Ten private companies won 38.2 percent of the tenders awarded by State entities in the four years to June 2022, underlining the concentration of lucrative government contracts in the hands of a few firms.
• Revealed: Uganda still importing oil through Kenyan firms
Uganda is still relying on transit fuel imported by Kenyan Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), even after the neighbouring country announced that it would start directly buying the commodity from Vitol Bahrain this month.
• Social media, entertainment apps record highest growth
Social media and entertainment apps recorded the highest consumer usage and spending in 2023, as the mobile apps market rebounded after a year-long slowdown in 2022, a new report now shows. The State of Mobile 2024 report published by mobile analytics platform data.ai, now pegs the value of the global mobile app economy at $500 billion (Sh79.2 trillion in current exchange rates) and predicts ‘a record-breaking year’ for app developers in 2024. “The mobile app economy is now a half-a-trillion-dollar market, with nearly $1.5 billion (Sh237.5 billion) in spending each day in 2023 across app store spend and mobile ad spend. This included $362 billion (Sh57.3 trillion) in mobile ad spend, which was an eight percent year-on-year increase,” notes the report.
• KDIC resumes payment to Imperial Bank depositors
The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) has resumed payments of protected deposits in Imperial Bank Limited (in Liquidation) after the High Court struck out an application blocking the payments. Last week, the High Court dismissed an application by Mombasa tycoon Ashok Doshi saying it was an abuse of the court process. Mr Doshi had earned an injunction in July 2023, which halted payments to protected depositors in the bank by nullifying notices on the lodging of claims and payments issued by KDIC in April and June 2023
• Shilling falls to new low of Sh160 to the dollar
The shilling’s official exchange rate has hit Sh160.23 to the dollar, extending its record decline against the US currency on the back of pressure from importer demand and efforts by the Central Bank to report the true trading value of the local unit. Currency dealers said that dollar demand from the energy and manufacturing sectors has put pressure on the shilling over the past week. The move by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to adopt actual traded rates in the interbank market to determine the official rate has also caused the sharp upward adjustment in the CBK rate, which was previously criticised for being out of line with the effective market rates.
• Spirits imports decline as higher taxes hit demand
Consumption of spirits continued to fall following the end of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions amid higher taxes on international premium drinks. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that imported spirits —including brandy, gin, whiskey and rum—dropped from an all-time high of 16.3 million litres at the height of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to 13.2 million litres in 2022, reflecting a major shift in drinking habits in the post-lockdown environment.
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