Africa Briefs
Zambia: 2020 difficult for consumers
The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has said that 2020 will go in the annals of history as the worst year for consumers due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"For most consumers, it has been very difficult to meet basic essential commodities because the income was erratic because most people were either put on forced leave and for business 80-90% were shut down," Juba Sakala, the organisation's executive secretary said.
He said in a release that the pandemic resulted in many people failing to pay rentals, school fees and afford decent three meals in a day.
According to him, people were forced to come up with ways of how to survive by rationing their food intake due to difficulty in accessing basic needs.
While commending the government for attempting to intervene by coming up with a stimulus package to cushion consumers, he noted that the stimulus package was not enough to cater to people who were in need of assistance and the conditions to access the money were unfavourable. – Nampa/Xinhua
Ethiopia's endorses establishment of stock market
Ethiopia's cabinet on Tuesday endorsed the establishment of a stock market, prime minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted.
Abiy's office tweeted a statement saying that a capital market would ease Ethiopia's dependency on foreign finance.
Since Abiy took office in 2018, the government has slowly begun introducing economic reforms, including preparing to open state-controlled sectors such as telecommunications to foreign investors.
Ethiopia is Africa's second-most populous nation and its economy has in the past decade been one of the world's fastest-growing, due mainly to heavy state spending on infrastructure. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenya halts Covid-19 related tax relief
Kenya's parliament on Tuesday voted to end tax cuts put in place in April to cushion the economy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a move that lawmakers said would help to plug revenue shortfalls but investors said would hamper a recovery.
The tax cuts were introduced weeks after Kenya reported its first case of the coronavirus and aimed to shield East Africa's richest economy.
But lawmakers said the cuts were not sustainable, pointing to the finance ministry's estimate this month that the government will have foregone 65 billion shillings (US$595.24 million) in revenue from the tax cuts.
Kenya's economic output declined in the second quarter for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis. The tourism and agriculture exports, the main hard currency earners, have taken big hits.
Parliament voted to keep one of the relief measures. Kenyans earning less than 24 000 shillings (US$220) will still be granted 100% tax relief. – Nampa/Reuters
The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has said that 2020 will go in the annals of history as the worst year for consumers due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"For most consumers, it has been very difficult to meet basic essential commodities because the income was erratic because most people were either put on forced leave and for business 80-90% were shut down," Juba Sakala, the organisation's executive secretary said.
He said in a release that the pandemic resulted in many people failing to pay rentals, school fees and afford decent three meals in a day.
According to him, people were forced to come up with ways of how to survive by rationing their food intake due to difficulty in accessing basic needs.
While commending the government for attempting to intervene by coming up with a stimulus package to cushion consumers, he noted that the stimulus package was not enough to cater to people who were in need of assistance and the conditions to access the money were unfavourable. – Nampa/Xinhua
Ethiopia's endorses establishment of stock market
Ethiopia's cabinet on Tuesday endorsed the establishment of a stock market, prime minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted.
Abiy's office tweeted a statement saying that a capital market would ease Ethiopia's dependency on foreign finance.
Since Abiy took office in 2018, the government has slowly begun introducing economic reforms, including preparing to open state-controlled sectors such as telecommunications to foreign investors.
Ethiopia is Africa's second-most populous nation and its economy has in the past decade been one of the world's fastest-growing, due mainly to heavy state spending on infrastructure. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenya halts Covid-19 related tax relief
Kenya's parliament on Tuesday voted to end tax cuts put in place in April to cushion the economy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a move that lawmakers said would help to plug revenue shortfalls but investors said would hamper a recovery.
The tax cuts were introduced weeks after Kenya reported its first case of the coronavirus and aimed to shield East Africa's richest economy.
But lawmakers said the cuts were not sustainable, pointing to the finance ministry's estimate this month that the government will have foregone 65 billion shillings (US$595.24 million) in revenue from the tax cuts.
Kenya's economic output declined in the second quarter for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis. The tourism and agriculture exports, the main hard currency earners, have taken big hits.
Parliament voted to keep one of the relief measures. Kenyans earning less than 24 000 shillings (US$220) will still be granted 100% tax relief. – Nampa/Reuters
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article