South Africa’s Reserve Bank hikes repo rate by 50 basis points

South Africa’s Reserve Bank hikes repo rate by 50 basis points

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa —- The South Africa Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the repo rate to 6.75% from 6.25%. This takes the cumulative increases to 1.75 percentage points since the MPC started tightening policy in January 2014. Governor Lesetja Kganyago stated that, although the impact of the weaker exchange rate on inflation had remained muted in recent years, renewed rand weakness and the likelihood of higher food inflation had…

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Zambia Inflation Accelerates to 12-Year High As Kwacha Weakens …

Lusaka, Zambia, Capital Markets in Africa — Zambian consumer prices accelerated for a sixth consecutive month to a fresh 12-year high amid a power crisis and currency weakness. Prices rose by 21.8 percent year-on-year in January from 21.1 percent a month earlier, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement handed to reporters on Thursday in Lusaka, the capital. Prices rose 1.3 percent in January from the previous month, it said. Inflation has in Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer,…

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IFC Invests in CIEL Healthcare to Develop Pan-African Healthcare Network

IFC Invests in CIEL Healthcare to Develop Pan-African Healthcare Network

Nairobi, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group is investing $6.75 million in Mauritius-based CIEL Healthcare Limited (CHL) to help the company acquire and operate a chain of hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa. The hospitals will offer high-quality, modern medical services, reaching an additional 150,000 patients per year. CHL launched its network in Uganda through the acquisition of International Medical Group (IMG) in July 2015. CHL aims to support…

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Nigeria’s President Buhari says naira devaluation would kill naira

Nigeria’s President Buhari says naira devaluation would kill naira

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari yet to be convinced that country will benefit from any official devaluation of naira, his spokesman Garba Shehu says in Facebook post, citing comments made in Nairobi on Wednesday.   While export-driven economies may benefit from devaluation of currencies, weakening exchange rate “will only result in further inflation and hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria’s import-dependent economy”.   Devaluing naira will…

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Nigeria’s FX traders lower speculation on naira devaluation …

Nigeria’s FX traders lower speculation on naira devaluation …

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — FX traders lower their speculations against the naira, as the Central Bank of Nigeria ignore investors/analysts devaluation calls at the Tuesday’s press brief. At the press brief, the central bank governor Emefiele provided no suggestions that the central bank is ready to devalue the naira and ease the import controls which enable the interbank exchange rate to be fixed between 197-199 naira per dollar since March 2015. Even though the black-market rate…

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Nigerian Central Bank keeps interest rate at 11%, turns deaf hear to currency devaluation …

Nigerian Central Bank keeps interest rate at 11%, turns deaf hear to currency devaluation …

ABUJA, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigeria’s central bank Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held the policy rate at 11 percent after lowering it from a record 13 percent in November 2015, Governor Godwin Emefiele informed reporters on Tuesday in Abuja, the capital. That was in line with economists and analysts expectations. Emefiele said the twelve members of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep the rate unchanged. The bank also held the cash reserve…

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Bank of Ghana retains policy rate at 26 percent, slower inflation …

Bank of Ghana retains policy rate at 26 percent, slower inflation …

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa — The Bank of Ghana kept its policy rate unchanged at 26 percent on Monday, citing a slower pace of consumer price inflation, the central bank governor Dr Kofi Wampah stated in a press conference at the end of the Monetary policy Committee Policy meeting. Dr Kofi Wampah, announced that inflation rose to 17.7 percent in December 2015, up marginally from 17.6 per cent in November. “This indicates some…

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