Kenya mulls $1 billion ‘debt-for-food’ swap to ease its burgeoning foreign debt portfolio
Kenya, which is East Africa’s biggest economy, had a total public debt equivalent to 67.8 per cent of its gross domestic product at the end of June this year, the Finance Ministry said in the document called an annual borrowing plan.
Top officials of Kenya Tea Development Agency face economic crime charges after detectives expose massive looting
KTDA is a private company collectively owned by over 600,000 smallholder tea farmers across 16 counties. These farmers are shareholders in 54 tea companies, which, together with 15 satellite factories, own KTDA Holdings and its eight subsidiaries.
Ratings agency Moody’s warns Kenya’s debt costs are sky-high as government leans of domestic money market
Kenya will hold another round of talks with IMF officials in September in a bid to clinch the programme, the central bank chief Kamau Thugge said last month.
Dire straits: Broke Kenya says it is partnering with private sector eliminate systemic corruption
Currently, there are 20 sectors under KLIF that comprise Kenyan citizens representing watchdog agencies, media, civil society, private sector, faith, professional bodies, regional and sub-regional bodies, development partners, executive, legislature, judiciary, transport, education, labour, county government, anti-corruption agencies, constitutional commissions, regulatory boards, financial services and enforcement.
With world’s highest school dropouts due to high cost of education, questions emerge whether Catholic Church should privatise its centres
The Catholic Church is the region’s largest non-governmental investor in education. Catholic schools have long been a pillar of affordable but high-quality education, especially for poor families.
Former president who ‘allowed the poorest of Zambians to get close to the corridors of power’ dies
Edgar Lungu suffered from a rare disorder that caused a narrowing of the food pipe, for which he had been treated in South Africa before. Shortly after he took office in 2015 he fell ill and underwent a procedure in South Africa, which the presidency said at the time was not available in Zambia.
Credit rating agency S&P downgrades Kenya on weaker fiscal and debt trajectory
The IMF board is expected to convene next month to approve a $600 million disbursement under Kenya’s $3.6 billion lending programme, which expires next year.
Floating of Ethiopian currency sets off volatility as hotel menus warn of ‘new price for every meal at any moment’
Many supermarkets in Addis Ababa are hoarding products in warehouses and only selling small quantities in their stores to escape punishment by city authorities, who have vowed to crack down on hoarders. Consumers who want to buy in bulk must pay inflated prices for products they are told to pick from warehouses.
Humanitarian aid trap: Somali official calls for state control over aid funds as ‘aid community actors are only accountable to themselves’
Budget support is justified, Ainte said, because the government is responsible for what happens in Somalia, even if the conflict means it does not control all of the country’s territory. Ainte did not specify which institutions might work with the government to programme any redirected money, though he mentioned it could be done by UN agencies.
Treasury: New economic repair plan submitted by Kenya to IMF set for review in August
The IMF did not immediately comment. The East African nation has a $3.6 billion IMF programme and the Fund had reached a staff level agreement on the seventh review of Kenya’s programme in early June.
