Banking

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…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank asked the country’s credit regulator to probe whether Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. re-introduced a product criticized for its fee structure, an investigation that is ongoing, according to a person familiar with the matter. The referral to the National Credit Regulator came after the issue about the so-called multi-loan product was raised in a report by short-seller Viceroy Research in January, said the person, asking not to be…