Rift Valley Railways, the consortium that currently manages and controls the Kenya-Uganda railway, is currently seeking permission to recruit new shareholders as it tries to obtain adequate financing of their plans to upgrade and improve the costly and inefficient railway system.
The railway quickly became strategically and economically vital for Uganda and Kenya as it was the only modern means of transport from the East African coast to the African interior and plateaus. The railway served to transport tourists, locals, as well as goods for trade such as coffee and tea. Over a century later, the railway is still a vital part of the region's economy. The port of Mombasa, where the railway begins, was estimated to have handled more than 14.5 million tons of cargo annually and is expected to handle over 27 million tons of cargo per year by 2030. This demonstrates the significance of the railway in East African trade.
But years of neglect and mismanagement have rendered the railway to be very costly, inefficient, and sometimes dangerous to use. Today, transporting a 40-unit container wagon from Mombasa to the Malaba border post costs around $100,000 by rail. Moreover, it is reported that 1,500 containers cross the Ugandan border every week even though the railway should bring at least 10,000 containers. There are also several safety-related incidents, including one in 1999 when 32 passengers died from the derailment of the train because its brakes failed.
Many different companies have tried to manage the more ...
Thousands of individuals leave their country annually, migrating thousands of miles via East Africa, from the Horn of Africa to ...
Africa has had a growing demand for Asia’s manufactured goods and machinery while demand in Asia’s developing economies is growing for Africa’s ...
President Jacob Zuma announced on Sunday that South Africa's central bank governor, Tito Mboweni will step down on August 8, ...
The US$750 million of debt is divided among a senior facility of US$550 million, a junior facility of US$100 million ...
    The Africa Economic Development Institute Data Center is a free service that provides important macroeconomic figures of Africa to be used for economic research purposes. Launched in March 2009, the Africa Economic Development Institute Data Center specializes in providing high-quality databases and has built its reputation in the economic and financial information service industry on accuracy, service and comprehensiveness. Today, we are the instrument of choice for economic research on Africa and the emerging markets by economists around the globe.
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
NOTE: ALL SELECTIONS WILL PRODUCE THE DATA SET FROM THE YEARS 1980 - 2010
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The current Proliferation of piracy off the coast of Somalia has posed a substantial threat to development and commerce in the Horn of Africa. Ravaged by political instability, internal strife, and one of the least developed economics in the world, Somalia is a prime location for piracy. Maritime hijackings in the area have accordingly been on the rise, much to the detriment of international trade and the delivery of aid to Somalia. The threat of piracy has made travel around the Horn of Africa significantly more dangerous and costly, ultimately resulting in increased commodity prices and the disruption of international trade. Aid agencies, furthermore have been forced to travel with naval escorts or suspend deliveries to the region altogether, plunging millions of Somalis into…
Amid the harsh economic times that global markets are experiencing, the word ‘economy' has come to be closely associated with concepts of money. What is often forgotten is that the science of economics is a much broader field that encompasses how scarce resources are disbursed throughout a population. This differentiation is important when looking at the current global economic crisis because giving more money to certain countries will not necessarily put that country in a better economic position. These countries suffer from certain inefficiencies that are embedded in their infrastructure.