The Editorial Team |

South Africa Inflation Eases; Food Costs Up Least Since 2013

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s inflation rate fell in May as food prices rose at the slowest pace since 2013, reducing chances that the central bank will increase interest rates later this year. Consumer prices climbed 4.4 percent from a year earlier compared with 4.5 percent in April, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said Wednesday in a report on its website. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 4.6 percent. Prices of food and…

StanChart Chairman Says Bank Acts `Decisively’ on Misconduct

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Plc Chairman Jose Vinals defended the bank’s culture, insisting the emerging markets-focused lender has acted swiftly and “decisively” to root out misconduct. His comments, in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria, come after a number of top executives in charge of policing behaviour at the bank were themselves disciplined or investigated for allegations of harassment or inappropriate conduct, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. Vinals said any instances…

Morocco Central Bank Holds Rates, Citing Inflation Prospects

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CASABLANCA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Morocco’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged despite rising inflation that’s prompted a damaging product boycott. The central bank kept the key rate at 2.25 percent, citing medium-term inflation and growth prospects. Last month the general affairs minister said the economy could withstand annual price growth of as much as 3 percent, above the 2.7 percent reached in April that was near a five-year high. Spurred by temporary…

South Africa May Raise Rate If Weak Rand Boosts CPI, SARB Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rand’s plunge to the weakest in almost seven months against the dollar may push up South African inflation and require interest-rate increases, central bank Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo said. While the South African Reserve Bank doesn’t target a specific level of the rand, it responds to second-round effects on prices from currency weakness, Naidoo said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Sintra, Portugal, on Tuesday. South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governor…

South Africa’s Rand Pares Gain as Inflation Unexpectedly Slows

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand pared an advance against the dollar and benchmark bond yields extended a drop as traders cut bets on an interest-rate increase this year after inflation unexpectedly slowed last month. Growth in the consumer price index eased to 4.4 percent in May, from 4.5 percent the previous month. The median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey was for the inflation rate to accelerate to 4.6 percent….

Billionaire Wiese Takes Blow as Brait Struggles With Losses

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African billionaire Christo Wiese received more bad news as a company in which he’s the biggest shareholder reported a decline in the value of its investments alongside higher borrowings. Brait SE, in which Wiese owns a 35 percent stake, said net asset value was 57.32 rand at the end of March, compared with a restated 77.63 rand a year earlier, with retailer New Look struggling amid a sales slump on…

Kenya Rate-Cap Champion Unmoved as Banks Pledge to Boost Lending

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Kenyan lawmaker who spearheaded legislation that placed a limit on the interest rates banks can charge is ready to block efforts from the regulator, Treasury and the industry to scrap the rules. “We have not seen any change in the banks, in fact it’s more of grandstanding: ‘if you remove the caps, we give the loans,’” Jude Njomo said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, on Monday. “Right now,…

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