Banking

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s central bank has room for another interest-rate cut as early as next month, according to a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Following an unexpected reduction in the key rate in January, further loosening in March “could be a possibility” if inflation trends downward, said Philip Abradu-Otoo, who is also the head of research at the Bank of Ghana. The central bank is “fairly confident that inflation will…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) = RioZim Ltd. halted production at its three gold mines after Zimbabwe’s central bank failed to provide foreign currency the company needs to keep operating. The shutdown is the second by RioZim since October. It’s the latest indication of how businesses are struggling to keep going as a dearth of foreign exchange causes shortages of food and fuel in the southern African nation. RioZim said it suspended output after the central…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s state prosecutor is considering a police recommendation that five of the country’s biggest banks be prosecuted over corruption-related charges. It’s the latest sign that the authorities are intensifying their fight against graft that President Uhuru Kenyatta has called a threat to national security. Kenya ranks among the world’s 40 most-corrupt countries. Kenya’s Director of Criminal Investigations recommended the domestic lenders be charged for “concealing and facilitating, aiding, abetting and benefiting from the…

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s central bank retained its benchmark interest rate at 10 percent for a second time, saying risks to the inflation outlook over a 12-month period remain elevated. The Monetary Policy Committee left the rate unchanged even as projected economic growth momentum faces risks “including weather-related constraints to agricultural production and challenges relating to the financing of public investment programs,” Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told reporters in the capital, Kampala. Key Insights The…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – An ex-Barclays Plc trader in court on allegations that he conspired to rig a key benchmark says his former employer should be the one on trial. During the cross examination of Carlo Palombo, a prosecutor for the U.K. Serious Fraud Office said that Barclays didn’t want its traders making requests for submissions to Euribor that would benefit their own positions.  “They wholly disapproved of this practice in 2019 in a courtroom,”…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – A regulatory spring-clean that’s cut the number of Ghanaian banks by almost a third is strengthening the industry, brightening prospects for lending growth and easing the pain of unpaid debts. The expanding economy is also helping lenders put behind them years of challenges weighing on the West African nation — including daily power outages, poor banking regulation and an inflation rate that has averaged 14 percent since 2013. Flush with cash after…