For the first time in almost two decades, one U.S. dollar is equal to one euro.

After nearly 20 years of the euro being superior to the dollar, both currencies reached parity on Tuesday, July 12.

As at Tuesday, 1 EUR equals 1 USD. The shift means European companies and consumers will pay more for the goods and services they import, while European exports become immediately cheaper in international markets. The euro has experienced a dramatic loss of value since early February when it was worth over $1.13.

It comes as the European Union has seen inflation exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

EU and U.S. sanctions have reduced the flow of Russian oil into Europe, and the currency block is much more dependent on Russian energy than the U.S.

The euro first hit price parity with the dollar in December 1999, just less than a year after its debut at $1.17. For a turbulent three years surrounding the 2001 dot-com crash, the dollar remained stronger than the euro. Worried investors treated the US currency as a safe-haven asset to hold during the burst of the tech bubble. But after 2003, the euro has remained stronger than the US dollar.

The parity of both currencies is a sign that investors are worried that a looming economic crisis will seriously affect Europe.

Malawi is among African countries to benefit from EUR62 million, which the European Investment Bank (EIB) Global has released to accelerate growth through financing of technology start-ups, rural microfinance, agriculture and businesses affected by Covid-19.

EIB President, Werner Hoyer, confirms the importance of Africa – EU cooperation to back African private sector ahead of first EU-AU summit since pandemic.

Hoyer, in a statement dated 16 February 2022, says financing the private sector investment across Africa is essential in tackling the impact of Covid and unlock sustainable growth. The announcements come ahead of the first physical Africa-Europe summit since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the statement, the six new partnerships will support targeted private sector investment including high-tech innovation, rural microfinance and business financing from Cameroun to Malawi.

Speaking ahead of his participation in the EU-AU Summit in Brussels, Hoyer said: “Ensuring that African startups, entrepreneurs, smallholders and businesses can harness new opportunities, create jobs and expand is essential for Africa, Europe and the world. Over the last six decades the EIB has worked with financial partners across the continent to back Africa’s private sector.

Today, as EIB Global, we are unveiling innovative high impact cooperation that will back businesses across the continent, strengthening economic resilience to the impact of COVID-19, and building a better future. The EU-Africa Business Forum ensures that the impact of scaling up sustainable private sector investment across Africa is recognised ahead of the EU-African Union summit.”

Speaking at the EU Africa Business Forum, Thomas Östros, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) said he was “very proud to announce six new agreements in the private sector.” Ostros said the deals are a result of this new Team Europe spirit of cooperation to make every development cent count.

“As the EU bank, we are committed to supporting entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes across the continent of Africa“ He added: “Partnership is at the heart of our work and even more so since we launched EIB Global, our new specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance. Our investments aims to benefit all parts of society: big cities, small villages, vulnerable regions, entrepreneurs, and of course women and girls,” he said.

EIB Global is supporting two of Africa’s leading technology investors, Atlantica Ventures and Janngo, through the Boost Africa initiative. This is a joint initiative with the African Development Bank (AfDB), with financial support from the European Commission and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Secretariat (OACPS) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).

The EUR 12.5 million financing for Atlantica will support EUR 50 million of new investment in innovative technology start-up companies across the continent and expand specialist venture capital financing for promising entrepreneurs.

The new EUR 10 million EIB commitment to Janngo will increase investment in early-stage tech and tech driven start-ups to improve access to healthcare, education and financial services across Africa and allow Africa tech companies to create jobs for young people and women.

Ensuring access to finance in remote and fragile communities

Thousands of African entrepreneurs will benefit from local currency microfinance in rural areas where access to financial services remains limited through new EIB cooperation with the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation and the European Solidarity Financing for Africa Fund (FEFISOL).

The latest EUR 10 million partnership between the EIB and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation will accelerate social inclusion and strengthen economic resilience to the pandemic, and is expected to support more than EUR 36,000 jobs and enable 98,000 new loans to female entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities across Africa.

The EUR 5 million new financing for FEFISOL will allow smallholder farmers currently excluded from mainstream financing to access microfinance through small rural microfinance institutions and fair-trade certified agricultural cooperatives in 25 African countries.

The new European Solidarity Financing for Africa Fund, FEFISOL 2, builds on the successful support for rural microfinance delivered through the EIB-backed FEFISOL I, over the last decade.

According to the statement, s

mallholders across Malawi will benefit from EUR 12.5 million EIB backing for long-term agricultural financing in cooperation with First Capital Bank and the European Union.

The new programme, also supported by an EU grant, is the latest in a regional agricultural financing initiative. It will allow farmers in Malawi to modernise equipment and withstand challenges of a changing climate.

A EUR 12 million COVID resilience business financing initiative, also announced today, with the Commercial Bank of Cameroun will support manufacturing, services, agriculture and trading companies across the central African countries impacted by the pandemic by providing long-term financing essential for business expansion.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

Since the pandemic EIB has provided more than EUR 8 billion for private and public investment across Africa. The scheme is part of the EIB’s increased engagement across Africa to ensure that countries and companies can better face unprecedented health, business and trade challenges linked to COVID-19.The European Investment Bank is the world’s largest international public bank, owned directly by the 27 European Union member states.

EIB Global is the EIB Group’s new specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance. EIB Global is designed to foster strong, focused partnership within Team Europe, alongside fellow development finance institutions, and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to local people, companies and institutions through our offices across the world.

January is here and we know it’s like the longest month of the year after spending a lot to have a detty December.

We’re just on the first day of January and you shouldn’t throw caution to the wind all in the name of celebrating the new year when spending since you still have 30 more days to go. After spending a lot of money on ‘detty December’, you might have to take a new approach in saving some money during the month that seems to be the longest in the year.

In case you’re wondering how to go about your finances this month, we’ve got you covered. With a little creativity, you can cut costs significantly this month and get your finances back in track.

Here’s how to save costs in January.

1. Start the year with a fresh budget

Create a new budget but this time, streamline the budget to a certain amount. Ensure that this budget is as real as possible and include only important things. Exclude things you can do without for now. It’s also important you follow through with this budget.

2. Tread carefully with promo sales

Promo sales in January are quite tempting and will make you spend without noticing. Unless you’re buying grocery items or household products that have been discounted and that you need on a day-to-day basis, chances are that you’re being tricked into spending money you can barely spare on things you don’t need right now.

3. Cut down on your outings

You don’t have to attend every party or hang out or see every movie in January. If you have to go out, pick a place where you would be able to hang out for free with friends. You would save a lot by avoiding these outings.

4. Save money on food costs

Eating out will make you spend more in January. You can cut down on your food costs by cooking all your meals. Avoid buying foods in restaurants, it would save you a huge amount of cash. Make your fruit juice at home, just make sure you spend less on food and you’re good!

Global Business Machines (IBM) has reported it will part into two public organizations. The move is an endeavor to move its concentration to higher-edge organizations; like distributed computing and man-made brainpower.

Another organization zeroing in on heritage IT framework will be named, and also spun off one year from now. IBM shares shut almost 6% higher after the declaration. It denotes the most recent move by the world’s first huge processing firm; to broaden away from its customary organizations.

“We stripped systems administration, harking back to the 1990s; we stripped PCs, harking back to the 2000s, we stripped semiconductors around five years prior in light of the fact that every one of them didn’t really play into the coordinated offer;” Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said.

Mr. Krishna was the key modeler behind IBM’s $34bn (£26bn) securing of cloud organization Red Hat a year ago. At present, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft rule the market for cloud administrations.

“To drive development, our methodology must be established in the truth of the world we live in and the future our customers endeavor to construct. Today, crossover cloud and AI are quickly turning into the locus of business, exchanges; and after some time, of figuring itself,” Mr. Krishna wrote in a blog entry.

IBM, which presently has in excess of 352,000 specialists, said it anticipates that the partition should cost $5bn.

IBM’s inheritance organizations will be spun off into another organization called NewCo. This will include its “Oversaw Infrastructure Services” division. Experts said the move is an endeavor to zero in on more productive plans of action.

“IBM is basically disposing of a contracting, low-edge activity given the ripping apart effect of computerization and cloud; veiling more grounded development for the remainder of the activity,” Wedbush Securities expert Moshe Katri said.

Mr. Arvind said NewCo will have $19bn in yearly income and will likewise serve 75% of Fortune 100 organizations when it makes its offer market debut. NewCo will have 90,000 representatives and will also get a lasting name one year from now, alongside an offer market posting.

“Survival is based on spending money on things that you need, not things you don’t need because some things can wait until a season of prosperity.” A lot of poor people spend more than what they earn. Instead of keeping things simple and spend less, they end up overspending hence they end up suffering from lifestyle inflation?

What is Lifestyle Inflation? Lifestyle inflation refers to an increase in spending when an individual’s income goes up. Lifestyle inflation tends to become greater every time an individual gets a raise and can make it difficult to get out of debt, for instance, If you’ve been given a 10% raise, the natural thing to do is to add it you’re spending. Increasing your quality of life when you can’t afford to. Instead, use that extra 10% to pay off your debt or find a way to invest it

Financial wisdom is something that lacks amongst the poor, in this article am going to share with you 5 various ways in which the poor waste their money, the point of this article is not to make you feel wrong about the way you spend your money. It’s to make you think about how you spend your money. When you know what you can afford, you may find yourself climbing up the socioeconomic ladder.

#1 the Use of Credit Cards 

Research has shown that people are often willing to pay double the price for an item when using a credit card as opposed to cash because it is less psychologically painful to swipe a credit card than it is to physically hand over cash. Credit can psychologically stimulate the desire to spend money.

#2 Impulse Buying

In most supermarkets, stores and many retail outlets you often find candy bars, lighters and many other stuff on the checkout lane, These are known as impulse purchases and are placed strategically (and sometimes with a higher price than similar things in the store) so you buy them on an impulse, impulse purchases are one of the most significant ways the poor waste their money on, and should be avoided by all means.

#3 Beautification

Beauty is everyone’s desire, but, unfortunately, most poor people feel that the rich look more attractive, especially women, they are in a constant believe that this is true because rich women can afford to dye their hair regularly, wear the best makeup, and spend hours in the salon but in reality this is not true, most rich women don’t do this. If you meet a female CEO at a local business, you may find she has very little makeup on and she’s not wearing any manicure.  

The myth that poor people believe when it comes to the rich and how they spend their money, looking beautiful is based on the way celebrities look and not the typical entrepreneur woman. And because of such a mentality, they end up spending more than they earn, just to keep up with appearances.

Because most poor people have no knowledge and understanding of the key principles of success they strongly believe that what’s holding them back is spiritual and only fortune-tellers and Psychics can guide them on which path they should take, but it is unfortunate, that many people are scammers and just looking to make a few quick dollars at their expense. Most Poor people fail to accept the fact that one’s future depends on the life choices one makes and if one wants a good prospect they need to make good choices.

#5 Gambling

Poor people spend exponentially more on scratch tickets, on slots and casinos than everybody else. They all dream of winning big. The average person in Australia loses just under $1000 per year to gambling. 70% of the UK population plays the lottery regularly.

A 2012 study at Yale University found that “Those in the lowest fifth in terms of socioeconomic status had the “highest rate of lottery gambling (61%) and the highest mean level of days gambled in the past year (26.1 days).” This is indeed a habit that you should restrain from for it is the main reason why most poor people lose and waste their money,.

It’s now over ten years since the mysterious figure, or figures, hiding behind the name Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin to the world. In the time since then, cryptocurrencies have started to spring up with incredible frequency with many already falling by the wayside and others emerging as clear leaders. In the latter group, there’s Bitcoin, of course, along with Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin.

It was probably back in 2018 when most of the world became fully aware of this new kind of currency, with the incredible rise in the Bitcoin’s value making headlines and many early investors growing very rich, at least on paper. The currencies, and the blockchain technology that sits behind them, also started to attract the attention of banks and other financial institutions, who saw that this could be used to make their own systems more efficient leading to faster, cheaper transactions.

However, despite all these points in favour of cryptocurrencies, they are still yet to take off to any significant degree. One of the reasons for this is that they have a – perhaps unfounded – reputation for being used for illegal activities. Another is that governments in many parts of the world are proving reluctant to acknowledge them.
But things may be changing, and some believe that the huge continent of Africa may well be where cryptocurrencies could start to really take off.

No less an expert than Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, pronounced in a tweet in December 2019, “Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!). Not sure where yet, but I’ll be living here for 3-6 months mid-2020.”

The millennials’ choice

It’s certainly true that many of the continent’s millennials have seized the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrencies and have shown an insatiable appetite for picking up any Bitcoin trading tips that they can find online. By learning the ins and outs of trading, younger people can supplement their incomes, which is especially important for those with lower-paid jobs. The fact that they are a generation who may never have known a world without the internet also puts them in a perfect position to grasp the opportunity of this novel investment opportunity.

Having said this, many observers agree that the main way that cryptocurrencies are going to enter the mainstream is if they are actually used as currencies. In this way, momentum will gather and, eventually, they may be seen as a genuine alternative to fiat currencies such as the US Dollar, GB Sterling and, of course, the Kwacha. The fact that Africa consists of so many different countries, each with their own currency, has created the perfect environment for the adoption of cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments. This will become increasingly relevant following the introduction of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which came into force in May last year and which defines trading agreements between 24 of the continent’s countries.

The Libra effect

“facebook” (CC BY 2.0) by Book Catalog

Another factor which may well have a very beneficial effect for cryptocurrencies in general is the introduction of Libra by Facebook in 2020. The social media giant has already declared that it will focus on the developing world first with its cryptocurrency. The facts that it is backed by such a big name as Facebook and that VISA and Mastercard are also going to be affiliated with Libra can only act in its favour.

What is undoubtedly going to be very important is for Facebook, as well as any other cryptocurrency provider, to start developing and deepening their relationships with the many governments and their national banks across the continent. At present, there is still fairly deep distrust among some countries with others advising caution. For example, as recently as last May, Dr Dalitso Kabambe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, issued a warning that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and should certainly not be regarded as an alternative to the Kwacha.

This isn’t to say that the situation may not change in the future. For an example of how opinions can be reversed, one only has to look at Zimbabwe – admittedly a country with some fairly serious economic issues to be overcome. Despite the national bank’s stated opposition to cryptocurrencies, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who undoubtedly wants to be seen to be addressing the problems left by Robert Mugabe, aims to introduce a new official currency, which may well turn out to be a decentralised one like Bitcoin. There are also countries who have already started to embrace cryptocurrencies, like Zimbabwe’s neighbour South Africa, perhaps in reaction to the volatility of the Rand.

Looking ahead

So, while it’s fair to say it’s early days with regards to the future of Bitcoin et al. in Africa, there are certainly promising signs. How soon they will take to come to full fruition, only time will tell.

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism has stressed the need for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to take the packaging process of their products seriously as one way of attracting people to utilize the Buy Malawi Strategy.

Public Relations Officer for the ministry, Mayeso Msokera told Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Tuesday that local producers in the country are failing to penetrate the market due to poor packaging of their products.

Msokera added that local companies are also charging high prices on their products, a thing which makes more people not to buy local products in line with the strategy.

“Some good quality products have been let down by poor packaging materials which mostly affects SMEs in the agro industry; as a country we have more work to do because poor packaging affects domestic sales and also the ability to export,” Msokera said.

“As a ministry, we have noted that local companies pricing strategy is also affecting SMEs since Malawians are highly price sensitive. Some producers including retailers and distributors put their profit margins unreasonably too high which slows down sales and market penetration,” added Msokera.

However, Msokera said despite poor quality packaging and high pricing of the products, there has been a good response from Malawians and local producers in line with the use of the strategy after four years of its introduction.

“At first, we had a slow start but now both producers and consumers are embracing the Buy Malawi Strategy as they now understand what it is all about. Most companies now know and understand that participating in the strategy implementation can help them not only improve on sales but also improve on so many other aspects of their products or services.

“Currently about 60 local producers have subscribed to the strategy and the number could have been more than that but it is the criteria that we use that keeps some producers out,” he added.

President Professor Peter Mutharika launched the BMS on March 18, 2016 in a bid to build competitiveness of enterprises, leading to greater economic growth and increased welfare for all Malawian citizens.

Zambia has legalized the production and export of cannabis for economic and medicinal purposes, the government’s chief spokeswoman said on Monday, becoming the latest country to shift its position on the drug to give its finances a boost.

real weed

The approval for the export of cannabis was granted at a special cabinet meeting on Dec. 4, spokeswoman Dora Siliya said in a statement. It was not clear from the statement if the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Zambia had been legalized.

The southern African country joins a host of nations that have legalized, or are considering legalizing cannabis to some degree, as attitudes towards the drug slowly change and investments in its medical benefits grow.

Zambia’s motivation is rooted in a hefty fiscal deficit and growing debt burden. Growth in external debt to $10.5 billion at the end of 2018 from $8.74 billion a year earlier has raised fears the country is headed for a debt crisis.

Zambia cut its 2019 growth forecast in September because bad weather had hit crop production and electricity generation while the International Monetary Fund has said growth is likely to remain subdued over the medium term.

Zambian opposition Green Party President Peter Sinkamba, who has been advocating the export of cannabis since 2013, said the move could earn Zambia up to $36 billion annually.

“Depending on how properly this is done, this could just change the face of Zambia’s economy,” Sinkamba told Reuters. “This could be a blessing or a curse, like diamonds and gold, depending on the policy direction.”

Siliya said the government had directed the ministry of health to coordinate the issuance of the necessary licenses while a technical committee made up of ministers from a range of departments would come up with guidelines.

Source : SDE

Rwanda has built its first-ever gold refinery at to process gold from all over Africa and halt raw minerals from leaving the continent.

The ‘land of a thousand hills’ has set up its first-ever gold refinery with a capacity to process gold from around Africa.#iLoveRwanda

Pointing out that Africa loses a lot of revenue by exporting raw resources, Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry said, “This is also to showcase that we can add value to raw materials and investments that have been made.”

Nigerian electricity generation companies (GenCos) have threatened to shut down power generation across the country if the federal government does not intervene and call the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) to order.

The GenCos through the Executive Secretary of their umbrella group, the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Joy Ogaji, said in Abuja on Sunday that the federal government must prevail on the NBET to rescind its insistence on its “unilateral and arbitral directive.”

In September, NBET had directed all thermal GENCos to comply with its directive to submit their respective board approvals or resolutions affirming commitment to pay 0.75 per cent administrative charge on all collated and submitted gas and transportation cost invoices to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for payment.

Bulk Trader is a public liability trading licensee established by the federal government as a creditworthy off-taker of generated electricity in support of private sector investment in the NESI.

The support, in the form of bearing the off-take market and default risks such as liquidity/payment risks, was the incentive GENCOs required to invest in the transition electricity market.

Mrs Ogaji told reporters the main reason the GENCOs are considering shutting down their plants was due to the inability of NBET to honour the agreement it had with them.

She said the GenCos were facing serious liquidity challenges due to NBET’s breach of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) terms of 100 per cent payment for power generated and supplied.

NBET is licensed and regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to undertake bulk purchase and resale of electricity in the Transitional Electricity Market.

The APGC Executive Secretary accused NBET’s management of constituting itself as “the Alpha and Omega” authority “that has the capacity to make or mar generation businesses in the country”.

She said the situation is so bad “that to remain in business and provide power to Nigerians, GenCos are expected to plead, lobby, and beg to be paid for power generated and utilised.”

“NBET has now reduced its role to blackmailing and threatening GenCos investors and chairmen who have refused to concede to NBET’s illegal demand of a 0.75 per cent charge on invoices paid to gas suppliers.”

She said having rejected the 0.75% charge demanded from the GenCos as an administrative charge for payment of gas invoices, it was expected that the issue was rested.

“It is sad that NBET has now reduced its role to blackmailing/threatening GenCo investors/Chairmen who have refused to concede to NBET’s illegal demand of a 0.75% charge on invoices paid to gas suppliers.

“NBET has clearly threatened not to release payments due GenCos until they accede to NBET’s request, urging them to agree for a quid pro quo with the 0.75 per cent administrative charge.

“The situation is truly grave and completely unprecedented as NBET has completely shed its role as a licensee of the industry and has taken on some sort of regulatory role. The entity is almost conducting itself in a manner that suggests that it is above the law.
“This singular action by NBET may lead to the shutdown of power supply by GenCos, who have unanimously agreed to call the bluff of NBET,” Mrs Ogaji said.

The official said the matter had been reported to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) “and other high authorities”, including the vice Chairman of its board, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) as well as the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN).

She called on the federal government through the board Chairman of NBET to review the professional conduct of the management of NBET and ensure that business etiquettes were instilled.

“In a nascent electricity market like ours”, she said “there were processes entrenched in the Market Rules and other applicable Codes that should be followed in dealing with sectorial issues at all times.”

“The market rules”, she said, “do not leave room for arbitrariness, duress or undue influence.”

ZIMBABWE – It seems like the Zimbabwe government cannot get anything right as far as its cash problems are concerned.

On Tuesday, the much-vaunted new Zimdollar notes were finally introduced to cash-starved citizens but there was little joy for citizens as the notes ran out at most banks soon after they were released.

The new bank notes were seen as a precursor to the return of the local currency, which was withdrawn in 2009 due to hyperinflation that peaked at a record 89,7 sextillion percent. A Z$100-trillion note, the highest denomination at the time, could buy just a handful of groceries.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya played down renewed fears that the new notes will further fuel the country’s galloping inflation, at 300% it is the second highest in the world after Venezuela.

It was  also hoped that the new banknotes would help alleviate Zimbabwe’s reliance on US dollars, which are also in short supply. Zimbabwe ended the US dollar as its official reference currency in June and said it would introduction new notes to back up the reintroduced local currency from November.

On Monday, Mangudya said an initial Z$30m (ZWL) would be injected into the banking system from Tuesday with the central bank expected to continue “drip-feeding” the notes for the next six months.

The new Z$2 and Z$5 notes and coins were slated to start circulating on Monday but the central bank brought forward the release date to Tuesday.

Early on Tuesday morning, long queues formed at most banks in Harare as people jostled to get hold of the new notes.

Many were left disappointed as the majority of the banks issued withdrawal limits of Z$100 Zimbabwean dollar (ZWL) equivalent to just US$5.

Cash at most banks ran out in the morning and by the afternoon there were hardly any automated teller machines still dispensing the new notes in Harare.

Bank managers told Business Day that depositors needed to queue from as early as 5am in the days ahead to get cash, in a sign that the familiar woes of spending hours and nights queuing for cash are not over yet.

Harare-based economist Christopher Mugaga said the new notes would not solve the country’s deep-seated economic problems.

“There is nothing much that will change, expect maybe a reduction in the practice of selling cash,” he said in reference to the rampant exchanging of cash for mobile money, often  at a premium of up to 60%.

“Our economic problems will still remain because we have a huge trade deficit that results in shortage of foreign currency. There is also a lack of investor confidence so these big problems will not go away just because we have new notes in circulation,” said Mugaga.

Business Times

The Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust (ZIHT) and British firm Eco Equity have planted the first legal cannabis crop. The companies can grow cannabis after paying a license of about US$46, 000 each.

The first steps in the decriminalization of cannabis were taken by the country in 2018. The move was made to capitalize on the opportunities that exist in the multibillion-dollar industry.

Six varieties of industrial cannabis have been planted on a 10-hectare site belonging to the Harare Central Prison on the eastern outskirts of the capital. The country’s Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister, Perrance Shiri, attended the event.

“This project is the first of its kind in the history of our country,” he stated.

“This pilot project will provide essential knowledge or information for the successful production of this crop. The benefits that will be derived from the production of industrial hemp are enormous and varied.”

SOUTH AFRICA- President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday opened South Africa’s first smartphone production plant at the Dube TradePort in Durban.

Ramaphosa described the Mara Phones plant President Ramaphosa as a great moment in South Africa’s drive to be a producer of goods.

“The highlight of my visit is the Mara smartphone plant. At the investment conference, the chief executive of Mara Phones Ashish Thakkar was willing to set up the factory at the Dube TradePort. The smartphone plant is an outstanding world-class facility. The facility is equal or even better than smartphone factories. With the launch of the smartphone factory we have made history.

The launch of the plant shows that South Africa is indeed a place where people should invest,”  said Ramaphosa.

Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder of the Mara Group, initially announced the company’s intentions to build affordable smartphones in South Africa during the inaugural South Africa Investment Conference convened by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018.

He is the founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, and he is a co-founder of Atlas Mara. Thakkar was born in the United Kingdom, but he moved to East Africa as a teenager before founding Mara Group, a Pan-African conglomerate, at the age of 15.
Ashish J. Thakkar is a Rwandan-based entrepreneur.

MaraGroup’s operations and investments span 22 African countries.

The smartphone company, which was established in 1996, opened its first smartphone factory in Kigali, Rwanda last week.

Mara Phones will have an initial workforce of 313 in year one but plans to increase its staff complement to 1 369 in the next five years.

At the moment, the plant has 200 formerly unemployed engineering graduates, 66 percent of whom are women and 92 percent youth.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said the Mara smartphone plant was one of the successes of the Ramaphosa’s investment conference drive last year.

“We will continue to support foreign and local investors to ensure that they succeed. Make eThekwini more vibrant. Investment conference has yielded the result of SA’s first smartphone production plant,”
said Zikalala.

Ramaphosa launched his drive last October to attract $100 billion foreign direct investment into South Africa by 2024.

In March, the SA Reserve Bank said that investments direct investment inflows in South Africa had increased to R70.7 billion from R26.8 billion in 2017.

Mara Phones chief executive Ashish Thakkar said the company had delivered on its promise to open a smartphone plant in South Africa.

“It is Africa, South Africa and Mara’s dream that has been fulfilled. We have finally launched smartphone factor that will create jobs for South Africans. It is high tech manufacturing in South Africa by South Africans,”
Thakkar said.

“This our first investment in South Africa and it has been phenomenal. We are proud to contribute to South Africa’s fourth industrial revolution. The project has happened in record time due to support form the government. Let’s celebrate Africa and South Africa.”

The company will roll out 200 Mara stores across the country. Part of the revenue from sales will be used to support youth empowerment, women empowerment and job empowerment.

Proudly SA chief executive Eustace Mashimbye said the opening of the plant represented an opportunity for the replacement of nearly 4 million smartphones that the country imported in 2017 alone.

“The establishment of Mara’s smartphone production plant here in South Africa sends a very strong message of confidence for local manufacturing in our country,”
Mashimbye said.

“This operation has an extensive and diverse supply chain for which Mara has committed to sourcing from other local enterprises, creating many much-needed jobs in the process. We need many more Maras to see the advantages of setting up bases in South Africa, and of being part of the Buy Local movement.”

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) Monetary Policy Committee has announced that a new currency will be introduced in November.

According to the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee member, Eddie Cross, the new currency would be introduced in a move to curb the current cash shortage in the country.

“I commend President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa for taking a bold decision to freeze accounts of companies suspected of fueling the instability of exchange rates,” said Cross.

He said that what is needed now is to act on such economic saboteurs.

Zimbabwe has been using the Zimbabwe dollar which became dilapidated in 2009 after the country experienced severe inflation.

The Zim dollar was replaced by foreign multi-currencies including the US dollar, the British pound, the South African rand, the Botswana pula, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan.

The US dollar remained the dominant currency but became scarce over time and pushed the central bank to introduce bond notes and bond coins in 2016 to plug the resultant cash gap.

The bond notes and coins were at par with the US dollar at their introduction but have over the years continued to lose value and are currently trading at around 14 to 1 US dollar at the interbank rate.

The government also re-introduced the Zimbabwe dollar in June, albeit in electronic form, to run at par with the bond notes and RTGS dollars, and banned the use of foreign currency as units of trade.

The International Monetary Fund during its second and third review in Malawi has commended the Malawi government for its effort in maintaining inflation rate of single digit while interest rate going down.

The IMF mission team which arrived on 10 September 2019 through its mission’s chief Prita Mintra considers increasing funding allocation through the Extended Credit Facility.

“Despite facing challenges in Agricultural sector caused by cyclone Idai Malawi has maintained inflation rate of single digit while interest rates have gone down,” said Mintra.

Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha said government has been committed to working around meeting the IMF requirements and is hopeful that the outcome of the review will be positive.

“Government will work on meeting some benchmarks of the facility such as reducing internal borrowing. IMF program is so far on track and government is committed to ensure that it remains on this path,” said Mwanamvekha.

The International Monitory Fund (IMF) team has completed a week long review on the countrys economic status to determine the future of its support under the Extended Credit Facility.

Malawi Government have through Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha on Monday presented Malawi’s K1.7 trillion 2019/20 budget which he touted as having been prepared with the objective of reducing domestic borrowing while entrenching macroeconomic stability and fostering higher, more resilient and inclusive growth.

In 2018-19 fiscal year, government made a budget of K1.4 Trillion with huge allocations witnessed over and not comfort with actual development on the ground.

According to the Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamveka, out of total planned expenditure; K1.2 Trillion which is 20.6 percent of GDP is under recurrent expenditure while K4.9 Billion which represents 7 percent of GDP is allocated for different developmental activities.

The Minister has said government expects to solicit domestic revenues of K1.4 Trillion and K150 Billion from the grants provided by donor partners.

Mwanamveka has however told the nation that his government will continue borrowing from local financial institutions but shall gradually reduce until 2023 as they project it to be at 20.1 percent.

The education sector has got more funds with a budget of K172.8 Billion that represents 21.5 percent increase from previous year’s budget of K142.2 Billion. In agriculture, K167 Billion has been allocated to the sector with 11.3 percent increase from previous year’s budget of K150 Billion.

Even when the health sector is coming on third place, it is the most important area that would have been allocated more funds since there more challenges including drugs scarcity.

The health sector has been allocated K101 Billion with an increase of 12.6 from the 2018/19 budget which got K89.9 Billion.

On controversial note, government has also allocated K35.5 Billion for Farm Input Subsidy Program-FISP where there shall be 900 000 beneficiaries who would pay a sum of K15 000 per coupon.

This comes as government have been criticized in the past for failing to deliver on FISP as corruption has crippled it activities. It has been reported that FISP does not really go to intended beneficiaries.

On the other hand, government is also allocating K10 Billion for the purchase of maize. It is said that the maize shall be distributed to those affected by natural disasters including floods and persistent dry spells.

In 2017, government also allocated K7 Billion for maize purchase but the procurement ended to be dubious as it is alleged that former Minister of Agriculture George Chaponda misappropriated the funds for other personal purposes.