Category: East Africa
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Kenya:NHIF to offer outpatient in top hospitals
Private sector and informal workers will start accessing outpatient medical treatment at top private facilities like Aga Khan, Mater and Nairobi Hospital under an arrangement in which the NHIF will pay part of their bills. The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is in discussion with the premium hospitals to roll out a co-payment scheme for…
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Kenya:Ratings agency Fitch in fresh debt warning
Failure to cut the budget deficit and stabilise debt level will be a negative for Kenya’s credit profile, global rating agency Fitch Ratings has warned. The firm on Friday said effective implementation of a fiscal consolidation plan and stabilisation of debt-to -GDP ratio will lead to a positive rating. “The impact on Kenya’s sovereign credit…
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Kenya:Qatar to launch Mombasa flights
Qatar Airways has announced that it will launch direct flights between Mombasa and Doha next year, stepping up domestic competition for national carrier Kenya Airways. The Middle East carrier, which already operates daily flights to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), says Mombasa is among the 12 new destinations it will launch in 2018. The…
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Kenya:Ratings agency Fitch in fresh debt warning
Failure to cut the budget deficit and stabilise debt level will be a negative for Kenya’s credit profile, global ratings agency Fitch Ratings has warned. The firm on Friday said effective implementation of a fiscal consolidation plan and stabilisation of debt-to -GDP ratio will lead to a positive rating. “The impact on Kenya’s sovereign credit…
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Kenya’s gold loses its lustre as earnings slide
Kenya’s ambition of being a major player in the gold market is fading after earnings from the precious metal sank to new lows. Kenya produced 200 kilogrammes of gold worth Sh652.5 million last year, a tiny amount for a commodity the country hoped would drive mineral earnings and cut dependence on agriculture. Weaker gold prices and…
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Kenya:New border posts triple KRA custom revenue
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) says it has tripled custom revenue collections in its seven border points after it began operating one-stop border posts in June 2016. The move, which put together bureaucrats involved in cross-border clearance processes under one roof, has also cut cargo clearance time from the previous three days to just under…
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Kenya:Private, public infrastructure spend lifts construction 9.2pc
Heavy private investments in real estate and continued public spending on infrastructure saw the construction industry grow 9.2 per cent last year, providing employment to 163,000 Kenyans. The Economic Survey 2017 said new road projects will see Sh156.5 billion spent on the ongoing 10,000-kilometre annuity programme, a 38.3 per cent increase from last year’s Sh113.2…
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Kenya hit by jobs slowdown for the first time in 4 years
The Kenyan economy lost its job creation momentum for the first time in four years, even as large numbers of previously employed individuals joined the labour market in wake of staff retrenchments that dominated Corporate Kenya in 2016. Official data released yesterday shows that the economy created 832,900 new formal and informal sector jobs in…
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East Africa:Equity Group now raises stake in its Congo unit to 86pc
Equity Group has acquired an extra seven per cent stake in its Democratic Republic of Congo subsidiary for Sh2.2 billion in cash, underlining its confidence about the unit’s future prospects. The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company first acquired a 79 per cent interest in Pro Credit Bank in September 2015 for Sh4.5 billion in a share…
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East Africa:IMF paints bleak picture for struggling Burundi
The International Monetary Fund has slashed its projection for Burundi’s economic growth this year to nil and projected just 0.1 percent in 2018. It gave no specific reason for the 2017 revision from 2 percent, but Burundi has been suffering from a severe drought like much of the wider region. The poor, central African nation’s…