Private credit and infrastructure investments across African markets rose 118% to record levels in 2021, as borrowers looked beyond domestic risk averse banks Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Private equity has dominated Africa’s investment landscape for decades, popularised by huge venture capital (VC) deals in the continent’s ever-expanding tech sector. But …
Read More »Why my mother has never trusted me again with her monthly earnings
COMMENT | Alfred Geresom Musamali | When finance minister Matia Kasaija admitted in Parliament last week that some governmental offices were facing funding shortages and could not pay before this past Christmas their workers’ salaries, I remembered December 1979 when I lost my mother’s salary. My mother Mrs Eleanor Mwassa of …
Read More »Small African economies industrialising fastest
Smaller African countries are punching beyond their weight to diversify their economies from agricultural dependence, a new report shows. Nairobi, Kenya | BIRD AGENCY | A new report shows that value-add factories and public-private partnership are helping small African countries industrialize much faster than their larger peers. The recently …
Read More »Cybersecurity is weakest link in Ugandan Banks, Telecoms
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | An expert study on the status of cyber-security reveals wide-ranging levels of vulnerability at leading organisations that handle large volumes of personal data. The study done over the last two years by Peter Bill Kisitu, a cyber-security analyst and researcher at BitSight, a cybersecurity …
Read More »Government rallies banks to help increase tax revenues
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is rallying commercial banks and other financial institutions to help it increase tax revenues by ensuring more people are taxed. As the presentation of the 2022/23 national budget draws closer, the Uganda Revenue Authority figures show an uphill task if the agency is to …
Read More »How will banks perform as the economy recovers?
Borrowers took more loans in 2021 compared to a year before Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s largest commercial banks reported a sharp growth in earnings in 2021, pointing to the recovery of the economy following its partial reopening. However, some are worried about risks arising from inflation and …
Read More »KARUHANGA: Local companies also need support
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Investors in the Oil and Gas related business are crying foul over the attitude of Uganda commercial banks towards them when they approach them to finance their projects. The local investors, who are mainly Tier 2 and 3 contractors in the industry, say most …
Read More »Banks yet to receive Sh200Billion Small Enterprises Rescue Fund
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Commercial banks and microfinance institutions are yet to to officially hear about the 200 billion shillings for lending out money meant to rescue Ugandan small enterprises that were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which was commissioned early last week. A check at two government-owned financial …
Read More »Seven arrested for stealing Sh5 bililion on online banking plaform
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Seven people have been arrested for allegedly defrauding over Sh 5 billion through the online banking system in Kampala. The suspects were identified as Fred Sitakyange, Ephraim Bagambe, Allan Juuko, Bairon Ndyamuhaki, Peter Katumba, Erasmus Mutambi and Ronald Bashijja. They were picked up in …
Read More »CSOs bothered by banks move to opt out of oil pipeline financing
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Civil society actors have challenged the government to take with serious concern, decisions by some international banks not to finance the East African Crude Oil Pipeline-EACOP. At least six international banks have backtracked on their financing plans for a USD 3.5 billion project, which will include …
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