The Editorial Team |

Morocco Central Bank Holds Rates, Citing Inflation Prospects

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,…

Emerging-Market Carry Trades Set for Worst Quarter Since 2011

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A strategy that made emerging-market investors money in the previous five quarters is getting upended by a stronger dollar and the prospect of a prolonged trade war. A Bloomberg currency index that measures carry-trade returns from eight emerging markets, funded by short positions in the dollar, has slumped 8.9 percent since end-March, set for its worst quarterly loss since the three months through September 2011. After rallying since 2016, what’s turned the strategy…

Copperbelt Energy of Zambia Eyes $250 Million Power Investment

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Copperbelt Energy Corp., the Zambian electricity supplier with customers including Glencore Plc’s copper mines, may invest as much as $250 million in solar projects and transmission lines in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Chief Executive Officer Owen Silavwe said. The amount includes two solar plants to generate 30 megawatts and 50 megawatts respectively, and the company is still determining their feasibility, he said Tuesday in an interview on the sidelines…

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