Browsing: World Bank

In the backdrop of Tanzania’s Central Bank announcing a stimulus package for commercial banks, loans advanced by banks have shot up significantly over the last year and the stimulus package is expected to sustain if not increase lending.

The Central Bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has this week released its Consolidated Zonal Economic Performance Report which shows lending by commercial banks have increased considerably in the last year.

The report shows that the highest amount of growth in bank loans was parallel to ongoing national infrastructure development works. The highest increase in loans was to companies operating in the central and south eastern zones owing to increased construction projects and to trading activities, respectively.

This would explain reduced lending in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam. Lending in the bustling port city actually fell 1.6 percent compared to the same period last year.  However, despite the percentage decrease, …

Food security has always been a matter of much concern across Africa, the threat has only been extenuated by the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

With the rest of the World tied up with response to the coronavirus in their own countries, scientists in Africa have to step up to the food security threat on the continent.

Up to the task are Tanzanian scientists who early this week, in the nick of time, announced a breakthrough in maize research that may very well answer the impending food security threat.

The Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute, announced its scientists have developed two genetically modified maize varieties that to a great extent, stand to solve the food security issue in the country and region at large.

First is a maize variety that is much higher in protein concentration than the regular maize types now been grown across the country. This variety will serve to give …

There is need to regulate the wage amount paid to labourers in Tanzania particularly in the construction industry  if the country is to reduce poverty levels and increase professionalism in the sector.

Last month I hired a Dar es Salaam based wage labourer to do some basic construction work for me. As he worked, we ventured into conversation deliberating the working conditions of wage labourers in the country.

‘Richie’ the only name he was willing to offer me, said his regular day starts before dawn.

“I have to wake up before the sun comes up,” he chuckles but maintains a somber look.

“You know, I live in the slums, so I have to get two buses to get to the site,” he continues after a moment of lamentation.  According to Richie, as a wage labourer, his job is never guaranteed, as he put it; “at the site, …

Tanzania has shutdown all activities at one of its largest open air livestock market, the Meserani Livestock Auction Market in Monduli, Arusha.

To enforce the ban, the government sent down armed police officers to stop any trading from taking place; a daunting task when you take into consideration the fact that the market handles well over 1,000 traders every single day.

The move is in line with the national ban on mass gatherings in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 threat.

Safety first, but the close to 200 000 pastoralists who exclusively rely on cattle trade now have to find alternative income generating solutions. As to be expected, the pastoralists are up in arms over the decision to shut down their sole source of daily bread, or meat in this case.

Many are of the view, that the market should be allowed to continue to trade but to take precautionary …

More than ever before, Tanzania and the rest of Africa need to employ rain harvesting technology. Global climate changing is drastically affecting weather patterns, rains are heavier or missing completely, droughts in otherwise tropical areas, cyclones and tornadoes ravaging through coastlines. Weather is now less predictable than ever before.

For both economic and social reasons, Tanzania needs to make the best of the rains when they come, Tanzania needs to harvest rain water.

While at national or even city levels, there are some sophisticated equations involved in rain harvesting, like building reservoirs and purification sites, but all in all, the science of rain harvesting technology is not all that complicated at all. It’s a simple three step investment, collect, store and purify.

Since economies rely on water for production and households depend on clean and safe water for daily survivor, harvesting rain water should not even be optional, it should …

When it comes to extractive industries, Tanzania is one of Africa’s richest countries. From minerals to marine resources, Tanzania has it all. It is the World’s only source of Tanzanite, a blue gem said to be 1000 times rarer than diamond. It is home to the highest mountain on the continent and Lake Tanganyika, the World’s deepest lake.

How to manage the extractive industries is an insurmountable task that has seen many countries plunge into endless civil wars. At the center of this strife is a matter of much deliberation but one word can describe the complex mechanisms that are required to efficiently manage the extractive industries, transparency.

Transparency in this case is a very touchy subject after all, who wants to let the world know the details of the 100 years renewable contract that they have signed with a multi-national corporation?

However, that is exactly what transparency demands, stifle …

Coffee production in South America is on a sharp increase and the resulting market flood is severely hurting East African coffee growers.

As supply increases, the market price is steadily falling. For trading blocs like the East African Community (EAC) where coffee is traditionally among the leading export commodities, the lower market prices spell a gloomy period up ahead.

In fact, for most of the East African countries, coffee accounts for 76 percent of the value of all agricultural exports put together. So losing the coffee market is a severe blow to economic development in East Africa and across the continent too.

Sector pundits say South America is using improved hybrids that are growing fast, producing better yields and they also have better after harvest storage and transportation facilities which are important to maintain the quality of the grain.

For example, statistics show that Brazil is now the world’s leading …

The World Bank approved two grants worth $160 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to help Burundi improve essential services through solar power and local development in rural and remote areas.

Solar Energy in Local Communities (SOLEIL) will get $100 million in subsidies which aims to increase access to energy in Burundi by almost 100 per cent by electrifying schools, businesses, families and centres of the less privileged communities in the country.

More than 91,000 households, 4,000 SMEs, 400 health centres and 500 schools will have access to electricity all du to solar energy. 400 schools and 300,000 households will also have ecological fireplaces.

The remaining $60 million from the IDA will go to Integrated Community Development. The project will improve access to basic services and economic opportunities and nutrition for the less privileged populations in the country, including refugees. The project will also allow the creation of 1,000 …

The World Bank said that Uganda should work on the processes for the Final Investment Decision (FID) by the oil and gas firms, saying further delay will undermine the country’s economic outlook.

Delays in oil exports beyond 2024 could lead to liquidity pressures in the country warns that the released 14th Economic Update, a bi-annual publication by the World Bank.

“Subsequent delays in oil exports beyond 2023/24 could result in liquidity pressures, given the current heavy borrowing for oil sector related infrastructure that is relying on an enhanced repayment, capacity from oil exports, and especially if more non-concessional borrowing occurs,” the report cautions in its Economic outlook and risks.

Presenting the findings at an event held in Kampala, Mr Richard Walker, a senior economist with the World Bank, said that the recent termination of the Tullow deal has increased uncertainty for oil sector-related investments in the country.

Also Read: Uganda

Nigeria has just become the leading nation with the largest economy in Africa, after South Africa recent economic slump, when its economy contracted and sliding into a second recession in two years.

South Africa and Nigeria make up almost half of sub-Saharan Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

While South Africa statistics office highlighted bad news for the nation, suffering from power crisis, Nigeria statistician showed a rather positive performance of the economy, which grew at about 2.55 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019.

This growth was the highest quarterly performance since the 2016 recession. It is argued that Nigeria’s economic growth was anchored on its oil exports with production levels remaining stable throughout 2019.

The South African economy shrank by 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, this followed a contraction of 0.8 per cent, which points to the fact that—the second-largest economy in Africa floated …