The Editorial Team |

IMF may consider extending Ghana aid deal, says its Ghana country head

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) may consider extending its three-year aid deal with Ghana if the new government requests an extension, the Washington-based lender said on Wednesday. The West African country is more than halfway through a $918 million programme signed in April 2015 to restore fiscal balance to an economy dogged by deficits, high public debt and inflation. The government of Nana Akufo-Addo, which took office in January…

African capital markets Activity shows significant decline in 2016, says PwC

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – 2016 marked a challenging year for African equity markets in the wake of lower economic growth and political upheaval around the globe, largely as a result of the US elections cycle and the Brexit vote. African equity capital markets (ECM) broke a streak of three successive years of growth, recording a decline in overall ECM activity of 28% from 2015 in the number of transactions and 33% from 2015…

Bargain Hunting Pushes Nigerian Benchmark Index to Close Higher

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Performance in the Nigerian equities market deviated from the 2-day bearish trend, as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 0.4% to close at 25,130.26 points while YTD loss trimmed to -6.5%. Consequently, investors gained N33.9bn as market capitalization improved to N8.7tn. Gains in counters which had previously declined – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.2%), DANGCEM (+0.6%) and FORTE (+10.2%) – ensured the market closed positive. However, market activity was mixed as volume traded rose 11.7% to settle at…

Bank of Uganda Slashes Benchmark Rate amid shrinking growth

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of Uganda on Wednesday lowered the central bank rate by 50 basis points from 12 percent, set in December 2016, to 11.5 percent. The cut was necessary to “support economic activity”, according to the Monetary Policy Statement for February 2017. It is the sixth consecutive cut since the central bank started easing the policy rate in April 2016. “A further cautious easing of monetary policy is warranted to…

South Africa’s Imperial buys stake in Kenyan pharmaceutical distributor

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African logistics group Imperial Holdings will buy a 70 percent stake in Kenyan pharmaceutical distributor Surgipharm for $35 million in line with its African growth strategy, the company said on Wednesday. Surgipharm, which is headquartered in Nairobi, is a leading distributor of pharmaceutical, medical, surgical and allied supplies in Kenya, with an annual turnover of about $70 million, the company said in a statement. It gave no further…

Namibia Central Bank Leaves Benchmark Rate Unchanged at 7%

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Windhoek (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Namibia kept the Repo rate unchanged at 7.00 percent. This rate remains appropriate to maintain the one-to-one link between the Namibia Dollar and the South African Rand, while supporting economic growth in Namibia. The Namibia economic growth is estimated to have slowed in 2016, compared to the previous year. The slowdown is mainly attributed to the contraction in the construction…

South Africa’s trade balance recorded a further surplus of R12.04 billion

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – In December 2016, South Africa’s trade balance recorded a further surplus of R12.04 billion. This compares with a trade deficit of –R1.7 billion in November 2016. The market was expecting a trade surplus of around R6.3 billion for the month, although the trade data is extremely difficult to forecast accurately on a month-by-month basis, especially since the data is not seasonally adjusted and prone to revisions. South Africa has…

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