Banking

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – – Ghana’s central bank maintained its benchmark interest rate at a six-year low, warning that it could tighten policy if inflation risks from a weaker currency materialize. The Bank of Ghana kept the rate at 16 percent, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra. All four economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast the unchanged stance. After an unexpected rate cut in January on favorable inflation outcomes, the cedi accelerated its…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The New Development Bank plans to issue South African bonds in the third quarter to raise 4.4 billion rand ($310 million) for two infrastructure projects in the continent’s most-industrialized economy. Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Absa Group Ltd. have been picked to arrange the debt sale, Leslie Maasdorp, the NDB’s chief financial officer, told reporters in Cape Town on Monday. The funding is earmarked for Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, the state-owned firm responsible…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa ) – Monetary stimulus is needed to revive growth and attract foreign direct investment. Business activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector slipped in February to its lowest level since September 2017. The central bank is still a long way from unwinding rate increases deployed to steady inflation after floating the currency in November 2016. While price growth has since stabilized, however, it accelerated for a second month to an annual…

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…