In the ever-changing economy of East Africa, Uganda and Kenya are confronting inflationary challenges with resolve.

A central solution: Uganda’s March 2024 annual inflation rate dipped marginally to 3.3%, a notch below the Bank of Uganda’s 5% target. This slight decrease in inflation was made possible because the Central Bank of Uganda kept its Central Bank Rate (CBR) steady at 9.5%. This helped to keep the core inflation rate stable at 3.4% for several months in a row.

Despite the decline in inflation for some goods, the overall inflation rate rose to 5.5% compared to last year. 

Kenya also witnessed a downtick in its year-on-year inflation to 5.7% in March 2024, attributed to the Kenyan shilling’s resilience against the US dollar, trading at KES132 ($1). However, this doesn’t translate to relief for everyday Kenyans. The cost of essential goods and services like transportation, housing, and food remains high, constituting over 57% of expenditure weights, as per the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

In fighting inflation, Kenyan’s Central Bank and other East African central banks are raising interest rates. In February 2024, the CBK increased the interest rate from 12.5% to 13%, their biggest jump in over a decade. This means Kenyans might pay more for loans like mortgages or car loans. The bank hopes this will slow down inflation and bring price increases closer to their target of 5%.

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When it comes to powers raising money, businesses have a variety of options. They often turn to debt instruments like bonds, selling shares of ownership (equity), or even short-term loans from a bank. However, when businesses need bigger sums of money, they adopt a more powerful tool: syndicated loans. 

Side bar: Think of a syndicated loan as a group project for lenders. A bunch of banks or other financial institutions team up to provide a single, large loan. This lets the borrower access a hefty sum of money while spreading the risk among the lenders.

That’s exactly what the African Finance Corporation (AFC) just did! Launched in 2007, the AFC is a pan-African development financial Institution that provides funds for Africa’s infrastructure deficit across six industries: Power, Transport and Logistics, Natural Resources, Telecommunications and Heavy industries.

A $1.16 billion loan: Lenders from across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia have all joined forces to provide the AFC with a $1.16 billion, its largest debt facility yet. First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, Mashreqbank PSC, MUFG Bank, Standard Chartered, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Société Générale, Bank Muscat, and Intesa Sanpolo Bank Luxembourg S.A all took part in the deal.

So, what will the AFC do with all this cash? The AFC is on a mission to bridge Africa’s infrastructure gap. This loan will fuel crucial projects across the continent, from building vital transportation links to developing clean energy solutions. By investing in these areas, the AFC aims to unlock Africa’s economic potential and create a brighter future for all.

Nigeria’s IT bulldog, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has issued yet another warning. Early in March, the agency raised an alarm about a sneaky malware program called “Ov3r Stealer” that targets Facebook accounts and extracts sensitive information. 

This time, the agency is warning Nigerians about a rise in QR code scams. 

What’s happening? NITDA warns that fraudsters are now using these codes for phishing attacks, payment redirection, and even data theft. The agency is now urging Nigerians to exercise caution when scanning QR codes.

 QR code is a technology which gained popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it was celebrated for its rapidness and convenience in accessing information and services, QR Codes have regrettably morphed into a technology exploited by fraudsters for fraudulent acts. Keepnet Labs reported that  QR code phishing emails saw a significant surge between June and August of 2023. Security systems identified 8,878 of these incidents, with June being the peak month at 5,063 reported cases. Only 36% of these incidents were accurately identified and reported by the recipients.

The Hoxhunt Challenge, a flagship project designed to quantify human cybersecurity risk across the world’s biggest industries conducted a test in 125 countries and reported that 22% of phishing attacks used QR codes in October 2023. 

Zoom out: NITDA also stressed the importance of verifying the authenticity of QR codes and their associated links before scanning. Additionally, NITDA recommends using trustworthy QR code scanning applications equipped with robust security measures and maintaining up-to-date antivirus.

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Microsoft is taking its AI race seriously.

Although the company cannot keep up with the pace of building AI models as quickly as OpenAI, it recently buddied up with the ChatGPT maker and poured about $13 billion worth of investments into it. 

Last month, however, Microsoft made a step in plugging that hole. The company appointed Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of AI startups DeepMind and Inflection, as head of its consumer AI business, the unit responsible for Copilot, a chatbot similar to ChatGPT. Suleyman’s hire alongside the appointment of most of Inflection’s 70 employees will give Microsoft a new edge in building its own unique set of sophisticated generative AI models. 

No stop in sight: According to The Information, Microsoft is reportedly working with OpenAI to launch a data centre that will house an AI supercomputer “Stargate” with millions of specialised server chips to power OpenAI’s artificial intelligence. Microsoft will also fund a huge part of the project which is estimated to cost about $100 billion.

What’s in it for Microsoft? While the data centre will power ChatGPT, Microsoft will gain access to OpenAI’s proprietary technology and the sole right to resell it to its cloud clients, including Morgan Stanley. Microsoft also included OpenAI’s tech in its latest AI Copilot features for Teams, Office, and Bing.

The “Stargate” project, set to be launched by 2028, is in its preliminary stages of discussion, plans could change depending on how both companies perceive the deal. The data centre is said to be one of the biggest data centres by cost and could cost 100 times more than some of the world’s largest data centres. 

Microsoft is also said to be working on a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI that will be launched around 2026.

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Coin Name

Current Value

Day

Month

Bitcoin
$70,402

– 1.37%

+ 13.22%

Ether
$3,528

– 2.15%

+ 4.49%

dogifwhat

$4.37

+ 1.70%

+ 267.87%

Solana
$198.68

+ 1.28%

+ 54.11%

* Data as of 06:55 AM WAT, April 1, 2024.

The second edition of TechCabal’sMoonshot Conference is set for October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria. Moonshot will assemble Africa’s biggest thinkers, players and problem solvers on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join the stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful getting an early-bird ticket at 20% off. 
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Here’s what you should be looking at

Who calls the shots at women-focused startup Herconomy?
How CAF president Patrice Motsepe could impact Canal+’s bid for MultiChoice
Nigeria tells banks to raise minimum capital to $359 million 
OpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to work

Written by: Towobola Bamgbose & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

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