Category: East Africa

Prolonged drought experienced in part of 2017 saw food imports rise to overtake fuel and machinery in the third quarter of the year, highlighting the distorting effect of bad weather. Data released by the national statistics office shows the food import bill grew by 243 per cent from the Sh27.2 billion in the third quarter…

A revised competition report by the telecommunications industry regulator has dropped the controversial proposal calling for the splitting of Safaricom into separate business units, drawing the ire of its rivals. Airtel, Kenya’s second-biggest telecommunications company after Safaricom, hit out at the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), saying failure to finalise the dominance debate and watering down…

Kenya’s growing appetite for foreign debt could be the largest risk to the shilling’s stability this year as local factors including drought and prolonged politicking that dominated last year give way to external shocks. The currency was fairly stable in the past year – barely half a percentage weaker – supported by a central bank…

The Rwandan central bank trimmed its key repo rate to 5.5 percent from 6 percent previously, the bank’s governor announced on Thursday. Governor John Rwangombwa said the government wanted to continue to drive economic growth. “We decided to reduce the repo rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent to continue supporting the financing of the…

The High Court has relaxed its freeze on the assets of a controversial businessman linked to the theft of Sh44.9 billion in the collapsed Imperial Bank, paving the way for Mauritian lender SBM Holdings to complete acquisition of the troubled Fidelity Bank. The businessman, Firoz Jessa, is one of the shareholders in W. E. Tilley,…

Tea exports to major markets in the year to October dropped 15 per cent compared with the same period last year with all the top buyers except Pakistan registering significant decrease. Statistics from the Tea Directorate indicate the exports fell to 351 million kilogrammes (Kg) this year from 441.9 Kg between January and October last…

The demand for short-term government paper remained sub-par last week as investors kept eyes trained firmly on this month’s Sh30 billion bond auction, which closes on Wednesday. The new issue, a re-opening of previous 10 and 15-year bonds, is also likely to benefit from a more liquid market after the government moved to release Sh77…

Listed telco Safaricom has introduced voice biometric system aimed at reducing fraud and helping its customers to reduce cases of identity theft. The system, dubbed Jitambulishe, will allow customers to access Safaricom services such as resetting M-Pesa PIN and PUK requests through a faster and less intrusive vetting process. The system aims to cut down…

Tanzania’s power utility said on Friday it had started to restore electricity to parts of the country after the East African nation was hit by a country-wide blackout on Thursday morning. “Efforts are ongoing to make sure that power supply is restored to all parts of the country,” the state-run Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO)…