The Editorial Team |

Kenyan Central Bank Has `Room to Adjust’ Tight Monetary Policy

NAIROBI, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa: Kenya’s central bank has room to adjust interest rates in East Africa’s biggest economy as inflation falls back within the government’s target range, Governor Patrick Njoroge said. “One can say comfortably that there is room to adjust from the tight monetary stance that was there,” Njoroge said in an interview Thursday at the World Economic Forum on Africa in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. “I think that it is a decision that the…

Commodity Rout Hits Home as South Africa Has Record Output Drop

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s mining production fell the most since at least 1980 after the country’s biggest gold and platinum mines halted unprofitable output. Production declined 18 percent in March from a year earlier, accelerating February’s revised contraction of 8.3 percent, Statistics South Africa spokesman Juan-Pierre Terblanche said by phone Thursday. Expectations were for a drop of 12 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts. “This is a radical structural shift for…

Investment | Africa Investors Look East as Commodity-Driven Boom Withers

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LAGOS, Nigeria. Capital Markets in Africa: Investors targeting Africa are looking east, as depressed commodity prices and slowing growth in China put the brakes on a two-decade growth surge in the world’s poorest continent. Kenya, Tanzania and host Rwanda are the countries in vogue at the World Economic Forum’s annual confab of Africa’s business and political leaders that began Wednesday in Kigali. All three economies should expand at least 6 percent this year, double the…

South African economy not the second largest in Africa anymore

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: New data from the International Monetary Fund shows that Egypt is now Africa’s second largest economy after Nigeria, pushing South Africa into third place, according to a KPMG on Wednesday (May 11). South Africa has been known as the continent’s second-largest economy since Nigeria rebased its gross domestic product (GDP) data in early 2014. However, the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) released in mid-April provided more sobering GDP statistics for…

Fixed Income | Investec Sees South African Bonds as Resilient in Junk Downgrade

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s corporate bond market is better equipped than other emerging countries to deal with a cut in the nation’s credit rating to below investment grade, said Hendrik du Toit, chief executive officer of Investec Asset Management Ltd. The country has a relatively small pool of dollar bonds, compared with rand-denominated debt, and a large domestic money management business with the capacity to invest in the assets, Du Toit…

Kenya | Kenya Central Bank Sees Current-Account Gap Narrowing on Inflows

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa: Dollar inflows into Kenya will result in a narrower current account gap this year and are among reasons the shilling has a “bias toward strengthening,” Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. The deficit, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, is expected to shrink to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, Njoroge said in an interview Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Kigali, the…

Africa Embraces the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Kigali, Rwanda, Capital Markets in Africa: Africa should use the opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution to transform itself into a full partner on the global stage, said Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, at the opening address of the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa. “Africa should not be still playing catch-up when the fifth revolution comes around, he added. Kagame called for “a continent free of pity and apprehension, a…

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