Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Africa : As economies reel, the work of competition authorities across Africa have been impacted by the global pandemic. The Namibian Competition Commission indicated that it has found clear evidence of price exploitation on essential products after conducting a price movement analysis. It has formed a dedicated task team to investigate such complaints. Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has commenced investigations into price gouging, most recently investigating the flour industry for price manipulation. The Malawian Competition and Fair Trading Commission has also expressed concern over excessive pricing, reporting that in the transport industry, bus fares have seen a substantial increase with bus and minibus operators allegedly establishing margins of between 40% and 200%, despite two consecutive downward adjustments on fuel prices. The Botswana Competition Authority has cautioned the general public against “unscrupulous traders” and businesses taking advantage of consumers amid the pandemic and further reported receiving numerous complaints regarding price increases on basic food products and healthcare and hygiene products. The South African Competition Commission (SACC) continues to prioritise COVID-19 matters and plans to refer several more cases to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. The SACC has emphasised that competition policy should be prioritised as a key tool towards economic recovery, post-pandemic.
Africa : Qatar Airways has announced that it will resume services to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Kenya with 14 weekly flights and to Kigali International Airport, Rwanda with three weekly flights. With the addition of Kigali and Nairobi, the airline now operates 33 weekly flights to eight destinations in Africa including Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Tunis. Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to resume flights to Nairobi and Kigali, totalling our flights to 33 weekly flights into Africa with eight destinations. Qatar Airways continues to maintain an expanding schedule with now more than 500 weekly flights to over 75 destinations.
Source: Africa Business Communities
Africa : Panelists at the ‘Germany-Africa Economic Relations: Making Deals Post COVID-19’ webinar sought to mobilise German investment into the African energy sector, establishing clean energy and digitalisation as two major pillars of economic and investment cooperation. In recent years, the African continent has shifted to the forefront of Germany’s foreign policy and development agenda, with programs rolled out under the country’s USD1.1-billion Development Investment Fund for Africa, which is primarily dedicated to easing the […]