Author: David Indeje

Debts that have been bedevilling Kenya’s sugar sub-sector worth KSh62.5 billion will be waived by the Government under a plan to support its recovery. The Government through Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya on Wednesday said “To make factories attractive to leaseholders, the Cabinet has approved debt write-off.” The KSh 62.5 billion has been categorised as KSh58 billion loans and KSh4 billion as interests and taxes accumulated as at June 30, 2009, and any additional interest and penalties that have accrued since then. “Sugar industry has been recording dismal performance over the years owing to perennial challenges that include high debt…

The Child Online Protection (COP) Initiative is a multi-stakeholder network launched by the ITU to promote awareness of child safety in the online world. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  has launched  2020 guidelines on Child Online Protection (COP) on how to contribute to the development of a safe and empowering online environment for children. The guidelines provide a set of concrete recommendations for children, parents and educators, industry and policy-makers serving as a blueprint that can be adapted to national or local customs and laws. “The question of how to ensure children’s online safety in the age of COVID-19 is now…

Kenya Airways (KQ) expects to lose a staggering KSh40 billion in revenues in 2020 from the 13 billion shillings last year according to chief executive Allan Kilavuka. The projection comes as the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have crippled the tourism and hospitality sectors. Speaking virtually to investors during the release of the airline’s 2019 financial results, Kilavuka said as of May, they had already lost Ksh 15 billion in revenue. He noted that KQ’s passengers carrying capacity will decline to 65 percent post the pandemic. “We will not operate at capacity since the numbers will drop by 65 percent,”…

Sameer Africa PLC, ( SAMR.NR) says it will witness a sharp plunge in  Groups revenues by Ksh 1.49 billion with the closure of its tyre manufacturing plant in East Africa in Financial Year 2019. The firm whose principal business is the importation and sale of tyres, said this is intended to ring-fence the key profit units and shift focus away from “the loss-making business units, grow the revenue base and capitalize rental segment of the business.” This has impacted 73 employees. In a cautionary statement announcing the exit from the tyre business, says “…despite the implementation of several changes in…

Credit Bank PLC, a financial and commercial bank in Kenya, has rolled out an online banking platform targeting its corporate customers to process their cheques. Through its online platform services, it will enhance the delivery of its services including the enhancement of limits on its mobile banking platform. Credit Bank Strategy and Business Development Executive Officer Eric Nyachaei said the new platform allows clients to achieve a higher Straight-Through-Processing (STP), real-time visibility and higher levels of efficiency from payment initiation through to back-end processing. “With the newly launched Clearing Solutions, our corporates do not need to visit our physical banks…

The global economic growth will contract by 3 per cent in 2020 due to the impact that Covid-19 has exerted on countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday. “This is a crisis like no other,” Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s Chief Economist, said as she announced the latest forecast in a virtual press briefing. “It is very likely that this year, the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the financial crisis a decade ago,” IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath wrote in the foreword for the fund’s World Economic Outlook titled…