KENYA

KCB first quarter profit jumps to Sh9.9 billion

KCB Group net earnings grew by more than half in the first quarter ended March, helped by higher interest and non-interest income and lower loan loss provisions.

The lender’s net profit in the period stood at Sh9.9 billion, up from Sh6.4 billion the year before.

Outgoing KCB chief executive Joshua Oigara said the results reflected resilience in a tough environment.

“During the quarter, the business showed sustained resilience backed by our proactive approach towards driving income growth, managing liquidity, conservation of capital, and cost containment,” said Mr Oigara.

“Furthermore, a relentless focus on our strategy has enabled us to maintain robust asset growth and deliver healthy return on our investments,” said Mr Oigara.

(Source: Business Daily)

ARM Cement creditors suffer Sh11 billion loss

Lenders and unsecured creditors of the collapsed ARM Cement lost Sh11.5 billion during the distribution of proceeds after the liquidation of the listed firm, filings by its administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) show.

Unsecured creditors such as Sayani Investments, which laid an aggregate claim of Sh9 billion on the firm, took the biggest haircut after only recovering 6.2 percent of this amount.

Secured lenders — largely banks such as Absa Bank Kenya and UBA Bank Kenya — were paid Sh4.98 billion out of their claims totalling Sh8.03 billion.

Preferential creditors, which have priority in being paid in bankruptcies, were compensated in full at Sh326.6 million.

(Source: Business Daily)

UGANDA

Afriland bank exits after two years of operation

Bank of Uganda has said Afriland First Bank has asked to voluntarily exit Uganda just slightly over two years after it was granted a licence in September 2019.

The bank, according to details with the Central Bank, has not administered any credit or loans in the 16 months it has been in Uganda.

This could partly explain its decision to exit, worsened by the difficult economic conditions induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While announcing the exit yesterday, Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego, said Afriland’s decision for voluntary liquidation was an outcome of strategic business review by the shareholders – Afriland Group.

(Source: Monitor)

TANZANIA

Samia: How Tanzania used IMF, AfDB loans to improve livelihoods

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has defended her usage of loans from multilateral lenders, telling an audience in Accra that the institutions were her country’s lifeline in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Samia, appearing on a panel alongside Presidents of Ghana, Mozambique and the Comoros, said the loans received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Fund (AfDB) helped her stabilise the economy, improve the quality of learning environment and expand the reach of clean water supply.

During the session, she hinted that she would keep going back to the lenders as the country targets crucial infrastructure such as airports, ports, roads and an expanded national airline.

“We have to raise our voice to the multilateral lenders to allow AfDB to access the SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) because those are going to benefit Africa,” she said, voicing support for AfDB’s call to have SDRs reallocated to Africa for countries to benefit directly.

(Source: The East African)

RWANDA

CHOGM should open up long-term business prospects

The final countdown to  Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has truly begun with less than a month left until the summit with final preparatory activities underway.

In readiness for the summit, senior officials from all the 54 Commonwealth member states have been meeting in London to finalise a policy document for the upcoming CHOGM 2022 slated for Kigali in June.

Over 5,000 delegates are expected to attend the Kigali meeting that is slated for June 20-25.

The meeting is expected to host over 30 heads of state who have confirmed their attendance, high-level government officials, business people and academicians among others.

The number and scale of visitors taking part in the summit is indicative of the opportunity it holds for the economy and players in it.

(Source: The New Times)

ETHIOPIA

Telecom Licence Wins Partnership Awards in UK

The telecom service licence which was issued to the Safaricom-led consortium wins the Best Utilities Project category of the 2022 Partnership Awards which was held in the United Kingdom.

The Awards took place on Thursday last week in London where the telecom service licence was selected to be the winner among five finalists for its introduction of the private sector as part of telecoms liberalisation project.

The Safaricom-led consortium was granted a telecom licence last year in a historic move that would end the State’s monopoly over the telecom sector.

(Source: 2merkato.com) 

SUDAN

USA sanctions Sudan companies ‘with links to Hamas’

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) revealed an expansive Hamas network, with one Hamas financier, Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh, operating and managing at least two Sudan-based companies, Agrogate Holding and Al Rowad Real Estate Development, in order to generate revenue for the Palestinian group.

Qafisheh, a Turkey-based Jordanian national, allegedly played an important role in transferring funds on behalf of various companies linked to Hamas’ investment portfolio. Qafisheh was involved in managing the operations and held key roles in several companies controlled by Hamas, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Sudan-based Agrogate Holding, and Chairman of the Board at Al Rowad Real Estate Development.

Both Sudanese companies have been assigned ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ status, pursuant to an executive order, stipulating that any linked accounts are prohibited from business in the US.

(Source: Dabanga)

ERITREA

Notable Achievements in Sustainable Development Goals

Since its independence, the story of Eritrea, a young country in sub-Saharan Africa, has been one of struggling to achieve sustainable development and equitable distribution of social services.

According to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report of 2015, Eritrea has achieved many goals and scored substantial and major progress in others. The health goals, most crucial to the other goals, are where almost all of the success stories in Eritrea are rooted. Eritrea’s success in the MDGs has been labelled exemplary in many instances, from which a lot of lessons could be learned.

A national review of the progress toward the SDGs is due to be published in September 2022. Being the first of its kind, the review reports on the work being done, the success achieved, the challenges faced and the overall dynamics of the past seven years in Eritrea’s endeavour to achieve the global goals.

(Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea)

SOMALIA

UAE Donates USD 9.6 Million To Somalia

The Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, Mohamed Hussein Roble, was present at the handover ceremony of USD 9.6 million to the Government of Somalia.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the UAE’s transfer of funds to the Federal Government of Somalia is part of the UAE’s role in assisting the people of Somalia.

The Minister of Finance, Abdirahman Duale Beyle, took over the money inside the Central Bank of Somalia, with the support of Prime Minister Roble, who thanked the UAE government.

(Source: Radio Dalsan)