Banking

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank held its key interest rate and said that the economy will probably expand in 2019 after two straight years of contraction. The Monetary Policy Committee maintained the rate at 6.75 percent, Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Windhoek. The economy of the world’s largest marine-diamond producer contracted last year, but the drop was smaller than in 2017, Uanguta said, adding that the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank has given the country’s lenders some much-needed relief by extending the time they will have to implement stricter accounting rules for bad loans. Lenders in the West African country now have four years to absorb impairments arising from the implementation of IFRS 9 accounting standards last year, thereby easing fears that an immediate transition would have severe repercussions for banks’ capital adequacy ratios. IFRS 9 requires them to…

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…