The Editorial Team |

East African Portland Cement swings into half-year loss

NAIROBI (Reuters) – East African Portland Cement swung to a first-half loss after a maintenance shutdown of its packing and clinker units but the Kenyan firm said it hoped to recover its market share after the repairs. The company reported a pretax loss of 124 million shillings ($1.36 million) for the six months to end of December, against a profit of 171 million shillings in the same period in 2013.The firm, which also operates in…

Tunisia keeps rates on hold, currency reserves rise in February

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TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4.75 percent on Thursday but said that, despite progress in the political process, economic indicators were still “negative” in major sectors such as industry and tourism. Foreign currency reserves rose to 14.974 billion dinars ($7.73 billion) in February, it said, with a billion-dollar bond sold last month to cover the 2015 budget deficit. Reserves on Feb. 25 of 14.974 billion dinars…

Tanzania says Q3 2014 GDP growth slows, hurt by agriculture

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s economy grew 6.8 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared with 7.4 percent in the same period a year ago due to a slowdown in agriculture, construction and transport sectors, data showed on Thursday. The government sees Tanzania’s economy growing by 7.4 percent this year from an estimated 7.2 percent in 2014 due to expected strong performance of agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors. Growth in agriculture, the biggest…

Africa’s Afreximbank looks to Islamic finance with IDB tie-up

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MANAMA, March 3 The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), has signed an agreement with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to cooperate in the development of the private sector in ICD member countries in Africa. Under the terms of the agreement signed in Manama on 2 March 2015, the two institutions will collaborate in joint operations, expand financial products and…

Oil producer Afren gains another extension on debt payment

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March 2 (Reuters) – Debt-laden oil producer Afren Plc said it had been given another payment extension by some creditors, a day after the Sunday Times reported that China’s Fosun International Ltd was backing a takeover bid for the company. Afren’s shares rose as much as 39 percent to 12 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange on Monday. The company, whose main operations are in Nigeria, made no reference to Fosun in…

Mauritius central bank seeks to buy gold from Australia

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PORT LOUIS (Reuters) – Mauritius central bank plans to buy gold from Australia to keep the Indian Ocean economy’s currency from extreme fluctuation, its finance minister said on Monday. In 2009, Mauritius bought two tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund, valued at an equivalent of $72 million at the time. Finance Minister Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo said the central bank will buy an undisclosed amount of gold from Australia’s Perth Mint. He has said the…

Uganda sees economic growth of 5.3 pct this fiscal year

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KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s economic growth is set to accelerate to 5.3 percent in fiscal 2014/15, driven by infrastructure investment aimed at maximizing benefits from an expected oil boom, outgoing finance minister Maria Kiwanuka said. She was speaking to Reuters before she was moved in a cabinet reshuffle on Sunday to become presidential advisor on finance. Her forecast was the government’s first growth estimate for the fiscal year ending in June, after Uganda rebased its…

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