The Editorial Team |

Ghana Cuts Interest Rate to 4-Year Low as Inflation Slows

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana cut its benchmark interest rate to the lowest in more than four years as the inflation rate fell within the regulator’s target band for the first time since 2013. The Bank of Ghana reduced the rate by 100 basis points to 17 percent, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra. Lower borrowing costs may boost expansion in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. Inflation at 9.6 percent in April was…

Easing Inflation, Stable Naira Show Nigeria MPC May Be Right

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele’s tight monetary-policy stance and system of multiple exchange rates may have paid off through slowing inflation and a stable naira, and he’s not about to change that soon. The Monetary Policy Committee is meeting this week with price growth at a two-year low. All but four of the 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey said the panel will continue its unchanged stance on Tuesday. The MPC…

Kenya Drops Budget Cap to Reach Oil-Cash Deal, Lawmakers Say

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya agreed to drop budget-allocation limits for oil-rich counties in order to break a deadlock in passing a revenue-sharing law that’s delayed production. The Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill, which was presented to lawmakers in February and later withdrawn, proposed giving communities 5 percent of revenue and county administrations receiving 20 percent provided those amounts did not exceed budget allocations by the national government. The local community’s share was…

Nigerian Economy Expands in First Quarter as Oil Output Rises

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economy expanded for a fourth straight quarter in the first three months of the year, boosted by an increase in oil prices and output. Gross domestic product expanded 1.95 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report Monday. That lags the 2.6 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. While it accounts for only about 10…

Nigeria Holds Key Rate at Record-High 14% on Inflation Risks

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank held its main lending rate at a record-high 14 percent as it seeks to bring inflation down to within its target band. Of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee who attended this week’s meeting, eight voted to leave the benchmark rate, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday. That decision matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Lawmakers only approved 2018 spending…

Egypt EGX 100 Breadth Weakens: 200 Day MA, 50 Day MA

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Market breadth for the EGX 100 Index weakened as 51 percent of companies closed above their 200 day moving average, compared with 62 percent the previous day. 24 percent of companies closed above their 50 day moving average, compared with 33 percent the previous day. The Egypt EGX 100 was little changed at 2,188.86, within 0.5 percent of its one-week low level reached on May 16. The loss follows the previous…

Zambia Central-Bank Head Kalyalya Faces Another Tough Test

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya can’t seem to catch a break. When he took leadership of the central bank in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer three years ago, the economy was on the brink of a crisis, with inflation rapidly accelerating to reach 22.9 percent. Now that he’s had his contract extended for five years, a new set of problems are emerging. The kwacha has fallen almost 7 percent against the…

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