Banking | - Part 73

Nigeria Holds Key Rate at Record-High 14% on Inflation Risks

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank held its main lending rate at a record-high 14 percent as it seeks to bring inflation down to within its target band. Of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee who attended this week’s meeting, eight voted to leave the benchmark rate, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday. That decision matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Lawmakers only approved 2018 spending…

Zambia Central-Bank Head Kalyalya Faces Another Tough Test

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya can’t seem to catch a break. When he took leadership of the central bank in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer three years ago, the economy was on the brink of a crisis, with inflation rapidly accelerating to reach 22.9 percent. Now that he’s had his contract extended for five years, a new set of problems are emerging. The kwacha has fallen almost 7 percent against the…

Egypt Holds Rates as Oil Price Rise Stokes Inflation Worries

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday, as the government prepares for a new round of fuel subsidy cuts against a backdrop of rising global oil prices. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Governor Tarek Amer, held the overnight deposit rate at 16.75 percent — in line with predictions by five out of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The overnight lending rate was kept at…

Tunisia’s Central Bank Holds Its Key Rate Amid High Inflation

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TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tunisia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, as high inflation complicates efforts to overhaul an economy that’s seen little in the way of foreign investment since its 2011 uprising. The decision to hold the rate at 5.75 percent came after Tunisia posted a stronger than expected 2.5 percent rise in economic growth in the first quarter of 2018, compared to 1.9 percent a year earlier. The annual inflation rate…

State Firms Debt May Threaten Financial Stability, SARB Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The inability of South African state-owned companies to roll over debt could threaten the nation’s financial stability and ultimately result in more credit-rating downgrades, according to the central bank. Governance issues at state companies, rising contingent liabilities and inadequate liquidity could add pressure to government finances through the increased use of guarantees, the Reserve Bank said in its six-monthly Financial Stability Review released in Pretoria on Wednesday. “Financial stability centers around…

Angola: Increase in capital levels insufficient to address banks’ weaknesses

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LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fitch Ratings expected Angola’s banking sector to remain weak and fragmented in coming years, despite the Banco Nacional de Angola’s (BNA) recent efforts to increase the banks’ capital requirements. It said that eight out of the 29 banks operating in Angola will have to increase their paid-in capital this year in order to comply with the BNA’s latest capital requirements. It noted that Angolan banks will be required to…

Mozambique Cuts Interest Rate as Inflation Slows to 2015 Low

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s central bank reduced its benchmark lending rate for the fifth consecutive time as inflation slowed, allowing the regulator to try to spur an economy that’s forecast to expand at the slowest pace in 18 years. The Monetary Policy Committee cut the benchmark interbank rate, known by its Portuguese acronym MIMO and introduced in April, by 150 basis points to 16.5 percent, Banco de Mocambique Governor Rogerio Zandamela told reporters Wednesday…

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