Browsing: Tanzania

The visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to three African countries of Senegal, Angola, and Ethiopia is significant for the Trump administration not only as of the first trip the senior official has made to the continent, but a first for a senior official since the launch of the new strategy for Africa. The last time a senior official to visit sub-Sahara Africa was Pompeo’s predecessor, Rex Tillerson who lost his job while on a trip to Kenya.

Trump’s Africa Strategy was aimed at promoting prosperity, security, and stability in relations, and the business-friendly Prosper Africa which aims to substantially increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa.

The leading issue will mainly be on security and counter-terrorism efforts mainly in the Sahel as well as the horn of Africa. Though Somalia has remained a point of discussion in terms of security, there is a …

Barclays Bank Kenya has successfully changed its name to Absa Bank Kenya marking an end to centuries of the domination of the banking sector by British banks. This follows the acquisition of Barclays Plc operations in Africa in 2017 by Absa Bank of South Africa in restructuring by the London-based lender.

These are some of the changes experienced in several countries across Africa as the Absa brand cements its presence in the continent, a market that was firmly held by Barclays brand for almost a century. Similar changes have happened in Ghana, Botswana, Seychelles and Tanzania.

With these changes, the bank is knocking doors in one of the biggest global lenders, the Multi Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) with an aim of creating a broader investment base for individual banks in several African countries.

Different Central Banks in the region require commercial banks to have a minimal investment base to enable …

Shanta Gold, the London Stock Exchange-listed gold miner with interests in southern Tanzania has announced plans to take over the gold prospecting activities in Kenya, formerly held by Barrick Gold.

The East Africa-focused gold producer announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which it will purchase 100% of the shares of Barrick’s subsidiary Acacia Exploration (Kenya) Ltd. from two subsidiaries of Barrick Gold Corporation.

The West Kenya license holds about 1.18 million ounces of gold with a grade of 12.6 grams per tonne (g/t believed to be one of the highest grading +1 Moz gold deposits in Africa. The project covers 1,161 sq km within the Lake Victoria greenstone gold field located in NW Tanzania and SW Kenya and home to Global Tier 1 assets including North Mara and Geita Gold Mine.

Eric Zurrin, Chief Executive Officer noted the acquisition of the Western Kenya project solidifies …

The East African Community (EAC) is regressing with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania leading the pack.

It is gross discouragement to hardworking East Africans who are seeing their countries’ economies continue on a downward trend despite the much-hailed talk of GDP growth.

Coupled with unfavourable economic conditions globally, the EAC economies are degenerating, leading to chaotic disruptions of livelihoods of the majority poor.

Kenya’s debts, theft of public resources

Kenya is East Africa’s economic hub but with the goings-on lately, it seems like the centre is no longer holding.

A Gallup International annual End of Year Survey released in 2002 showed that Kenyans were the most optimistic people on earth and in 2019 the Global Optimism Outlook Survey found that 70 per cent of Kenyans viewed themselves as optimists.

This average was above the global standing at 56 per cent and continental Africa’s average of 64 per cent.

For a country …

FDI dropped by a third, to US$1.0 billion from US$1.5 billion in the three years between 2015 and 2018.…

The East African Community has for long earmarked the linking of partner countries through roads. One of this link is the link road that connects the coastal towns of Mombasa and Tanga, touching the lives of thousands of commuters and transporting goods and services worth millions.

Recently, the EAC announced that it has increased its funding for key projects from various donors among the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), which has now approved this project.

The Bank’s support for the Mombasa-Lunga Lunga/Horohoro and Tanga-Pangani-Bagamoyo roads Phase I, is in the form of African Development Bank and African Development Fund loans and represents 78.5% of the total €399.7 million project cost.  The European Union contributed a grant of €30 million, 7.7% of the total project cost, to the government of Kenya.

The road is a key component of the East African transport corridors network, connecting Kenya and Tanzania. Producers, manufacturers and traders …

The East African Community has marked its 20^th Anniversary with pomp and fanfare at its Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

This comes as the community mulls over the inclusion of The Democratic Republic of Congo into the community, which would not only give the community a major population rise but also a coast to coast linking both the East African coast and the West African coast. Though the considerations are yet to be approved, policy analysts believe this move is a matter of when not if. However, there is still contention on whether to include the East most country, Somalia which has also expressed interest.

Uganda’s 2^nd Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs, Hon. Dr. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, who presided over the anniversary celebration, said that EAC Partner States would not repeat the mistake of the past that led to the collapse of the first Community.

Dr. …

Stakeholders from 8 African countries meeting in Tanzania deliberated on policies and frameworks to drive innovation, technology and sustainable mobile payment ecosystem…

Exports from Tanzania have slightly increased, according to a recent economic review from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

NBS’ second-quarter report, indicates that the economy has grown to 7.2 percent, anchored by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT), construction and water sectors, hence—still the external sectors records significant deficits, sparked by importation of higher goods imports.

The report showed that the overall balance of payments was a deficit of $37.7 million in the year ending September 2019 compared with a deficit of $276.4 million in the year ending September 2018. Meanwhile the current account deficit widened to over $2,1 billion from over $1.8 billion, owing to higher goods imports, particularly capital and intermediate goods which are used for production.

However, on the other side of the sector, the report argues that: Tanzania’s holds sufficient reserves to sustain its operations for over 6.1 months of projected imports of goods and …

East African based WeFarm the digital network for global small-scale agriculture, have announced it has raised $13 million in a Series A financing round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm True Ventures.

This financing round will help Wefarm further scale its network of 1.9 million farmers, and its newly created Marketplace, to connect farmers in Africa, even those without internet access, to the information, products and services they need to be more successful. Investing alongside True Ventures are AgFunder and June Fund, among others. The company received significant follow-on investments from LocalGlobe, ADV and Norrsken Foundation.

Founded in 2015, Wefarm is on a mission to create a global eco-system for small-scale agriculture. With more than 1 billion people directly involved in small-scale farming, it is the biggest industry in the world. Wefarm is building the network of trust for those farmers.

Wefarm Marketplace allows farmers to easily access quality …