East Africa Economic Report

Simple things that Changed Lives  The COVID-19 Pandemic is a major disruption of the current world system, a milestone of sorts in human history. Its strike was sudden, extreme, and rapid. The world had not experienced such a pandemic before, neither was it prepared for such an enemy for which there was no known weapon to fight back. As the shock is now easing, thinkers have racked their brains for lessons learned. One of these lessons is that the world is in flux and that we must re-imagine our world anew.  We choose to focus on the bright spots. A mask: Could become the lifeline  for the local textile sector. Africa could soon be looking to Kenya to supply ventilators and other medical supplies because they are cheap and suitable for African conditions. Epidemiologists were suddenly thrown into the limelight, with everyone looking up to them for answers. The ensuing confusion saw the world thrust into lockdown as a policy measure to contain the pandemic. This was...

This tool will soon be: your office, bank, and phone Last week, I withdrew five hundred bob from my M-Pesa account for some shopping. I had not used cash for three months. Therefore, I decided to do cash shopping for a change. What a world I walked into! Whomever I gave the note for my purchase refused, asking me to pay by M-Pesa instead. Even those who did not accept digital payment in February, this year, have embraced it.  The traders told me that the circulation of cash money is rare; therefore, raising a change for 500 shillings is difficult. Before the CoVID-19 pandemic, paying with 500 shillings was no big deal even for the mama mboga at the gate. Now the world is digital.   How the world has changed in only 100 days!     It has been long in coming but it here.   Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya, CAK, shows that the  use of digital money has been rising but appears to have accelerated in the first quarter of this y...