Category: Africa
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Nigeria: AfDB Offers Nigeria $1 Billion to Fund 2016 Budget Shortfall
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to offer a $1 billion loan to Nigeria, to support the country with the funding of the $2.2 trillion shortfall in the 2016 budget. The facility attracts a 1.2 per cent interest rate. AfDB President, Akinwunmi Adesina, made the announcement when he led a delegation of the regional…
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Kenya: NHIF eyes 12m informal sector workers in fresh recruitment
The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has set itself an ambitious target of recruiting 12 million Kenyans in the informal sector as it moves to roll out the second phase of its mass recruitment drive. The figure is nearly four times the 3.5 million people it registered from the formal sector in the first phase…
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Tanzania: Bombardier Planes ‘Are Much Safer’
AS Tanzania looks forward to receiving the second bombardier Q400 plane of two the government purchased from Canada this week, it has emerged that the aircraft are safer, fuel-efficient and ideal for cheap local flights. The popular global Forbes Magazine writes in an article titled; “Can Bombardier’s Q400 Save Regional Air Service in the US?”that…
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Zimbabwe: President Rejects Special Economic Zones Bill
President Mugabe has thrown back to Parliament the Special Economic Zones Bill after expressing reservations on a clause which seeks to suspend the Labour Act whose effect would have exposed workers to serious abuse by employers. Parliament will now have to meet again next week to consider reservations expressed by the Head of State and…
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Nigeria: Govt Urges U.S. to Lift Ban On Crude
The Federal Government has pleaded with the United States to lift its ban on the importation of Nigeria’s crude, describing the action as antithetical to the flourish of trade and economic cooperation upon which Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, was founded. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Nigige, who made the plea,…
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Nigeria: Year-to-Date Return On Investment Down By 1.5 Percent
Year to Date, YtD return on investment in the stock market has declined by 1. 5 per cent as the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE market capitalisation closed yesterday at N9.709 trillion from N9.85 trillion. Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE All share index increased by 16.09 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 28,263.16 points as…
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Egypt’s Tourist Numbers Drop 51.2 Pct in First Half of 2016 – State Agency
Egypt lost over half of its tourists in the first half of 2016 compared with the same period last year, the official statistics agency said on Monday. Egypt welcomed 2.3 million tourists in the period from January to June 2016, compared to 4.8 million tourists in the same period last year, the Central Agency for…
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Egypt: Sisi Promises Hope, Job Opportunities After Migrant Boat Capsize
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Egyptians not to leave their country, during a speech on Monday, a few days after a boat capsized off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast killing more than 160 migrants. During the inauguration of “Bashayer El Kheir” housing project in Alexandria’s Gheit El-Enab, Sisi directed his words to youth who immigrate illegally, saying…
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Kenya:Sugar cartels on the spot as price hits Sh145 a kilo
The price of sugar has risen to a new peak buoyed by heightened activity from industry cartels out to mint cash ahead of next year’s general election. A survey of retail outlets throughout the country indicates that sugar is now priced at an average of Sh145 per kilo despite the recent surge in imports to…
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S.Africa’s rand resumes rally as yield-hungry investors shift into EMs
South Africa’s rand traded firmer early on Friday, resuming a recent rally after stumbling in the previous session, boosted by renewed appetite for high-yield assets globally and investor unease over still-low interest rates in the United States. * Rand at 13.6000 to the dollar by 0650 GMT, 0.2 percent from Thursday’s close at 13.6225. *…