Uganda best destination

UGANDA has been named the top investment destination in Africa at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Uganda through its investment authority has won the ‘best investment destination in Africa’ award in 2024. State Minister for Investment Evelyne Anite said the gold award was bagged at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM). “Uganda has been awarded a recognition award of best investment destination in Africa,” said Anite on Wednesday morning. In 2023, Uganda, the East African country, received the award for "best Investment Destination in East Africa.” According to statistics from the Ugandan embassy in the UAE, Uganda has attracted over US$1 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the UAE in the past two years. The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MOFPED) has noted that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into Uganda increased from US$1,36 billion in April 2022 to US$1,5 billion for the year ending April 2023. — Business Insider Africa.

Harnessing Kenyan biogas

AN Italian firm is looking to harness Kenya’s biogas. The company intends to establish a biogas facility that will use trash dumps from five large landfills across the country to generate energy for households. This idea is coming from an energy company that has existed in Kenya for decades. A feasibility analysis undertaken by the Italian oil company Eni Kenya BV concluded that establishing a biogas facility in Kenya was practical. Eni Kenya BV is now awaiting government authorization to develop the facility after submitting its proposal, as seen in the Kenyan newspaper Businessdaily. “In 2023, in support of the subsidiary Eni Kenya BV, Eni Rewind conducted a feasibility study aimed at assessing the potential for biogas production in five urban waste landfills located in Kenya,” the firm disclosed in its latest annual report. “The feasibility study concluded in October 2023 and discussions with local authorities are ongoing to define the next steps of the project,” the report added. — Business Insider Africa.

Food basket doubles in SA

MIDDLE-CLASS South Africans have seen the share of money spent on monthly food bills almost double over the last decade — with the cost of living crisis hitting poorer households even harder. Factors such as global and domestic food prices rising faster than household incomes, a weak rand, rising costs throughout the food chain from energy to transport, unreliable electricity, and port inefficiencies mean that South Africans need to dig deeper into their pockets to purchase their groceries each month. Statssa estimated that, on average, households (particularly middle- income) spent between 12% and 16% of their income on household food expenses in 2014/15. This has changed significantly since then, shooting up to 31%, going as high as 55% for lower-income homes. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), using the Stats SA Living Conditions Survey 2014/15 and data inflationadjusted to Quarter 1 of 2024, said that the average share of household income allocated to food and non-alcoholic beverages for income brackets is around 35% for low-income households; 17% to 31% for middle-income households and 7% for affluent households. — Business Tech.

Nigerian workers stressed

NIGERIA emerged as the seventh Sub-saharan African country with the most stressed employees, according to a global labour report. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report, which examines how employees feel about their work and their lives, revealed that global worker stress remained at a historic high from the Covid period, even as other negative emotions related to the pandemic subsided. In Nigeria, 50%of workers experience stress in the workplace, a figure that has risen by 3% annually. Senegal recorded the same stress rate, fairing a little better than Chad, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, which recorded higher stress rates of up to 58%. The report reveals that Sub-saharan recorded the thirdhighest regional percentage of daily stress and the third-highest regional percentage of daily anger. — Businessday Nigeria.