What's Inside

• East Africa Braces for More Rain

• Trader’s Desk: The Kenya Shilling vs South African …

• Dubai Plans World’s Largest Airport

• Don't forget to attend these events...

  • Headlines you might have missed

• Interview of the Week

East Africa Braces for More Rain

Heavy rainfall in East Africa is expected to continue this week, as countries in the region face flooding, landslides and extensive destruction that has led to loss of life and property.

• More than 80 people have died in Kenya since the onset of the rains in March, according to government data, with 16, 909 households displaced in Nairobi alone. 

• In total, more than 24,000 households with 131, 450 people have been displaced.

• In Tanzania, flooding and landslides have resulted in the deaths of over 170 people, the country’s prime minister said. 

“According to the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), forecasts for the week of April 27 – May 4, 2024, indicate ongoing threats of heavy rainfall in central to western Kenya, northern Uganda, southern Ethiopia, and central Somalia,” the regional body IGAD said in a statement on April 26.

In addition to loss of life and extensive displacement, the ongoing heavy rainfall has also disrupted trade and travel. Last week, trade and travel by road between Kenya and Tanzania, and on Uganda’s main trade route to Rwanda and the DRC, was cut off due to flooding. Heavy rains also forced Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways to divert some of its flights from landing in Nairobi, and delay some departures out of the capital over the weekend.

“The heavy rains causing floods have also resulted in loss of livelihoods, including livestock, cropland, and destruction of small businesses. Damage to schools, water sources, and major roads have also been reported,” The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a recent statement.

Why it Matters

Governments and aid agencies across the region, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania, are racing against time to provide disaster response to people affected by the heavy rainfall. As meteorological departments warn of more rainfall in the next few weeks, the ongoing interventions raise questions about disaster preparedness to prevent the deaths and destruction that often accompanies heavier-than-usual rainy seasons. 

In addition to immediate interventions, governments and regional bodies will have to plan for the more long-term effects of excessive rainfall, which is not a new phenomenon in the region. The heavy rainfall has disrupted economic activity in affected areas, including in the critical agricultural sector which could cause food shortages in the latter part of the year. 

Trader’s Desk: The Kenya Shilling vs South African Rand 2024 Outlook

With a forecast of an economic expansion of 4.7% in 2024, Kenya’s Real GDP is predicted to outperform its Sub-Saharan counterparts. 2024 has been a turbulent year for the South African Rand (ZAR) and the upcoming elections are expected to result in volatility of the ZAR. In the latest in our new Trader’s Desk series, Terence Hove analyses the factors that are likely to shape the KSh and the ZAR this year. Read More.

Dubai Plans World’s Largest Airport

Dubai will shift aviation operations from the Dubai International Airport to a new, larger facility within the next decade, the city-state’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in a statement on Sunday.

• The project, which will cost $35bn, will include five parallel runways, five passenger terminals, and four aircraft gates.

• It will have a capacity of 260mn passengers and 12 million tons of cargo. 

• Aviation is a major economic sector in Dubai; it currently contributes more than a third of the city-state’s growth in GDP.

The project will see the expansion of the current smaller Al Maktoum International Airport into the world’s largest airport spanning 70 square kilometers. In 2023, passenger traffic through Dubai’s current airport recovered beyond pre-pandemic figures to 86.9 million passengers, making it the world’s busiest airport by international passenger traffic.

But the expansion is more than just about aviation. Dubai plans to expand south with the airport as a major anchor project, as part of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which seeks to double Dubai’s economy within the next decade through 100 major projects.

“As we build an entire city around the airport in Dubai South, demand for housing for a million people will follow,” Sheikh Al Maktoum said, “It will host the world’s leading companies in the logistics and air transport sectors.”

Don't forget to attend these events...

Headlines you might have missed

• The Kenya Shilling’s appreciation against the US Dollar appears to have hit the floor and could be in reverse gear. Read More.

• African countries are racing to enact rules for non-resident suppliers to account for taxes on electronically supplied services (ESS), a new report by PwC indicates. Read More.

• Some shareholders in the collapsed Nigerian API startup, Thepeer, have mentioned that they will take legal action against the founders if a clear audit of the company’s finances is not done. Read More.

• Online food and groceries delivery platforms generated US$103 million last year, a figure that is projected to grow annually at a rate of more than 19% – according to a study by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK). Read More.

• Africa’s massive debt load and the nature of many of its resource-backed loans are compromising its economic potential, the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina said recently. Read More.

Interview of the Week

Have a great week!