of the ongoing health crisis not to pay their debts or even government taxes and fees. I mean, non performing loans and tax evasion were profound well before the …

The higher your salary, the higher your taxes, that is why it is called P.A.Y.E that is Pay-As-You-Earn. You earn more, you pay more, its that simple, or is it.

Apparently it is not that simple. Companies are giving the top management and expatriates leeway to weasel out of the earning tax. You see, PAYE is a function of your earning that is, it is tax deducted from your monthly salary.

The way it works is that you earn a gross amount from which taxes are deducted and your pension contribution is also deducted as well. What remains after these deductions is your take home salary otherwise called net salary.

Legal consultant for corporate law in Tanzania Mr. Peter Makinda told a press conference that to keep their salaries up, top management in many companies under report their gross earnings for themselves on the one hand and to attract expatriates …

The price for crude oil is down 60 percent since the year started and it is only tumbling further, global oil news reports.

On the one hand, analysts blame the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and on the other the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia is said to have contributed to the sharp drop.

Even the movers and shakers are feeling the pinch, oil in the US plummeted 34%, crude oil falling by 26%, and brent oil falling 24%. Associated Press reports that prices this week dropped to an 18 year all time low of under USD20 a barrel for the US.

Speculators say it is the best time to invest, pessimists would have you shy away from taking the risk.

The idea is a simple business law, buy when prices are low and sell when prices peak, so technically, the advice to buy into the oil business now is …

As the number of new coronavirus infections reaches 53, the government of Tanzania has ordered schools to stay closed indefinitely, evidence of the uncertainty that haunts these murky coronavirus times.

It is the crowded commercial port city of Dar es Salaam that is most affected, in fact all the  53 new Covid-19 reported cases are in the city of 6 million plus people.

There are 4 new cases since the last new infection was reported on Monday making it 4 new cases in just 3 days, that is a rate of almost one new infection per day this week.

The development comes inspight of all precautionary measures that the city has taken including having hand sanitizers in every store, government office, market place and even public transport vehicles.

Union & Labour Day cancelled days from annual celebrations

With the exponential increase in rate of infections, and the spicy Islands …

At a time when physical contact is discouraged due to spread of coronavirus, Tanzania’s little town of Kilimanjaro, has set up Automated Teller Machines (ATM) for the sale of milk. There is little human contact involved apart from the exchange of money making the machines a vital game changer in curbing spread of the virus.

The move has set a global precedence in the use of digital telecommunication for commercial purposes.  What stands out is the fact that the technology has not been set up in the bustling urban town of Dar es Salaam but rather on the outskirts in the small town.

“This is what technology is for…it not only for the urban centers, it should be used to make life easier in rural areas as well, and the set up of automated milk dispensers in rural Kilimanjaro is a good example,” says milk producer Ivan Mangesi.

Ivan is …

Tanzania has eventually allowed teenage mothers to return to school after the World Bank approved a USD500 million loan as support for the improvement of Tanzania’s education system.

Tanzania had until now denied pregnant girls to return to school after delivery and to push it to change its mind, for over the last two years, the World Bank withheld the requested loan in a bid to push Tanzania to ease the law.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli is known to hold a hard stance against pregnant teenagers returning to school after delivery. As a result, activists in the country and abroad signed petitions against the World Bank funding the country’s education programs.

Now two years down the road, the World Bank’s board has reversed its stance and approved the loan. While the International Development Association is in support of the loan approval, other international donors like the US cautioned strongly against …

Tanzania has released reprinted versions of several denominations of the country’s banknotes. The new banknotes are meant to be more secure against duplication and forgery.

The new security features include the removal of the classic thin stripe in the old banknote, called the motion thread and replacing it with a rolling star.

The former security feature (the motion thread) used a motion image that had special colour effects when the note is moved side to side.

The new feature now, the rolling star, also has a movement and color change trait, but makes wavy motions when the note is tilted.

The central bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) announced early April that the change affects denominations of TZS 2000, 5000 and 10000.

The last time the BoT changed the country’s banknotes was in 2010. The central bank’s Governor Professor Florens Luoga explained in a press statement that the re-printed banknotes …

The economic impact of fake and substandard oil on the global economy is valued in the billions of dollars. The business is tempting, it has cheap overhead and high profits and so the black market for fake goods is growing .

The counterfeits black market affects all types of good, from food products to toys, to cosmetics to jet fuels, you name it, it has a counterfeit.

In Kenya, millions of litres of crude oil has been barred from entering the country via an oil tanker on April Fools. News of the cargo ship, No. K07/2020 has just been released to local media saying was the oil tanker, MT Ocean Tiara belongs to a subsidiary company of a Nigerian oil giant and was seized after it berthed at Mombasa port waiting to moor and dump the fuel.

The tanker and its cargo have several discrepancies and the long arm of …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken a new stage in Tanzania, as the country registers two more deaths and the number of infected patients of the contagious virus rises to 32.

According to information from Tanzania’s health minister Ummy Mwalimu, the two deaths are male Tanzanians aged 51 and 57 whose cases were reported on April 8.

Hence, the five patients are four men aged 68, 57, 54, 41, and one woman aged 35 all residents of the nation’s commercial, capital Dar es Salaam.

READ:COVID-19 in East Africa: Tanzania records first death

According to the minister, the number now stands at 32 after the Zanzibar (semi-autonomous region of Tanzania) health minister earlier in the day announced two new cases on the Isles.

“Of the 32 cases recorded so far, five have healed and discharged, 24 others are still receiving treatment whereas three have passed on,” said the Minister in …

Uganda’s delayed oil production could affect economic outlook

https://theexchange.africa/countries/delayed-oil-production-could-affect-economic-outlook-world-bank/

According to the World Bank, Uganda could face serious economic pressures in the immediate future especially with delay in oil production. It has advised that the country would do well to develop its other major sectors – agriculture and industry – as they can guarantee immediate and steady growth outcomes instead of relying heavily mostly on Uganda’s oil production ambitions.

Uganda’s economy must grow faster- World Bank

https://theexchange.africa/countries/ugandas-economy-must-grow-faster-world-bank/

A recent World Bank report, “Uganda: Jobs strategy for inclusive growth” reveals that the country could find itself in a crisis of more workers than jobs unless the economy grows concomitantly.  The report states than an economic transformation is required and Uganda should start with developing commercial agriculture that accounts for about 80 per cent of annual export earnings; the sector employs more than 80 per cent of the workforce in agriculture sector.…