Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in  Africa) – Higher power, food and fuel prices will likely crimp household spending and limit prospects for stronger economic growth, resulting in the South African Reserve Bank having to hold the nation’s key interest rate for the rest of the year, economists said. The Monetary Policy Committee’s unanimous decision to maintain the repurchase rate at 6.75 percent was in line with the expectations of all 18 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The bank…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in  Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo granted licenses to six insurance companies to begin operating, ending more than four decades of state monopoly of the industry. Permits are being granted to firms including units of Rawbank Sarl, the nation’s biggest lender, and France’s Gras Savoye & Cie, Alain Kaninda, director-general of the Insurance Regulatory Authority, told reporters Thursday in the capital, Kinshasa. Four insurance providers and two brokerages were authorized to…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank unexpectedly reduced its key interest rate for the first time in more than three years to help boost the economy. The Monetary Policy Committee voted to cut the rate to 13.5 percent from 14 percent, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Abuja. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for the key rate to be held at 14 percent. Departing from his usual hard…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Equity Group Holdings Ltd., Kenya’s biggest lender by market value, expects the balance sheet of its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo to almost double this year as economic growth accelerates. Since acquiring ProCredit Bank Congo SA in 2015, Equity has grown the unit’s value to 60 billion shillings ($594 million) from 15 billion shillings, Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi told reporters Tuesday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. That figure is expected…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Central bankers in Africa’s largest economies will consider very different conditions when deciding on interest rates over the next seven days than they did two months ago, and will mostly come to the same conclusions. Since the Monetary Policy Committees last met, Ghana’s currency slumped, Nigeria concluded its election, South Africa announced higher-than-expected power-price increases and a Kenyan court set aside a law that caps borrowing costs. All of…

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tunisia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rateunchanged as it monitors the effects of last month’s hike on inflation. The key gauge was held at 7.75 percent, the Central Bank of Tunisia said in a statement on Friday. The bank raised the rate by 100 basis points last month, the first increase since June, citing a need to curb price growth. Inflation accelerated to 7.3 percent in February from 7.1…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s tight monetary policy will “continue in the near term” and the central bank will increase its funding to the agricultural sector, according to Governor Godwin Emefiele. The central bank will be able to maintain a stable exchange rate given the strength of Nigeria’s reserves, Emefiele, 57, said at a conference in the commercial capital, Lagos. The economy “will see more growth and reduced unemployment” from May 2019, when President Muhammadu…