The Editorial Team |

Nigeria’s Naira More Likely to Follow Egypt Playbook Than Ghana

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – For investors considering the fate of Nigeria’s naira after the central bank’s unexpected rate cut on Tuesday, Egypt may be a better guide than Ghana. Both Egypt’s and Ghana’s central banks cut their main interest rates earlier this year, surprising most analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. But their currencies reacted differently. The Egyptian pound has since strengthened against the dollar and is one of the world’s best-performing units this year….

World’s Deepest Rate Cuts Beckon in Egypt After Fed’s Pivot

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Federal Reserve has handed Egypt another reason to proceed with what could be the world’s deepest series of interest-rate cuts. The U.S. central bank’s surprise forecast for no rate increases in 2019, combined with a rally in Egypt’s currency, means policy makers may deliver a reduction in borrowing costs for the second straight month on Thursday. Renaissance Capital’s global chief economist Charles Robertson expects another cut of 100 basis points “due to…

South African Construction Sentiment Crumbles Under Soft Economy

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Confidence in South Africa’s civil construction sector is at the lowest in at least 22 years and could stay there for some time. A gauge tracking sentiment in the sector dropped in the first quarter to the lowest since its inception in 1997, according to a statement Tuesday by FirstRand Group Ltd.’s First National Bank and the Stellenbosch-based Bureau for Economic Research. That means 90 percent of participants in the…

Ghana President Pledges Financial Prudence After IMF Deal Ends

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo pledged that the government will maintain fiscal discipline following the completion of a four-year bailout program with the International Monetary Fund. West Africa’s second-biggest economy last week passed the final review of an almost $1 billion extended credit-facility program that it entered into in April 2015 when a currency crisis caused inflation to soar and debt to become unaffordable. During the course of the program, the fiscal deficit has…

Nigeria Unexpectedly Cuts Key Rate for First Time in Three Years

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank unexpectedly reduced its key interest rate for the first time in more than three years to help boost the economy. The Monetary Policy Committee voted to cut the rate to 13.5 percent from 14 percent, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Abuja. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for the key rate to be held at 14 percent. Departing from his usual hard…

Equity Is Bullish on Congo as CEO Sees Economic Growth Surging

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Equity Group Holdings Ltd., Kenya’s biggest lender by market value, expects the balance sheet of its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo to almost double this year as economic growth accelerates. Since acquiring ProCredit Bank Congo SA in 2015, Equity has grown the unit’s value to 60 billion shillings ($594 million) from 15 billion shillings, Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi told reporters Tuesday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. That figure is expected…

Frequent-Flying President Preaching Thrift Draws Ire in Zimbabwe

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Zimbabwe reels from surging inflation and the effects of a devastating cyclone, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is drawing the wrath of the nation’s long-suffering residents with frequent trips abroad. Mnangagwa was in South Africa on Tuesday for a conference discussing regional support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a region of Morocco that wants independence. It’s the third time in the past week he’s traveled outside Zimbabwe, where flooding caused by…

« 1 … 332 333 334 335 336 … 1,072 »