Latest news with #East Africa
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Gold, tourism and cash crop exports drive Tanzania growth
Tanzania reported steady foreign exchange flows from gold, tourism and cash crops in the second quarter of this year, a new central bank report shows. The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Monetary Policy Report for July stated that the enforcement of Section 26 (2) of the Bank of Tanzania Act, which bans the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions, had also significantly increased foreign currency flows through formal channels. BoT had estimated the quarterly growth at 5.5 percent during the second quarter, from 5.8 percent recorded during the first quarter, but says that indicators have continued to show a strong growth. Apart from the direct foreign exchange earnings, power supply and cement production mostly for local construction are supporting growth, the BoT report said. Electricity generation rose by 20.1 percent in the first quarter, largely due to hydroelectric output from the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project. Large-scale gold production and sales from small- and medium-scale producers through mineral marketing centres also recorded notable gains. BoT purchased 5.022 tonnes of gold valued at $554 million, surpassing its purchase target of $350 million from three local refining plants. Tourism also recorded significant growth, with 2.2 million tourists visiting Tanzania and injecting $3.83 billion into the economy. Inflation rates remained low, a situation the central bank attributes to prudent monetary policy and a continued moderation in non-food and energy prices. Headline inflation averaged 3.2 percent, remaining within the target of three percent to five percent and consistent with the convergence criteria set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC). Foreign exchange liquidity is expected to improve further in the second half of the 2025 through seasonal crop harvesting and an increase of tourists during the tourist peak season, June to October and December. The ongoing campaign to use the Tanzanian shilling for local transactions is expected to ease the demand for foreign currency and strengthen the shilling. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
3 days ago
- Politics
- Zawya
Uganda: President Museveni Meets East African Community (EAC) Secretary General
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni yesterday met and held fruitful discussions with the Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), H.E. Veronica M. Nduva, at State House, Entebbe. The two leaders discussed issues of mutual interest aimed at strengthening regional integration and cooperation among EAC member states. The meeting was also attended by Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of State House Uganda.
Zawya
5 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Uganda's foreign reserves rise by a third in past year, reversing slide
Uganda's foreign exchange reserves have risen by about one-third over the past year, a senior finance ministry official said on Tuesday, reversing a downward trend that the central bank had flagged as a concern. Gross reserves stood at $4.3 billion in June, equivalent to 3.8 months of import cover and up from $3.2 billion a year earlier, the finance ministry's Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi told a press conference. Ggoobi did not say why the East African country's reserves had risen, but in a March report on the state of the economy the central bank said it had stepped up foreign exchange purchases to boost reserves. "The bank has also employed various tools, including foreign exchange swaps and cross-currency repos and plans to start gold purchases to diversify reserves in 2025," the report said. The central bank's head of financial markets was not immediately available for comment. Uganda's economy has recorded strong growth in recent years, supported by oil-sector investments and infrastructure spending, but rising government debt and servicing costs have threatened the sustainability of public finances. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema. Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Potter)
Reuters
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Kenya swears in top electoral officials after president's approval
NAIROBI, July 11 (Reuters) - Kenya swore in a group of top electoral officials on Friday, hours after their approval by President William Ruto, filling essential positions which had long been left vacant in a country with a long history of contentious and often violent elections. The chairperson and six commissioners, who will serve for six years, took their oaths at a ceremony overseen by Chief Justice Martha Koome, local broadcast footage showed. "You are taking office at a time when our nation is undergoing a period of great reckoning, a moment when Kenyans, especially our young people, are expressing discontent, are expressing frustrations with public institutions," Koome said. The East African nation's next general election will be held in 2027, but Ruto is already under pressure from street protests led by young people dissatisfied with high living costs, corruption and police brutality. The speedy appointment of electoral officials was one of the rallying cries during protests last year. Chairperson Erastus Ethekon is a human rights lawyer and previously worked as Turkana County's top legal adviser. He has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Kenya. "My first and foremost loyalty is to the people of Kenya who hold the sovereign power," Ethekon said after being sworn in. "I wish to assure Kenyans that their voices will not only be heard, but they will also count during the coming elections." Ruto suspended four election commissioners in December 2022 after they rejected his victory in elections held earlier that year. The dispute proceeded to the Supreme Court, which upheld Ruto's win and rejected the commissioners' arguments that the vote-tallying process had been opaque. The appointment of new election commissioners had been delayed in part due to several legal petitions, which a high court dismissed on Thursday.
