Banking

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank raised borrowing costs by the biggest margin in almost two decades to safeguard its currency peg with South Africa’s rand and quell inflation.  The monetary policy committee lifted the rate by 75 basis points to 5.5%, Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta told reporters in the capital, Windhoek, on Wednesday. That’s the biggest increase since September 2002. The hike brings Namibia on par with South Africa, which raised its benchmark interest…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Democratic Republic of Congo’s central bank ordered that Afriland First Group SA’s unit in the country be placed under administration amid worries that credit problems at the lender could destabilize the financial sector. Central bank Governor Malangu Kabedi Mbuyi announced the measure on June 20 in a communique and in a letter to Afriland’s shareholders, seen by Bloomberg. The central bank has been concerned about Afriland’s risk profile since…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana faces a looming fuel shortage as the central bank rations dollars after oil prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The monthly fuel import bill for the West African nation jumped to $450 million in May, from $250 million in January, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The central bank is only offering about $100 million a month at its foreign exchange auctions, and licensed…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Many of Africa’s biggest banks and insurers have joined forces to tackle the continent’s biodiversity crisis while at the same time working out how to cash in on opportunities arising from it. The African Natural Capital Alliance, launched Wednesday, is the latest in a flurry of finance sector interest in the risks and opportunities associated with the threats to biodiversity globally and its establishment is in a continent overwhelmingly dependent on…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank unexpectedly raised its key interest rate for the first time in almost seven years to anchor inflation expectations as concerns about commodity prices build.  The monetary policy committee increased the rate by 50 basis points to 7.5%, Governor Patrick Njoroge said in an emailed statement Monday. That’s the first increase since July 2015. None of the five economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted the move. The…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is trying to emulate Russian President Vladimir Putin in his attempt to revive Africa’s worst performing currency. Mnangagwa’s administration may announce plans as early as this week for government departments in Zimbabwe — under U.S. sanctions for economic mismanagement and human rights violations for the past two decades — to show “high preference” for the Zimbabwe dollar in the payment of services, according to Persistence…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. offered its first ever lending facility backed by Bitcoin, in a significant step for a major U.S. bank that accelerates Wall Street’s embrace of cryptocurrencies.  The secured lending facility lent cash collateralized by Bitcoin owned by the borrower, a spokeswoman for the bank said. The deal was interesting to Goldman because of its structure and 24-hour risk management, she said in an email. Wall…