According to Business Daily Beijing 87.08 percent of the money Kenya spent on interest payments to its bilateral lenders in the year through which ended in June 2019, went to China, compared to the figure of 81 percent a year earlier. Statistics from Kenya’s Treasury, which shows in part the cost of the nation’s loans to taxpayers, revealed that the interest payments made to banks owned by the Chinese Government accounted for 29.21 billion Kenyan Shillings of the 33.54 billion Kenyan Shillings total interest spend on bilateral loans which is a 7.5 percent growth over the 27.17 billion Kenyan Shillings…
Author: Tobey
According to the South Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kenya and South Sudan have both agreed to drop the visa fees for their citizens. In the past, citizens travelling between the two countries were required to pay a visa fee of $50 (5,397 Kenyan Shillings). That system will however come to an end in October. The agreement which was reached last week between South Sudan’s Interior Minister; Michael Chengjiek and the Interior Minister for Kenya; Fred Matiang’i, will allow the citizens of both two countries to travel between Kenya and vice versa, without paying visa fees. South Sudan’s Foreign Affairs…
Individuals in Kenya who are administrators of WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms might be required to pay for licenses in the not so distant future. That is if a bill by a Member of Parliament gets passed. The bill which is articulated in an amended section of the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and sponsored by Malava Member of Parliament (MP); Moses Injendi, is aiming to make administrators of Facebook Groups and WhatsApp groups pay for licenses from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). The bill reads, “The Commission may on application in a prescribed manner…
Business Daily Africa has revealed that Kenyan based construction company which specializes in the manufacturing and selling of cement and cement related products; East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has sacked all of its top managers in a restructuring plan that will see the company also sell 2,000 acres of its prime land in Mavoko, Machakos, in order to boost its finances. The company last week issued dismissal notices to 136 managers and supervisors. It however made it known that plans are underway to rehire some of the managers and supervisors. The rehiring will however be on the condition of…
According to Business Daily Africa, over 267,000 retail investors have sold their stakes in telecommunications giant; Safaricom since the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2008, this reversing the Kenyan government’s steps towards broadening ownership in Safaricom which is Kenya’s most profitable company. Stock market data shows that the number of investors who had between 1 and 100,000 shares reduced to 554,499 in July 2019 compared to the 822,122 figure which was the case in March 2009, leading to the net exits of 267,623 shareholders which amounts to 32.5 percent of the owners. The biggest exits were among those who…
According to reports, Kenya is seeking an out of court settlement for its maritime territory dispute with Somalia. The area being disputed is 100,000 square kilometres of water said to contain fish resources as well as hydrocarbons. The East African nation (Kenya) wants the maritime border to run along parallel latitude, South East of Kiunga. Somalia however, wants a diagonal line down the Kenyan Coast, a move which threatens to make Kenya a landlocked country and could lead to the nation losing 42% of its maritime territory. While the hearing for the case was initially scheduled to commence from the…
The latest Africa Wealth Report has revealed that Nairobi is Africa’s 6th wealthiest city, and constitutes almost 53 percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The report which was published by a Mauritius based AfrAsia Bank revealed that Kenya’s Capital (Nairobi) also known as the ‘Green City In The Sun’ commands a total of $49 billion (5.05 trillion Kenyan Shillings) of the East African Nation’s $93 billion (9.6 trillion Kenyan Shillings). Stated that, “Nairobi is the economic hub of East Africa and one of the fastest growing cities in the world. We expect it to break into top five cities…
Technology giant; Huawei is reportedly offering global developers $1.5 billion as an incentive for them to partner with the company and help build its software. The Deputy Chairman of Huawei; Ken Hu whole talking at an annual customer conference, made it known that the money is an investment into the technology giant’s already existing developer program and will be spread spread over the next five years. Huawei’s developer program was created with the main aim of attracting external parties to develop applications for the company’s services which include its computing platforms and future chip. With the launch of Huawei’s Harmony…
From Thursday the 26th of September 2019 (4 days before the 30th of September 2019 deadline) set by the Central Bank of Kenya Safaricom M-Pesa shops will no longer accept the old 1,000 Kenyan Shillings currency notes. The telecommunications giant via information sent to its regional outlets on Saturday the 21st of September announced that, “Safaricom will not take old notes after September 26, to allow us bank in time.” The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced 2 weeks ago that there are now enough new generation Kenyan Shillings notes in circulation, and has urged Kenyans to replace their old…
East Africa’s low cost airline; Jambojet has secured the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority’s approval to commence flights to Rwanda’s capital; Kigali. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jambojet; Mr. Allan Kivaluka, stated that the airline has also secured the rights to fly to Goma in DRC, as well as Mogadishu in Somalia. The low cost, pocket friendly airline acquired a new De Havilland Dash 8 – Q400 aircraft as well. The acquisition brings the total number of airplanes used by Jambi jet, to 6. The new De Havilland Dash 8 – Q400 aircraft is also the first of four aircrafts…
A report by the Airport Council International (ACI) World Air Traffic has ranked Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) of Kenya, as the second in the ‘Fastest Growing Airports (Handling over 250,000 metric tons of air cargo)’ category. In 2018 Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) handled over 342,000 metric tons of air cargo which is a 25% increase from 2017. The report by the Airport Council International (ACI) World Air Traffic showed the fastest growing airports in 2018 while recognizing top aircraft movements, the top airports for cargo, as well as passengers. The Airport Council International (ACI)’s World Air Traffic…
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has made it known that it has granted NIC Bank Kenya admission into the NSE derivatives market (NEXT), as a non executing member after the bank met the exchange’s membership criteria. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) through a statement announced that it will help NIC Bank Kenya offer custodial services to both foreign investors and domestic investors interested in participating in NSE Derivatives Market (NEXT). NIC Bank Kenya will in addition, enhance its settlement of derivatives market for custodial clients. The NSE Derivatives Market (NEXT) is the second derivatives market in Africa which offers investors…
According to the Kenyan Wall Street, Kenya Airways (KQ), has announced its suspension of its direct flights into Cotonou and Libreville. The move is aimed at increasing the airline’s efficiency by cutting its costs and will come into effect for the 14th of October 2019. Customers of Kenya Airways (KQ) who go to the two destinations and intend to do so after the 14th of October 2019, will be rerouted or rebooked to one of Kenya Airways (KQ)’s partners in order to ensure that there will be no disruption of their travel. Kenya Airways (KQ) in a statement to media…
Kenya’s Kisumu Port is set to commence operations as the 7 month period for upgrades which were in a bid to improve maritime activities at Lake Victoria, draws to a close. The upgrades which were carried out include the construction of the quayside, the concreting of the port yard, the repairing of the linkspan, as well as the repairing of the dry dock, the repairing of all roads which link to the port and the rehabilitation of all buildings. With Kisumu Port ready to bed in processing cargo, some of the additional facilities in place include mobile cranes, tractor trailers…
