Author: NLM Correspondent

East Africans are watching their central banks as inflationary pressures push the continent’s and indeed the globe’s big economies to raise lending rates. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana have recently increased their central bank rates citing the need to promote macroeconomic stability. This comes barely a month after the US raised its central bank rate to one percent from 0.5 percent — the highest in over 20 years — also citing the need to combat the rising commodity prices. The UK, India, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are other developed economies that have raised…

Anne Kaluvu, a blockchain expert and lecturer at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya, says there is a lot of vested interest on blockchain in Africa currently. “I believe the efforts that Africans have shown in their creativity and openness to the technology is inspiring a lot of venture capitalists to salivate on what can happen if funds were availed in this market.” Nigeria, Seychelles, Kenya, and South Africa are the region’s blockchain darlings 96 percent of the funding went to Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Seychelles but it was in the first quarter of…

The instant currency exchange service offered by Grey enables its customers to have virtual international bank accounts for free Grey has announced the launch of its service to East Africa starting with Kenya in partnership with Cellulant). Its products, including foreign bank accounts, instant currency exchange, and international money transfers, are now available to Kenyan residents who sign up on Grey. In partnership with Cellulant, Grey has expanded its services into East Africa, kicking off with Kenya to address the difficulties of sending & receiving money abroad. Grey, a Y-combinator backed fintech startup, offers a unique international money transfer service…

Private equity firm AfricInvest has raised Sh47.9 billion in a new fund for investments in mid-sized companies in African countries including Kenya. Investors who took part in the funding include BII UK (formerly CDC UK), German investment fund DEG, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Dutch development bank FMO, IFC, and French development institution Proparco. The fund, dubbed AfricInvest IV, is the largest the firm has raised, eclipsing the Sh35 billion it raised from the previous flagship fund, AfricInvest III, which closed in 2016. It ordinarily caps investment per region in Africa at 35% of a fund, meaning East African investments…

Kenya’s mobile money use hit a new high of Sh1.82 trillion in the first quarter of 2021 as businesses fully recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest data released by the Central Bank of Kenya. The usage is an increase from Sh1.6trillion transacted during a similar period in 2021. Citizens transacted Sh687.3billion on the platforms in March, the highest amount ever in a month, the regulator noted. Most businesses in the country, including public transport vehicles, have increasingly adopted cashless transactions and e-commerce, giving a huge boost to the service with most transactions being conducted…

By NLM Writer Irony is a form of politics, to quote Franco Berardi. But even when it is not, often, irony and politics go hand-in-hand. This spectre defines the General Election in August – and, by extension, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s political legacy. Deputy President William Ruto has long maintained that the 2018’ handshake’ between President Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga derailed the Jubilee government’s development and governance track record. On his part, Mr Odinga insists that the Handshake helped resolve the political crisis that followed the disputed elections of 2017 – Odinga boycotted a rerun ordered by…

By Peter Wanyonyi On May 17, Sri Lanka was down to just one day’s supply of petrol. The country, beset by debt and unable to afford imports of fuel, food, cooking gas, or anything else, was in the grip of devastating riots and protests, as irate citizens burnt government vehicles and beat up government officials across the island. The island’s worsening economic crisis turned deadly: an MP was killed, ministers’ houses were torched, and hundreds were injured as violence spread across the island. The older Rajapaksa was once the toast of the nation. Serving as President of Sri Lanka from…

By Tolu Olarewaju Sub-Saharan African countries are the most ethnically diverse in the world. Within each African country there are more ethnic groups than there are in most of the world’s countries. In fact, the world’s 20 most ethnically diverse countries are all African. An ethnic group is a social group that shares a common and distinctive history, culture, region, religion or language. The reason for this diversity in sub-Saharan African countries is chiefly that almost all of them were carved into colonial territories without regard to ethnic boundaries. The region also accounts for 40% of the world’s extremely poor (around 276 million people who survive on less than Sh220 a…

By Jannie Rossouw Inflation is a process of sustained increases in the general price level over a period of time, typically 12 months. Inflation can be calculated for a country, for specific regions in a country and for different income and demographic groups, for instance, pensioners. These different calculations are essential because the spending patterns of regions and groups differ. That means that their rates of inflation also vary. Therefore, each household needs to understand its own inflation rate clearly. Some countries allow for the development of this improved understanding. For example, South African households can use an Internet tool…

By Chris Heitzig Aloysius Uche Ordu Leo Holtz Financial sanctions tend to hurt both the sanctioned and the sanctioner, but they also threaten to hurt countries that are financially interlinked with the sanctioned country. Recent sanctions levied on Russia by the United States and the European Union in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are disrupting global trade and financial networks worldwide, including Africa. The sanctions prevent US and eurozone banks, their foreign affiliates, and Russian banks based in the US and eurozone countries from facilitating dollar and euro transactions on behalf of Russian entities. The problem for Africa is…