Banking

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritius’s central bank urged commercial lenders benefiting from the lowest official interest rates in more than a decade to increase the amount they pay depositors. Bank of Mauritius Governor Yandraduth Googoolye said he plans to put the revision of savings rates on the agenda at a forthcoming meeting with lenders. “Bearing in mind that in 2015 banks had lowered interests rates without any change in the key repo rate, I know…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African consumer prices accelerated at a slower pace than economists’ expectations in June, cementing the case for the central bank to hold its benchmark rate Thursday. The annual inflation rate was 4.6 percent compared with 4.4 percent in May, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 4.8 percent. The rand had its worst month in more than two years…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Development Bank of Nigeria Plc, a state-owned lender set up to improve access to credit in Africa’s largest economy, expects loans to small businesses to surge after the number of banks signing up to disburse the facilities more than doubled. The state-owned bank, targeting as much as 60 billion naira ($166 million) of loans this year, expects lending to small- and medium-sized companies to reach “hundreds of billions of…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Central bankers are sounding the alarm on how the fledgling trade war could complicate their work by fanning inflation, undermining demand and unnerving investors. With President Donald Trump readying to impose tariffs on China and also European automakers, monetary policymakers might be forced to decide whether to focus on supporting growth or fighting price pressures. A sell-off in equity markets would only add to their stress. Here are extracts of some…