April 2020

22Apr

Kenya needs better social protection programmes during Covid-19

While scrolling through Twitter, it is likely that you will come across a post appealing for food aid. As Kenya recorded its 197th confirmed Covid-19 case in early April, many enterprises had reduced their operations, or closed down, causing massive losses in livelihoods. The economic impact has, in turn, increased the prevalence of food-insecure households. Although Kenya has set up a Covid-19 Emergency Fund, it does not currently support provision of food for the most vulnerable households. On Friday,...

April 22, 2020
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21Apr

Debt headache compounds Kenya’s worries amid fears for economy

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be felt in July when the country will need Sh630 billion to settle debts that will fall due. Kenya’s total debt reached a new high of Sh6.3 trillion on March 20. This position has been made worse by the depreciation of the shilling, which has reached an average of Sh106.7 to the dollar, one of the lowest this month. The debt position will get worse in coming months as...

April 21, 2020
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15Apr

Africa’s demographic transition

The median age of Africans is currently 19 years. For comparison, Europe’s median age is 43 years and Asia’s 32. But this is going to change. In the coming decades the proportion of older people in some African countries will come close to rates experienced currently in industrialised countries. While this might be news to some people, it has been a long time coming. There has been a steady increase over the past 40 years in the number of...

April 15, 2020
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13Apr

Egypt. COVID-19 crisis likely to propel social protection reforms: Mashaat

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is likely to accelerate the structural reforms as regards the social protection and the irregular workers alongside activating the financial inclusion as per the policies of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said International Cooperation Minister Rania el Mashaat on Monday. The minister was addressing a video conference session about the short and long-term repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic organized by the Middle East Institute (MEI), a leading non-profit think tank and cultural center...

April 13, 2020
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07Apr

Social protection responses to the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa

Poor and vulnerable South Africans, including domestic, farm, service sector, and self-employed workers as well as children from poor families, face a double shock. COVID-19 is a major health risk that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide and is starting to claim lives in South Africa. Social distancing and self-isolation are necessary to slow the spread of the virus, and the 21-day lockdown is designed to “flatten the curve”. But the lockdown itself has consequences that...

April 7, 2020
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01Apr

Kenya’s retirement benefits eroded by coronavirus

Pension managers in Kenya project depressed growth of retirees’ funds due to the coronavirus pandemic that has negatively impacted the financial markets. About 17.5 per cent of retirees’ money was invested in quoted securities at the Nairobi Securities Exchange as at December 2019. This amounted to $2.1 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2018. In its 2019 industry report, the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) said: “The growth in the retirement benefits sector is projected to drop in the...

April 1, 2020
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March 2020

30Mar

South Africa. Use pension funds for coronavirus relief efforts – unions

South Africa’s biggest labor-union federation and a key political ally of president Cyril Ramaphosa is pushing the government to tap state institutions for a stimulus plan to combat the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which represents about 1.8 million workers ranging from miners to teachers, wants state companies such as the Public Investment Corp, which oversees government pensions, to provide relief to hard-hit industries including hospitality, manufacturing and mining. It’s also seeking...

March 30, 2020
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25Mar

Kenya. Covid-19 test to our social protection system

As the world grapples with the Covid-19 global pandemic, the government has set in motion a raft of measures designed to not only arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease in Kenya but also ameliorate its negative financial and economic impact on the population. Read also Kenya’s Pezesha wins CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020 bootcamp Many governments in the developed world are at different stages of deploying a variety of financial and social assistance mechanisms to help its citizens and business...

March 25, 2020
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23Mar

Kenya’s Pezesha wins CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020 bootcamp

Thirteen Africa-focused fintech startups took part in CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020, which helps companies focusing on financial inclusion to scale. Developed by the LHoFT Foundation, the programme provided selected startups with access to a tailor made program with intensive mentoring, coaching, peer-to-peer learning and dedicated workshops. It culminated in a bootcamp, with Kenya’s Pezesha, a peer-to-peer micro lending marketplace that connects lenders with high quality, underserved, low income borrowers, named overall winner. The other selected startups included three from...

March 23, 2020
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19Mar

Nigeria: Backlog of Unpaid Pensions, One of My Worst Pains ― Ortom

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has apologized to retirees and workers of the state over the inability of successive governments to find lasting solution to the nagging backlog of unpaid pensions in the state. The Governor who tendered the apology in Makurdi while flagging off Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, for the state workforce, said the huge pension liabilities he inherited was one of the unpleasant realities his administration had been battling with. He said "the pension problem was...

March 19, 2020
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