FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUND UP

KENYA

• Unclaimed money has risen 23.07 percent after companies and public entities surrendered billions. The disclosure follows the end of the 2019 reporting period last 31 October 2019, when companies and public entities were expected to report and surrender uncollected monies to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority.
• Nairobi is one of the nine innovation hubs to watch globally in the coming year after climbing the world financial technology start-up ecosystem ranking by 42 positions. The country’s capital city was placed at 63 in the overall top 100 ranking in the Findexable Global Fintech Rankings 2020, a report published by research firm Findexable Limited.

TANZANIA

• The introduction of state-of-the-art digital systems for collection of taxes including the Electronic Tax Stamps management system for excisable goods is among milestones recorded by the Tanzania Revenue Authority this year. The digital stamps have been touted worldwide for curtailing cheating of taxes through under declaration as well as curbing manufacturing and importation of counterfeit products in markets.

ETHIOPIA

• Ethiopia has generated approximately USD 47.4 million in exports from nine public and private industrial parks that are operational across the country during the first quarter of the Ethiopian 2019-2020 fiscal year that started on 8 July.
• The Government of Saudi Arabia has provided a USD 140 million soft loan to the Government of Ethiopia supporting health and road construction projects.