East Africa Economic Report

An oil rig. These monsters discover oil from the earth's bowels THE ENTIRE EASTERN Africa coast is emerging as a fossil fuels giant. A flurry of finds of commercially viable deposits of oil and natural gas has spawned intense activity in exploration of these resources. In the last decade or so, commercially viable oil deposits were found in South Sudan and Uganda. Natural gas has been found in Tanzania  while in Kenya an oil find announced this week, is awaiting commercial verification. There are reports of viable oil deposits in lawless Somalia. Since it takes about three years or so to verify commercial viability, the implication here is by 2016/17, this region of an estimated population of 200 million people will be a major player in the world’s energy market. An exploration mapping high potential areas in Kenya, indicates that eastern Africa could rival some middle east oil producers. The frequent discoveries raise confidence on the potential of the region’s f...

  KENYA AIRWAYS, Africa's youngest and third largest Airline has jolted the African aviation industry. H er  cash call by way of a rights issue worth US$250.2 million was approved by Kenya's capital markets Authority two weeks ago. T op: SAA, Middle ET and KQ: The upstart rocking the African Aviation sector The money, said the airline,  was to replenish its war chest. It plans buy 76 new aircraft by 2021.It also plans to expand to 60 new destinations over the same period.  In terms of averages, Kenya airways will acquire 8 new aircraft a year between now and 2021. It will also expand to six new destinations every year over the same period. At the end of that period, the airline will have total fleet of 107 aircraft from the current 36( see www.Kenya-irways.com ) The battle for domination of African skies has been driven a notch up. By floating the rights issue, the airline declared its intention to either dominate or increase its presence in ...

An artists impression of Nairobi Railway city KENYA RAILWAYS Corporation, KRC, has been mandated to develop its large holding of real estate country-wide into Railway cities. This will help speed up the growth of some Railway towns into cities. Initially it proposes to develop Railway cities in Nairobi , Kisumu, Mombasa and Voi. The corporation proposes a string of investment plans to attract the private sector into the proposed Railway cities. A transactions advisor is already on the ground studying the various investment options. Among the proposed options are; PPPs through Build operate Transfer (BOT) land leases, franchises and Joint-Ventures. The advisor is expected to complete his study in six months time  and recommend the investment options-mix suitable for each town.  A Railway city can be defined as an urban development that grows around a railway station and linked to it. The station is the nerve centre of the city due to ease of transportation of peo...

A housing estate under construction: Many more of these are needed to meet growing demand AFRICA IS SLATED to become bastion of profitable PPP business in the very near future.  In fact, going by the trend of things that future is not very far. In fact, it is just starting. The continent has fully emerged from the painful yet beneficial structural adjustment programmes, SAPs, prescribed by the IMF.  SAPs implemented between the mid-1980s and much of 1990s involved privatisation of State owned Enterprises, SOEs among other structural reforms. Africa reluctantly adopted this prescription but has emerged from it stronger, wiser, and prosperous. SAPs had several positive lessons emerged from privatization to wit; disposal of loss making SOEs plugged a hole in government budgets resulting in lower donor dependency. Some of the privatized SOES have turned the corner and are making profits and paying taxes and dividends to the government. The private sector has p...