Last month, from December 8-14, 2017, Rwanda celebrated its annual Green Growth Week. The week is part of the country’s efforts geared at achieving economic growth through sustainable resources utilisation as well as safeguarding the environment. Rwanda is one of countries, making consistent efforts in achieving green and sustainable economic growth. Green growth aims at fostering economic growth and development by ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which economies well-being relies. Green economic growth is part of the country’s developmental policies and some of endeavours include ban on use of plastic bags, maintaining minimum forest cover of 30 per cent, green funds and green projects, and enacting of the green development policies, among others. Again, Rwanda is committed to green economic Transformation. Rwanda’s green growth and climate resilience strategy was launched in 2011 as one of steps towards sustainable economic growth and to address challenge of climatic change. Important components of this strategy are green fund and green projects financed by green fund. The country has established a national environment and climate fund for financing green projects. It has thus developed a well-designed pathway for achieving green growth through various policies. Globally all countries are required to adopt green economic growth strategy as a part of sustainable economic development and meet challenges of climatic change. Recently, the World Bank asserted on making green growth inclusive through three pronged pathway. Prong one relies on inclusive green growth strategies to maximise local benefits. The second...

Infrastructure is crucial to Africa’s growth prospects. But it’s also hard to get right. Until now, policy-makers have focused on improving access to finance. But a consensus is developing globally that a major factor hindering infrastructure implementation is a lack of good governance and well-planned projects. This makes it crucial for African countries should plan for infrastructure and develop governance frameworks that facilitate inclusive and sustainable investment decisions. There’s certainly no denying the need for infrastructure development on the continent, as has been emphasised during the course of Germany’s G20 Compact with Africa initiative. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 35 per cent of the population has access to electricity. Access to modern transport has declined in the region over the past 20 years, and 23 per cent of the population still lacks access to safe water. Against this background, it’s understandable that the investment focus over the past 10 years has been on utilities and trying to improve access to electricity and water. For some countries this is a significant challenge. Ethiopia, for example, needs to spend 20 per cent of its GDP to meet its electricity Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and another nearly seven per cent to meet its water SDGs. That’s a major chunk of its GDP, particularly when you compare that the average investment in all infrastructure in Latin America stands at about 5.5 per cent. Ethiopia is not unique and such cases point to a significant underinvestment in economic infrastructure such as ports, airports and roads across...

MOMBASA Kenya’s tourism marketers on Thursday welcomed 576 tourists who have arrived at the Port of Mombasa aboard cruise ship, MS Nautica, marking the first cruise ship arrival to the country this year. Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) CEO Betty Radier said in a statement that the cruise ship arrived in the tourism resort city from Zanzibar and is scheduled to make a one-day stop before it sails onward to Mahe Island in the Seychelles. “The arrival of MS Nautica portrays the uniqueness of Mombasa as a port of call, especially considering that Mombasa is the only port in the region where disembarking passengers can get to go on safari within the short duration of their stop,” Radier said. She added that this was yet another major boost to the coastal region’s tourism sector. Kenyan authorities have vowed to develop and promote cruise tourism instead of relying solely on beach and safari for marketing. Kenya is a destination with diverse and rich tourism attractions and is today a renowned tourist brand in the world market. During their one day stop, the tourists were expected to visit Amboseli National Park and also tour various parts of Mombasa, including the iconic Fort Jesus, a historical site in Mombasa. The arrival of the cruise ship comes barely a fortnight after MS Silver Spirit, a luxury cruise ship with 472 passengers on board, made its maiden stop in Mombasa. Shimba Hills National Park, Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Park as well...

Kampala. The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the Bank’s 2018 borrowing programme for $8 billion (Shs28.6 trillion) to be raised from capital markets. Uganda is one of the countries that benefit from AfDB’s funds. AfDB has also shown a strong commitment to socially responsible investment programmes. The AfDB Green Bond programme facilitates the achievement of the bank’s corporate priority of green growth through the financing of eligible climate change projects. “We have stepped up our profile in the international capital markets and will continue to raise funds across the globe to provide cost effective resources to our clients” said Ms Hassatou N’Sele, the acting vice president finance of the AfDB Group. The AfDB high 5 operational priorities are: Universal access to electricity, agricultural transformation, economic diversification, regional market and access to social and economic opportunities. AfDB president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says these focus areas are essential in transforming lives. Source: The Monitor

Uganda plans to refocus its efforts on revamping its metre gauge railway in the medium term as Kenya’s delay in raising financing for the Kisumu-Malaba leg of its standard gauge railway will cause Uganda to defer its plans for at least three years. The EastAfrican has learnt that although the two countries have already agreed to synchronise their projects, the process is still riddled with challenges that will hold back building the $2.3 billion standard gauge railway from Malaba to Kampala. “We still have issues to sort out during 2018. I cannot answer when we will get financial closure for Malaba-Kampala. We need to first agree with Kenya on how quickly they can get financial closure for Kisumu-Malaba,” said Keith Muhakanizi, the Secretary to the Treasury and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Mr Muhakanizi could not give details of how much money government intends to use to revamp the existing railway, currently operating by Rift Valley Railways, but he insisted that the 2018/19 budget will provide funds for this purpose. “We are putting money in the budget for this. We have to do something about railways,” he added. Experts told The EastAfrican that even if finances for the Kisumu-Malaba and Malaba-Kampala are availed immediately, it would take another three years to get the project over the line from commencement of construction. No feasibility studies It is understood that a meeting that was to be held in Beijing in October to discuss the final funding proposal failed to materialise. “The ministers for...

When the Kenya Revenue Authority announced revenue collection of Sh4.1 billion above the target in 2011, the Treasury was understandably convinced the taxman was on top of its game. However, the impressive figures did not last. The authority fell a cool Sh10 billion below target the following year. And the taxman was far off the target in 2013 having missed the mark by a massive Sh85.9 billion. From then on, the common story about KRA has been that of missed targets with the latest shortfall being Sh6.5 billion. The persistent failure to meet revenue projections has come with far-reaching ramifications for the economy. The country has been compelled to borrow heavily from the local and international markets, a scenario that has partly sparked the current row over controlling lending rates. Banks, struggling to obtain deposits, have been raising the cost of loans to stay afloat. Because of the huge budget deficits, the Treasury has been disconcertingly piling debts and by May it had surpassed its annual domestic borrowing target by Sh49.2 billion with net domestic borrowing touching Sh446.6 billion. How is it possible that a largely manual KRA, with fewer taxpayers, less economic activities, and fewer income sources was able to surpass the target by such a high margin in 2011? Was the Treasury target too low? Have the country’s top economists been setting unrealistic targets for KRA?. Smart Company’s efforts to reach Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich for answers on whether the taxman is currently grappling with impossible targets...

Tanzania sold more goods to Kenya in the 10 months to October despite cutting back on consumption of locally made products. Data by Central Bank of Kenya shows that imports from Tanzania increased by 25.44 per cent to Sh13.264 billion in the January-October 2017 period compared to a year earlier. This came as Kenya’s exports to Tanzania in the period plunged to a 10-year low amid unresolved trade spats between Nairobi and Dar es Salam, hurting local manufacturers and traders. Exports to Tanzania in the period to October dropped 18.9 per cent to Sh23.38 billion with trade between the two countries remaining in favour of Kenya despite the gap narrowing. Tanzania is the fourth largest seller of goods to Kenya behind South Africa (Sh53.094 billion), Egypt (Sh28.868 billion) and Uganda (Sh27.490 billion). Kenya imported goods valued at Sh159.660 billion from Africa in the 10-month period, 43.02 per cent or Sh48.022 billion more than the same period in 2016. Kenya and Tanzania have had on-and-off trade disputes despite the two belonging to a common market which allows for free movement of goods, people, labour, services and capital within six member countries. Kenya largely imports wheat, textiles and clothing, hides and skin, oil seeds, vegetables, rice, paper and paperboard, footwear, wood, plastic and rubber, among other products from Tanzania. In recent years, traders have increasingly also been importing cooking gas through the Tanga and Dar es Salaam ports on grounds of cheaper costs and trucking it in through the Namanga border, prompting...

Three Kenyan factories have been ranked among the world’s best specialty coffee producers for 2017, putting farmers on the path to better earnings. Kabare AA, produced by the Kabare farmers’ cooperative society in Kirinyaga was ranked fourth on Coffee Review’s list of Top 30 with a score of 97 points out of 100. AA is the highest grade of Kenya coffee based on bean size and freedom from physical imperfections. Riakiberu AB came in at position 20 with 95 points. The coffee was produced by Kamacharia farmers’ cooperative society in Murang’a. And, Baragu farmers’ cooperative society in Kirinyaga was selected as the number 25 coffee of the top 30 list. The rankings were, however, a drop compared to 2016 when seven factories were ranked among the world’s best by Coffee Review, an online publication that analyses the quality of beans globally. According to Coffee Review, before roasting, this coffee from Baragu was kept for 65 days in barrels previously used to age bourbon whiskey. The review team said this coffee tied for the highest rating in a cupping of aged, casked and specially cured beans for Coffee Review’s May 2017 tasting report. The featuring of Kenyan coffee among the top in the world comes at a time when there are challenges in the sub-sector ranging from unclear government coffee policy and urban encroachment on prime coffee lands to chronically unstable weather. The famed Kenya coffee auction system and its participating cooperatives continue to produce some of the world’s most elegant...

Developers of the proposed Africa’s largest wind power plant in Kenya’s coast have opted to construct only a small fraction of the Sh253 billion mega-project after officials rejected its full capacity. Sweden-based VR Holding AB said they would build only eight per cent capacity of the planned 600-megawatt wind farm or just 50 megawatts. The firm had last year expressed interest in building a 600-megawatt project in the Indian Ocean waters bordering Ras Ngomeni in Malindi, but Ministry of Energy officials turned down the request citing lack of a framework for renewable energy projects of that scale. Kenya’s low electricity demand also informed the rejection of the offshore wind park, prompting the firm’s executives to move the project to neighbouring Tanzania in October, which shares the Indian Ocean coastline. “We will gladly work with the 50 megawatts as the government suggested and then hope to upgrade,” said Victoria Rikede, an executive at the company. “Tanzania is on and I’m really happy with the turn of events.” In rejecting the mega-project, Ministry of Energy officials reckoned that a huge power plant would leave the country with excess power that will only force consumers to pay billions of shillings annually for electricity not used. This would dim the government’s quest to deliver cheaper power through renewable sources. The authorities, upon receiving the application, had instead directed the Swedish company to construct a smaller capacity project of 50 megawatts. “The company was to give us a proposal for a smaller capacity plant of 50...

The first consignment of 52 export containers ferried on the standard gauge railway (SGR) arrived at the Mombasa port on Monday. Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina said most of the containers were exports by logistics firm Bolore Africa. “Bolore has 48 containers loaded with coffee and French beans while the others belong to three companies and contain wood carvings and animal skins,” he told the Business Daily in a telephone interview. Commercial operations of the freight train service started on Monday last week after six months of testing. The first train left Mombasa with a full load of 216 containers. However, the second train was delayed following a lack of enough cargo. The corporation has since announced it had entered into agreements with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to direct more cargo on the trains. This would entail changing documentation for Nairobi and upcountry cargo to be destined to Nairobi Inland Container Depot. Mr Maina said Transport and Infrastructure secretary James Macharia at the weekend approved a three-month promotional tariff that would allow shippers to receive their cargo and containers returned to the port at a flat rate. “The promotional tariff of $645 (about Sh66,435) and $843 (Sh86,829) for a 20-foot and 40-foot container respectively includes railage and other handling charges by the shippers including the return of empty containers by Kenya Railways to Port Reitz Railway Station or the port,” he said. Clearing and forwarding agents, as well as importers, had raised concern that return of...