Good Morning Africa

More than 20 countries in Africa are either at high risk or in debt distress. Debt service payments across the continent are projected to reach 26 billion dollars by 2025. At the Launch of the 2023 African Economic Outlook, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina highlighted Africa’s debt vulnerabilities and why the debt restructuring conversation needs to be all-encompassing.

The CEO of MVend, Bobson Rugambwa returns for our Meet The CEO series. MVend Limited recently received an E-Money issuer and remittances license from the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR), granting it the ability to offer digital wallets and mobile financial services.

Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world, contributing to 25% of global cocoa production. Coupled with Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana makes up one of the most prominent West African nations that deliver the majority of the world’s cocoa supply. Despite the critical role Ghana plays in providing the key ingredient to this worldly indulgence, however, the country is at serious risk of decreasin...

Africa's fintech sector has experienced substantial growth in recent years, with start-ups addressing a wide range of areas from digital payments and lending to insurtech and cryptocurrencies.   McKinsey & Company reports that between 2020 and 2021, the number of tech startups in Africa tripled to approximately 5,200 companies. Nearly half of these are fintechs, striving to disrupt and en...

The unprecedented expansion of the digital economy has opened up the question of how to mobilize tax revenues from both domestic and international transactions. African countries are formulating digital tax policies to levy both direct and indirect taxes on digital transactions. Monitarization of these transactions is hard because they are sometimes untraceable 

The Kigali International Financial Centre, a Rwandan institution facilitating international investment and cross-border transactions in Africa recently hosted the inaugural Inclusive FinTech Forum (IFF) The Forum's goal is to support financial inclusion and responsible fintech practices by encouraging conversations about technology and policy. Through these discussions, the event aims to make...

Unit trusts, otherwise known as Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) do just as they say; pool funds together for investment. While CISs in Uganda have been operational since the mid-90s, they have only gained momentum over the past six years with greater sensitization and today have a unit value of UGX 1.75 trillion invested in capital market instruments and comparing where Uganda stands to giants...

Ghanaian  President Akufo-Addo has taken another swipe at rating agencies. The President says the downgrades have led to countries being shut out of the international capital market which has had catastrophic effects on their economies.

The business community in Uganda has called for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism that will enable parties to a dispute to avoid lengthy and tedious court processes. At least 8 trillion Shillings is said to be tied in commercial disputes in different courts, and the business community says that this is holding back business operations and hurting the economy.

The Minister of Finance presented the budget and mentioned the main sources of revenues that the government is going to use to fund the budget but that's not all he also showed the challenges that the source of revenue is facing in the previous financial year.

In the last two years Ghanaian authorities and Rating agencies have not seen eye to eye. The Ghanaian authorities accused the agencies of being alarmist and a lack of reflection of what’s on the ground. In November last year,Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ghana deeper into junk territory,the second-lowest score at Moody’s. Both Standard & Poor's credit rating for Ghana stands at SD...

Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, Rwanda's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, presented a ($4.4 billion) budget. Kigali increased its spending plan by 5.6 percent from ($4.1 billion) the previous fiscal year. Rwanda will finance 63 percent of the budget through domestic revenues, while external loans will constitute 24 percent and external grants 13 percent. The budget for the fiscal year 2023/2...

Uganda's parliament has approved the government's plan to raise spending by 10 percent to Ush 52.73 trillion ($14.19 billion) in the 2023/24 fiscal year. The government has increased its spending plan by Ush4.606 trillion ($1.2 billion) from Ush48.13 trillion ($13 billion) in 2022/2023.A Key highlight of this budget is the 17 trillion shillings set aside for debt repayments for the FY  2...

It is budget season in East Africa. Many finance ministers will present their budget and how to finance it. The improvement of the tax-paying culture is critical  for African governments looking to self finance their budgets.

The Zimbabwean parliament has passed a "controversial" Patriotic Bill that criminalizes any citizen who meets with foreign diplomats or foreign government functionaries in terms of association, assembly, and speech.

The 2020 pandemic and the Ukraine war are some of the factors that have made the rise of consumer prices in some countries in Africa.

Some economic factors like interest rates are causing the economy of Ghana to slowly stabilize. Ghana needs to find new ways to balance their economy.

The increased digitisation of businesses and transactions across Africa has provided an opportunity to improve governments’ revenue collection and expand tax bases, which is particularly important for many governments in Sub- Saharan Africa that are faced with large informal economies.

Microfuse CEO Ivan Karugaba joins us for this episode and talks about creating solutions that solve Africa’s unique problems. He also speaks about why students need to be in touch with the needs of their different sectors. 

Between 15th May 2023 to date, the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) has been impounding trucks loaded with Maize flour, Wheat flour, Sorghum and other grain products on allegations of failing to pass the test for contamination with aflatoxin

The cost of energy in Ghana has led the country into debt. The power woes don't end there, there have been challenges with the tariffs, mismanagement of funds, embezzlement and other factors that have raised the country's cost of power causing the country to pay more than what is being produced which caused a deficit in the economy.

SMEs play a critical role in achieving targeted rates of economic growth and employment figures across Africa. The success of these SMEs has been hampered by the Tax regimes of the countries that they are operating them.

The country has now set about implementing ambitious structural reforms in the areas of tax policy, revenue administration, government expenditure and public financial management, as well as steps to address weaknesses in the energy and cocoa sector 

The national airline of Angola, has announced its financial results for the fiscal year 2022, revealing a remarkable increase in net profit compared to the previous year. The airline reported a net profit of 460.1 million kwanzas, equivalent to approximately USD$800,000, representing a substantial 30% overall growth compared to 2021.

The first $600 million tranche of a $3 billion, three-year extended credit facility from the International Monetary Fund has been received by the Government of Ghana. This first tranche is being used to stabilize the economy of Ghana and reduce the inflation rate that was starting to sky rocket.