The Editorial Team |

Momentum Shift in Kenya Spurs Stocks to Best Start Since 2013

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s been a momentum shift in Kenya’s share market and it’s propelled Nairobi stocks to their best start to the year since 2013. After largely avoiding equities for the past two years in favor of the fixed-income market, local money managers are back buying stocks and in large-enough volumes to outweigh persistent foreign outflows. The benchmark stock index has jumped 16 percent in response, the best in the world in 2019 after Argentina…

Banks Urge Ramaphosa to Put Politics Aside, Fix State Firms

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A lobby group representing South African banks urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritize the country’s wider interests rather than securing votes for the ruling African National Congress if he is to boost confidence in the economy before elections in May. Ramaphosa’s plan to split troubled power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. into three separate parts has met resistance from the country’s largest labor federation, which has been in an alliance with the ANC and the…

Johannesburg Stock Gains May Prove a Red Herring Amid Eskom Woes

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African stocks are heading for the best weekly rally since Jan. 11, but don’t be fooled by the apparent momentum. The path of least resistance leads down. The benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index has added 2.1 percent in the past five days, with its 50-day moving average looking to cross above the 100-day mean. That’s made equities look resilient even as a crisis at the state-owned power utility Eskom fuels…

Tharcherist Revival Or Stagist Clean-up For Nigeria?

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerians will choose a new leader in elections on Feb. 16. The economic policy divide between the candidates is the widest in the country’s 59-year history. Opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar pledges a Thatcherist liberalization of the economy, which he says will ‘make Nigeria work again’ after the 2016 recession. Incumbent Muhammadu Buhari is sticking to his policy of state interventionism. He wants to reduce Nigeria’s dependency on oil exports,…

Nigeria’s Recovery From Recession Is Complete, Says Buhari

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economy has fully recovered from a recession in 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a nationally televised speech before Saturday’s general elections in which he is seeking a second four-year term. “The recovery of the economy from recession is complete and Nigeria is back on the path of steady growth,” Buhari, 76, said. Gross domestic product in Africa’s largest oil producer and most populous nation expanded 1.9 percent last year,…

RBS Makes Special Investor Payout as Brexit Starts to Bite

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc plans to award shareholders a special dividend as the British lender seeks to assuage concerns with the U.K.’s departure from the European Union looming. The bank, which required one of the costliest bailouts in financial history, swung to a better-than-expected profit before tax of 572 million pounds ($733 million) in the fourth quarter. Despite the planned payout, RBS remains one of the strongest capitalized…

Nigerian Annual Inflation Decelerates Ahead of Election

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian inflation decelerated in January ahead of the nation’s Feb. 16 general election. The annual inflation rate in Africa’s largest oil producer dropped to 11.37 percent, from 11.44 percent in December, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report on its website Friday. Prices rose 0.7 percent in the month. Key Insights: Annual growth in food prices slowed to 13.5 percent from 13.6 percent in December. Spending…

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