Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s Coffee Export Hits 196 Percent Growth in China, Says Chinese Official
The first batch of 262 tonnes of fertilizers were delivered to Tigray Region in collaboration with the Federal Government of Ethiopia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) disclosed. Read More

Award Winning Exporters Optimistic about Scaling Up Performance This Eth Fiscal Year
Award Winning export companies have expressed optimism about further scaling up their exports this Ethiopian Fiscal Year. Read More

Nation Secures Over 4 Billion USD from Export Over Concluded EFY
Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration revealed that some 4.12 billion USD has been secured from export trade in the just concluded fiscal year. Read More

Taxi Hailing Companies are Already Facing a Business Slowdown
Ride users will be compelled to pay 15 percent Value-Added Tax on every trip they make, if a new bill drafted by the Ministry of Finance is approved by the Parliament. Read More

Kenya
US Grants Kenya KES 30 Billion to Boost Battle Against Drought
Kenya has received KES 30 billion (approx. 255 million) from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) to fight the effects of drought and boost food security. Read More

CMA Blocks Unilever Shares Deal in Tea Firm
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has frozen the transfer of Unilever’s majority stake in Limuru Tea and blocked a US-based private equity firm from buying minority investors in the listed company, disrupting the KES 596.7 billion (approx. USD 5.1 billion) global deal. Read More

Nock Resumes Sale of Cheap Gas to Poor Families in August
State-owned National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) resumes the sale of the subsidised 6kg Gas Yetu cylinders to poor households next month.Nock said last week it would sell the gas and a cylinder at KES 2,100 compared (approx. USD 17.7) to an average market price of KES 5,100 (approx. USD 43) to low-income households starting with Nairobi. Read More

Private Varsities Raise Fees for State-Sponsored Students
Private universities have started increasing tuition fees for government-sponsored students that they host, setting them up for a clash with the Ministry of Education. The institutions including the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and Daystar University have increased fees by up to KES 20,000 (approx USD 170) per semester for the new students who will join in September. Read More

Tanzania
Prioritisation of Investment in Tanzania’s Ports Key to Growth
The rise of Dar es Salaam as a key business hub in the East African economic bloc is now challenging Kenya’s dominance in ports business, as Tanzania now attracts more investments in shipping and logistics. Read More

‘State Firms Should Contribute to National Development’
The government has put the strategy in place to ensure the state-owned enterprises increase efficiency and contribute to national development. The Treasury Registrar, Mr Mgonya Benedicto, said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that the initiatives bore fruits as non-tax collection rose by 109.5 percent to TZS 852.98 billion (approx. USD 366 million) for just ended 2021/22 financial year. Read More

TBS Hailed for Reverting to Pre-Shipment Inspections of Vehicles
Tanzania car importers companies have commended the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) for reverting to pre-shipment inspection of imported vehicles to avoid turning the country into a dumping place. Read More

Ugandan MPs Learn from Tanzania's Oil, Gas
Sixteen Ugandan Members of Parliament are in the country to learn and share experience on oil and gas sector particularly on oil pipelines to be able to advise in the construction of East African Crude Oil Pipeline project. Read More

Uganda
Africa Must Support Local Entrepreneurs to Develop
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said Africa must emphasize and support an indigenous entrepreneurial class, national capitalists who can help build economically develop countries. Read More

CSOs: Govt Investment in Agricultural Value Chain will Boost Food Production
South Sudan and Uganda are holding their first ever Joint Business Forum in Juba, seeking to boost trade and investment ties “through industrialisation and infrastructure development”. The three-day forum and exhibition, which kicked off on Tuesday, has attracted over 200 businesspeople from the public and private sectors. Read More

Green Challenge Fund: aBi Unveils UGX 7.5 Billion
Agriculture Business Initiative (aBi) has rolled-out a Green Challenge Fund to support SMEs and farmers to increase their resilience to climate change including soils, ecosystems and bio-diversity. Read More

Japan Donates USD 1 Million Towards Food Aid for Karamoja
The Japanese government has donated food aid worth USD 1 million (about UGX 3.5 billion) to the starving people of Karamoja sub-region. Speaking to journalists at the World Food Programme offices in Kampala, Japanese ambassador Fukzawa Hidemoto said they had signed off the funds to help with the purchase of beans and maize flour. Read More

Algeria
Zimbabwe, Algeria Explore Economic Cooperation
Zimbabwe and Algeria have started exploring more economic cooperation, taking advantage of the excellent bilateral relations dating back to the days of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. Read More

Egypt
Egypt’s Sisi, France’s Macron Discuss Bilateral Ties
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke over the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday evening, discussing the issues of mutual concern, Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady said in a statement.  Read More

Egypt, Jordan Agree to Set, Activate Joint Action Plan for Food Security
Egypt and Jordan have agreed to draft and activate a joint action plan in food security field to be activated within one month, announced the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply in a statement. Read More

High-Speed Electric Railway Network to Shorten Travel Time by More Than 50 Percent - Minister
The high-speed electric railway network linking the whole country will reduce the travel time between governorates by more than half, Minister of Transport Kamil el Wazir. Read More

Serbia Agrees to Sell Wheat to Egypt
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced his country's approval to sell grain and wheat to Egypt, the Italian Nova news agency reported. This comes after Serbia recently obtained a certificate for exporting wheat, apples, and “beef as well,” according to the country’s president. Read More

Morocco
Morocco Launches New Ecotourism Project in Tafoughalt, Oriental Region
The territorial municipality of Tafoughalt, a small town in the province of Berkane in Morocco’s Oriental region, launched on Saturday an ecotourism project to capitalize on its wealth of tourist attractions.  Read More

Ryanair CEO: Brexit Made Moroccans More Employable Than Europeans in UK
CEO of Ryanair Michael O’Leary has criticized the post-Brexit policy, especially lamenting the fact that Moroccan workers tend to obtain work visas more easily than Europeans do. Read More

Huawei Commits to 5G, Industry Digitization in North Africa
During the North Africa Com digital event held between 19-20 July, Huawei expressed its commitment to 5G technologies and industrial digitization in the region. Read More

Investors Recount Positive Experiences in Morocco
Speaking at Morocco Now’s “Invest in Morocco” event at the 2022 U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Marrakech, several investors and entrepreneurs recounted positive experiences of their investments in the country. Read More

Tobacco Commission Hopeful on Tobacco Sales
The Tobacco Commission says this year’s tobacco marketing season has been the best so far, with better prices being offered to farmers. Read More

Kwacha Re-aligns against Major Currencies
The Malawi kwacha depreciated against the currencies of the country’s major trading partners in May 2022 on account of a 25 percent official adjustment to align the currency with macroeconomic fundamentals, Reserve Bank of Malawi has said. Read More

CDH Investment Bank Contributes MWK 2 Million to CEO Summit
CDH Investment Bank has made a contribution of MWK 2 million to the CEO Summit which will be held from 29th to 30th July 2022 at BICC in Lilongwe. Read More

Economists Intelligence Unit sees Government Cutting Expenditure
Global economic think-tank, the Economists Intelligence Unit has projected a continuous cut in government expenditure’s proportion to the Gross Domestic Product in the short to medium terms. Read More

South Africa
South Africa Basic Income Grant May Drive Emigration, Study Says
Implementing a basic income grant in South Africa, which has been ranked as the world’s most unequal nation, would slow economic growth and likely lead to the emigration of taxpayers, Intellidex said in a study. Read More

Petrol Prices are Up 120 Percent in 25 Months
Petrol prices in South Africa have more than doubled since June 2020. Read More

Uber Drivers to Go On a Stay Away from August 8 Over Pricing Demands
Pretoria - Gauteng e-hailing drivers using Uber, Bolt and InDriver platforms, say they will go on a stay-away from August 8 until further notice if their demands for increased fares are not met by operators. Read More

Islamic State Groups Use South Africa to Channel Funds, UN says
Islamic State affiliates are getting financial backing from supporters in South Africa, according to a UN Security Council report. Read More
 

Nigeria
AfCFTA’ll Increase Wealth Creation among Nigerians, says Buhari’s Aide
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector Matters and Secretary of the National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Francis Anatogu, said the inter-African trade policy would reduce poverty in Nigeria and boost the wealth-creating capacity of the citizens when it fully takes off. Read More

UBA, GTCO, Others Lift Market Turnover by NGN 14.8 Billion
Heavy transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Access Holdings lifted the volume of shares traded last week, as a turnover of 917.2 million shares worth NGN 14.8 billion was recorded in 19, 513 deals by investors. Read More

NGX Intensifies Efforts to Attract Young Investors
The Nigerian Exchange has vowed to intensify efforts aimed at attracting young investors to the stock market and addressing perennial issues constituting disincentives to the financial technology firms in accessing the market. Read More

Underwriters see Digital Adoption as Expansion Option
Underwriting firms have expressed readiness to deepen insurance penetration through the adoption of digital channels. Read More