East Africa | - Part 17

South Sudan Seeks New Oil Investors After Total Talks Collapse

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudan’s government opened negotiations on two of its biggest oil blocks to new investors after discussions with Total SA collapsed. Discussions about blocks B1 and B2 with the French oil company over the past two weeks reached an impasse over the proposed exploration period and “cost-recovery limit,” Petroleum Minister Ezekiel Lol Gakuoth said in a statement he forwarded by email on Monday. Total didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for…

Kenyan Economy Expands at Fastest Pace in Five Years in 2016

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s economy, East Africa’s largest, expanded at the fastest pace in five years in 2016, boosted by more construction and tourism. Gross domestic product increased 5.8 percent last year, the most since 2011, from a revised 5.7 percent in 2015, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director General Zachary Mwangi told reporters Wednesday in Nairobi, the capital. Expansion could have been more robust had it not been for a sluggish…

World Bank cuts Kenya’s 2017 growth forecast to 5.5 percent

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank cut Kenya’s economic growth forecast for this year by half a percentage point on Wednesday to 5.5 percent, citing drought, sluggish private sector credit growth and rising prices of oil. The country is estimated to have expanded by 5.9 percent last year, the highest annual expansion in half a decade. But the outlook has been hit by months of dry weather, that left 2.7 million people in…

Tanzania’s economic growth slowed by policy uncertainty, credit squeeze

Posted on by The Editorial Team

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Uncertainty over government policies and a slowdown in the private sector cut Tanzania’s gross domestic product growth to an estimated 6.9 percent in 2016 from 7.2 percent the previous year, the World Bank said on Tuesday. Growth is still supported by substantial government investment in infrastructure, including a standard gauge railway, new roads and expanding the ports. But investors have been unnerved by unpredictable policies from the government of President…

Kibo Capital invests in I&M Bank Rwanda

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kibo Capital Partners, a manager of regional private equity funds, today announced an investment by Kibo II in I&M Bank Rwanda, the oldest and one of the most profitable banks in Rwanda. “Our investment in I&M Rwanda (IMR) builds on a long relationship between Kibo and with I&M Bank. Investing in IMR allows Kibo to support a market leading bank to expand further in one of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s…

Kenyan Opposition Choice of Odinga May Weaken Presidency Bid

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The emergence of former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who’s lost three presidential votes, as the opposition’s favored candidate may diminish its chances of unseating Uhuru Kenyatta in elections in August. Odinga, 72, is backed by most members of a technical committee appointed by the opposition National Super Alliance to pick a presidential candidate, a spokesman for the party said by mobile-phone text message on Thursday. The Nairobi-based Standard newspaper reported earlier that Odinga’s…

IMF Sees Ugandan Growth Rebound in 2017-18 on Infrastructure

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Economic growth in Uganda may accelerate in the coming fiscal year, underpinned by government spending on infrastructure and an anticipated recovery in lending to the private sector, according to the International Monetary Fund. The growth rate may increase to 5.5 percent in the 12 months through June 2018, compared with an estimated 4.5 percent this year and 4.8 percent in the prior 12-month period, Clara Mira, IMF’s resident representative…

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