Author: NLM Correspondent

Growth in fraud, cybercrimes and other economic crimes is expected to drive the legal services market in the forecast period. Due to the increasing prevalence of fraud, law firms globally will face increased demand for legal services. The global legal services market size is expected to grow from $713.12 billion in 2021 to $788.94 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6 percent. The growth in the legal services market is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities…

A new law to punish states that back certain Russian actions could have major implications for African countries. By Peter Fabricius A bill that would oblige Washington to punish African governments that abet Russian ‘malign’ activities on the continent is about to get Congressional ascent. The Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act passed the House of Representatives on April 27 by a huge, bipartisan 419-9 majority and is now sure to be passed by the Senate and become law soon. It would direct the US Secretary of State ‘to develop and submit to Congress a strategy and implementation plan outlining United…

By Kabakua Mbogori On May 13, 2022, the High Court of Kenya at Mombasa (Constitutional Petition No. E 032 of 2021) declared unconstitutional the failure by the government to disclose the contracts relating to the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway(SGR) signed with Chinese lenders. Two petitioners, Khelif Khalifa and Wanjiru Gikonyo, went to Court after their request for information on the SGR contracts were declined by the Attorney General (AG) and the Ministries of Transport and Finance. In its defence, the government primarily relied on non-disclosure clauses, the Official Secrets Act cap 187, and legitimate government interest to deny…

By Ali Amersi The Finance Bill 2022 was brought for its first reading on April 12, 2022, to provide for the scheduled break before the August 2022 elections. With the rising cost-push inflation, there is a need for the government to increase revenues, reduce bond yields, and increase interest rates. Therefore, through the Finance Bill, several changes have been introduced to increase taxes within the jurisdiction, such as increasing capital gains tax from 5 percent-15 percent. Vitally, large changes impact multinationals and Kenyan businesses conducting business within preferential tax regimes. Transfer pricing Transfer pricing, also called transfer cost, is where…

By Antony Mutunga To date the disruptions caused by COVID-19 are still being felt throughout the economy as many businesses struggle to stabilize and return operations to the norm. In fact, its impact led to Africa’s GDP to contract by an estimated 3.2 percent in 2020. This saw an estimated 55 million Africans pushed into extreme poverty as more than two decades of progress in poverty reduction was wiped out. According to an Economic Report on Africa (ERA2021), ‘Addressing Poverty and Vulnerability in Africa during COVID-19’, an estimated 12.6 percent more people were expected to fall into poverty in 2020…

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…