Category: East Africa
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Toyota unit fights Kenyan buyers’ vehicle defect suit
Toyota’s financing arm Tsusho Capital has denied receiving any complaints on mechanical defects affecting 45 Hino buses it sold to 11 companies and individuals. The buyers have lodged a product liability claim against it, its sister companies and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs). Tsusho claims that only one buyer, Martin Mwangi Njoki, among those…
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Kenya: KQ Gets Air Traffic Rights in U.S. Paving Way for Direct Flights
Kenya Airways (KQ) has been granted air traffic rights to the United States (US) airspaces inching closer to direct flights to the US. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told Capital FM Business the airline now awaits other crucial licenses to see it fly to the US by March 2018. Among the crucial licenses include the…
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Tanzania: Telcos Surrender As TCRA Bans Caller Tunes
Telecom operators have surrendered to an order by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) to stop unsolicited adverts in the caller tunes which the regulator said were against the 2015 Value Added Services (VAS) Regulations. TCRA director general James Kilaba told operators yesterday that they can air their adverts only when a subscriber is checking the…
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Fitch affirms Stanbic Bank Kenya rating with negative outlook
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Stanbic Bank Kenya (SBK) long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘BB-’, but with a negative outlook informed by potential downgrade of Kenya. Fitch said the assessment was informed by a moderate probability of support from its parent owner, South Africa-based Standard Bank Group, which indirectly owns 60 per cent stake in…
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Tanzania lifts ban on foreigners investing in telecom IPOs
Tanzania has lifted the banning on foreign investors participating in initial public offerings in the telecoms sector, the capital markets regulator said on Friday. The removal of the restriction allows foreigners to take part in the IPO of Vodacom Tanzania Plc, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Vodacom Group. The Vodacom IPO was launched in March…
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Uganda: Couple Fights Diamond Trust Bank Over Shs 10 Billion ‘Loan’
Businessman Francis Nekuusa and his wife Stella Nekuusa are embroiled in a court battle with Diamond Trust bank (DTB) over loans that amount to more than Shs 10bn in a case that could shed more light on what could be seen as suspicious banking practices in the country, writes DERRICK KIYONGA. The case has seen…
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World Bank approves $345 million loan for Tanzania port expansion
The World Bank said on Sunday it had approved a $345 million loan for the expansion of a port in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam, which the East African country aims to turn into a regional gateway. Dar es Salaam is vying with the port of Mombasa in Kenya to become the trade hub…
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Kenya:Private sector credit growth sinks to 10-year low
Commercial banks are lending to private sector at the lowest pace in more than a decade, leaving key economic and job growth drivers such as manufacturing and agriculture struggling for funding, newly released data shows. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows that lending to the private sector expanded by a paltry 3.3 per cent…
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Kenya: County investment forums have wasted millions, forum told
Counties may have wasted millions of shillings in investment forums since Kenya lacks a legal framework to guide governor-foreign investor engagements. A one-day forum convened to discuss the Kenya Investment Policy heard there was an urgent need to empower counties to directly attract foreign investments including implementation of crucial projects on private-public partnership arrangements. Embu…
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Tanzania laws would allow govt to tear up mining, energy deals
The Tanzanian government submitted three bills to parliament on Thursday that would allow it to force mining and energy companies to renegotiate their contracts, the latest in a string of moves that have alarmed foreign investors. It was not immediately clear how the proposed renegotiation of contracts would affect a planned $30 billion gas project,…