With less than a decade to meet global energy goals, new research from Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) shows that energy access finance continues to be significantly off-track to meet 2030 targets. The challenge is particularly significant in Sub-Saharan African countries, where finance levels are inadequate and in some cases not being directed to the areas of greatest need. This year’s Energizing Finance research series – produced in partnership with Climate Policy Initiative and South Pole – reveals that, yet again, finance levels for electricity and clean cooking remain far below the investment required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 – access…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Serviced apartments within the Nairobi Metropolitan Area (NMA) recorded an average rental yield of 7.6% in 2019, 0.2% points higher than the 7.4% recorded in 2018. This was attributed to a 2.3% increase in monthly charges per SQM, from Sh2,742 in 2018 to Sh2,806 in 2019, fuelled by the continued demand for serviced apartments by both guests on business and leisure travels. The improved performance was overally supported by the stable political environment and improved security, thus making Nairobi an ideal destination for both business and holiday travellers. The hospitality sector was the worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as…
Almost one year after the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the deep economic recession it has triggered continues to have profound economic and social consequences. While no nation has emerged unscathed, this year’s Global Competitiveness Report finds that countries with advanced digital economies and digital skills, robust social safety nets and previous experience dealing with epidemics have better managed the impact of the pandemic on their economies and citizens. As the global economy recovers, the opportunity exists for countries to expand their focus beyond a narrow return to growth. The Global Competitiveness Report Special Edition 2020: How Countries are Performing on the…
BY VICTOR ADAR The damage caused by the second wave of Covid-19 seems to vary from nation to nation as per a survey by GeoPoll, a provider of remote and mobile-based research solutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In November, it found that 43% of 3,000 respondents reporting their emotional wellbeing had declined in 2020. While this has led to a far greater degree of disruption to normal routines, Kenya is the most widely affected financially and emotionally by the pandemic, reporting extensive income cuts and distress compared to Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and…
The Kenya Government has reiterated its commitment in implementing international standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes as part of a national effort to curb tax evasion and illicit financial flows. Speaking at the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Plenary virtual meeting, National Treasury Principal Secretary Dr Julius Muia assured global tax administration players that Kenya is on course to implement automatic exchange of information protocols on tax matters by September 2022. Kenya, Dr Muia told the Global Forum delegates, has taken decisive steps in implementing the international standards of…
Core Earnings per Share recorded a weighted decline of 32.4% in Q3’2020, compared to a weighted growth of 8.7% recorded in Q3’2019. As reported by most of the banks, the decline in the earnings was mainly attributable to the increased provisioning levels, as they covered for downgraded facilities, with the expectations of an increase in defaults across sectors on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. Asset quality for listed banks deteriorated in Q3’2020, with the gross NPL ratio rising by 2.6% points to 12.4% from 9.8% in Q3’2019, and higher than the 5-year average of 8.5%. The banking sector was…
By NBM Writer Academic, activist and politician Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o is a man who straddles defining events of several generations – defined by the lives and ideals of early liberation leaders and reformers in colonial Kenya, he became a political activist and in post-independence Kenya during President Daniel Moi’s regime, which he continues in the present-day as the Governor of Kisumu County. Born in Ratta, Kisumu, Prof Nyong’o completed his undergraduate studies at Uganda’s Makerere University in 1971, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science. During his time in Makerere, he served as Guild…
BY DAVID WANJALA Even though Devolution is, arguably, the best thing that has ever happened in this country since independence, there are counties out there that had the misfortune of getting incompetent CEOs, by happenstance or design, as first governors. In the hullaballoo of jostling and positioning for the stake after the promulgation of the New Constitution 2010, the political class did not understand where the real power lay in the new offices that had come along with the fresh dispensation. A majority of the senior politicians and new entrants from both civil service and private sector, believing the Senate…
BY NDUNG’U WAINAINA Women have been at the forefront of confronting challenges of inequality. While the challenges have been multi-faced, the ones relating to political and leadership spaces have had far-reaching consequences for Kenyans. In an effort to address them, women have attempted to assume political office, but this dream has proved a landmine. Flawed party nominations, negative socio-cultural attitudes from the electorate, and even electoral violence instigated against women have helped to obstruct this political participation. Nonetheless, women are increasingly taking the lunge into electoral politics. Some have organized themselves into coalitions or caucuses and have played catalytic roles…
In case Kenyan companies feel this is an abstract happening in the big bad world outside, the DPPand the CBK have proven otherwise with the Sh400m in fines levied earlier this year on Banks that failed to query the unusual movement of the NYS fraud monies that were transacted through their accounts BY ELSIE OYOO In 2012 and 2013 Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the world bribed Malaysian and Emirati officials so that it could underwrite $6.5b in bond offerings with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). 1MDB, a strategic development company wholly owned by the Malaysian Government, undertook…
