The Editorial Team |

South Africa Reserve Bank Warns of Price Risks as It Holds Key Rate

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank warned of upside risks to inflation as it held the key interest rate at a two-year low. The Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to keep the repurchase rate at 6.5 percent Thursday. All 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted the freeze. The rand had its worst month in more than two years in June as the U.S. and China exchanged tariff blows at a time when…

Ghana’s Economy Likely up to 40% Bigger, Reuters Reports

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s economy could be as much as 40 percent bigger when the statistics agency publishes overhauled data on output in September, Reuters reported, citing government officials it didn’t identified. A bigger gross domestic product could improve Ghana’s debt ratio and get the government closer to achieving its budget-deficit target of 4.5 percent of GDP this year. The $45-billion economy is the seventh biggest in sub-Saharan Africa and one of…

Nigerian Senate to Probe `Irregular’ Oil Lease Renewals

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s Senate said it would probe the renewal process of energy leases undertaken by the oil minister and the Department of Petroleum Resources, in search of anomalies that could cost the government more than $10 billion in lost revenue. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu and the DPR are renewing the “leases of companies that have brazenly and illegally refused to pay royalties,” lawmakers said in a motion…

MTN Is Said to Mull West African Unit Sale in Markets Cull

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd.’s sale of its Cyprus unit is just the start of a broader exit from small or problematic markets, with the Liberian unit leading a number of West African divisions being considered for disposal, according to people familiar with the matter. Africa’s largest mobile-phone company by subscribers sees the Liberia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau businesses as ones it could do without, said two of the people, who asked…

Libya Kidnap Shows Oil-Supply Growth at Risk From Insecurity

Posted on by The Editorial Team

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Just as Libya resumes oil exports from recently shuttered ports, an attack on its largest field is setting back progress yet again. An incursion by gunmen into the Sharara field Saturday and the kidnapping of workers there forced the National Oil Corp. to cut output and ban exports. It’s the latest in a string of security incidents that have hobbled Libyan shipments despite repeated attempts to restore flows in the politically…

Mauritian Central Bank Urges Lenders to Boost Deposit Rates

Posted on by The Editorial Team

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritius’s central bank urged commercial lenders benefiting from the lowest official interest rates in more than a decade to increase the amount they pay depositors. Bank of Mauritius Governor Yandraduth Googoolye said he plans to put the revision of savings rates on the agenda at a forthcoming meeting with lenders. “Bearing in mind that in 2015 banks had lowered interests rates without any change in the key repo rate, I know…

South African Rate-Hold Bets Firm Up as June CPI Undershoots

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African consumer prices accelerated at a slower pace than economists’ expectations in June, cementing the case for the central bank to hold its benchmark rate Thursday. The annual inflation rate was 4.6 percent compared with 4.4 percent in May, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 4.8 percent. The rand had its worst month in more than two years…

« 1 … 471 472 473 474 475 … 1,076 »