Author: David Indeje

Safaricom on Thursday declared an interim dividend of Ksh 0.45  per share.   This interim dividend payout translates to an amount of Ksh 18,029 billion for the year ending 31 March 2021.  “This is in recognition of the Company’s solid half-year performance and to support our shareholders during these difficult economic times occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Safaricom Kenya’s telecom market leader said in a notice to its shareholders on Wednesday. Safaricom, part-owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone (40%) will share a gross payout of KSh7.2 billion. The National Treasury with 35% stake will get a gross payout of KSh6.3…

Kenya has launched a five-year project KSh3.4 billion ( $34Mn), meant to ease the impact of climate change on the economy. Dubbed Towards Ending Drought Emergencies (Twende), targets the country’s eleven counties in arid and semiarid rangelands. The counties are Garissa, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Kajiado, Kitui, Makueni, Tharaka-Nithi, Meru and Taita Taveta. “Building capacity and institutions for the improved implementation of devolution is seen as necessary to enhance the climate resilience of Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands. Interventions focus on increasing the adaptive capacities of communities and local institutions to develop evidence-based landscape planning,” says Green Climate Fund…

In Kenya after months of a COVID-19 compelled partial lockdown, workplaces just like across the world are slowly opening their doors to employees. This has not been easy as citizens get used to the new normal. Businesses and organisations are still putting in place measures that ensure workplace safety, health, and environmental arrangements are in accordance with current guidance and best practices as a minimum standard. Even with news of vaccines being available, COVID-19 cases have kept on rising at an unprecedented rate, the pandemic continues to pose a hardship for the entire country. For instance, the World Health Organisation…

“Make Kenya’s manufacturing industry much more competitive by focusing on policy stability,” this was the clarion call for the sector on Wednesday. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers(KAM) said the manufacturing sector is the backbone of any economy, but it urgently needs to address headwinds to economic recovery, following the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.     “Unfortunately, Kenya is deindustrializing as demonstrated by the ever-decreasing share of the manufacturing sector to the Gross Domestic Product,” Mucai Kunyiha, Chairman, KAM said during the virtual launch of the KAM 2021 Manufacturing Priority Agenda (MPA), themed “From surviving COVID-19 to thriving: Manufacturing sector rebound…

Kenya’s National Treasury has reopened its February bond issue to a tap sale seeking to raise an additional KSh18 billion from the market. The bonds were reopened in the month: FXD1/2013/15 (7.1 years) and FXD1/2012/20 (11.8 Years). Their initial sale last month raised KSh32.1 billion, at a rate of 1.250% and  12.000% respectively that sought to raise KSh50 billion. The issue recorded an overall subscription rate of 83.7%, mainly attributable to the short bidding period and tightened liquidity in the market. The tap sale opened from Tuesday, 9th February 2021 to Wednesday, 17th February 2021 or upon attainment of quantum,…

Returns on Pension investments in Kenya declined by 60 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by fund managers, Zamara. Its report covering  421 schemes with a total of KSh951.8 billion assets under management shows that returns on investing dropped from 17 per cent to 7 per cent in the one year to December 31, 2020. “Over the one-year period to December 31, 2020, the median return of the participating schemes was 7.3 per cent compared to 17.1 per cent over a similar period in 2019. Performance in 2020 was negatively impacted by reduced economic…