The Editorial Team |

Mozambique Cuts Interest Rate as Inflation Slows to 2015 Low

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s central bank reduced its benchmark lending rate for the fifth consecutive time as inflation slowed, allowing the regulator to try to spur an economy that’s forecast to expand at the slowest pace in 18 years. The Monetary Policy Committee cut the benchmark interbank rate, known by its Portuguese acronym MIMO and introduced in April, by 150 basis points to 16.5 percent, Banco de Mocambique Governor Rogerio Zandamela told reporters Wednesday…

Google Releases New Africa App to Beat Slow Internet Speeds

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Google is releasing an app in Africa that will help internet users overcome obstacles such as the lack of high-speed connectivity and the cost of data on the continent. The release of Google Go is the U.S. technology giant’s latest attempt to extend its reach into emerging markets such as sub-Saharan Africa, where Facebook Inc. is also making inroads. The Alphabet Inc. unit has laid fiber-optic cable on the continent, eased…

Nigeria Rate-Cut Hope Lives as Inflation Slows to Two-Year Low

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian inflation slowed for a 14th straight month in March, taking consumer-price growth below the benchmark interest rate for the first time in two years and opening the door for a rate cut. Consumer inflation in Africa’s most-populous nation decelerated to 13.3 percent from a year earlier, the lowest rate in two years and below the benchmark rate of 14 percent. Nigeria’s central bank left its main lending rate…

Wiese Rebuts Wrongdoing Allegation Over Steinhoff Payments

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JOHANNESBRUG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African billionaire Christo Wiese denied he did anything wrong when receiving payments from Steinhoff International Holdings NV while he was chairman. The 325 million euros ($402 million) he received related to a planned merger between Steinhoff’s African operations and South African supermarket chain Shoprite Holdings Ltd., in which Wiese is the biggest shareholder, he said by phone. They were cleared by the central bank, and he started returning the cash when the deal…

Uchumi Seeks Private Equity Rescue in Fight for Survival

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uchumi Supermarkets Plc started talks with a private-equity fund and other investors over a potential capital injection that could help the Kenyan supermarket chain survive a cash crunch. “We’re following different channels of financing,” acting Chief Executive Mohamed Mohamed said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, declining to name potential suitors. “Where Uchumi is right now, it needs some cash almost immediately. We…

South Africa Growth May Pick Up Faster Than Expected, Bank Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s economic growth could pick up faster than forecast if the right structural reforms are implemented, the Reserve Bank said. That means the economy could expand faster than the 2 percent for 2020 the central bank projected last month, a rate it hasn’t exceeded since 2013. While last year’s 1.3 percent advance beat predictions, this doesn’t equate to a good performance, the Reserve Bank said in its six-monthly…

Namibian Rate Veers From South Africa’s for First Time Since ’15

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WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia, whose currency is pegged to South Africa’s, diverged from its neighbour’s moves on monetary policy for the first time since 2015 as the country seeks to curb further declines in reserves. The southwest African nation’s Monetary Policy Committee maintained its key interest rate at 6.75 percent Wednesday. Last month, its counterpart in South Africa reduced its key gauge to 6.5 percent, making this the first time since December 2015 that…

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