East Africa | - Part 2

World Bank, IMF Raise Rwanda’s 2018 Growth Estimate to 7.2%

KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank and International Monetary Fund revised their projection for Rwanda’s economic growth this year to 7.2 percent as rains improved food supply. The revision comes after Rwanda’s government posted 10.6 percent growth in gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2018 after services, which make up almost half of national output, accelerated. Rwanda is one of Africa’s top performers and has expanded an average of more than…

Centum Kenya to Fund-Raise, Exit Investments as Profit Falls

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Centum Investment Co., Kenya’s second-largest publicly traded investment group, plans to raise funds by selling assets and will target third-party funding for projects, after it reported a plunge in full-year profit. The Nairobi-based company will reduce its stakes in investments that aren’t providing “good returns” and part of the proceeds will be used to help repay outstanding debt of 11.4 billion shillings ($113 million), Chief Executive Officer James Mworia said at…

Politicians Look Set for Easy Ride in Kenyan Graft Crackdown

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan prosecutors have rounded up scores of officials they intend putting on trial for looting billions of shillings from state coffers. Few of their political masters — seen by many as the kingpins behind repeated scandals — look set to face similar censure. The spate of arrests are part of an effort by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a disputed election last year, to improve controls over public funds and…

Higher Uganda Budget Gap to Dent 2018-19 Fiscal Plan, IMF Says

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s policy of keeping debt at “safe levels” will be “challenging” in the coming fiscal year because of a higher-than-envisaged budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund said. East Africa’s third-biggest economy will need to “scrutinize very carefully new borrowing initiatives” in the 12 months through June next year in the wake of an expanded deficit, Clara Mira, the IMF resident representative in Uganda, said in a text message. Prudent borrowing will help…

Spreading Islamic Banking in Uganda, One Sermon at a Time

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Islamic preacher Imam Idi Kasozi’s Friday sermons in the Ugandan capital typically focus on three subjects: faith, mercy — and religiously compliant banking products. Whether speaking from the pulpit in Kampala or at social functions, the 59-year-old has become Uganda’s most ardent promoter of Islamic banking, a practice the nation is set to follow neighbours Kenya and Tanzania in adopting after years of debate. And though Kasozi perceives a religious obligation, others…

Ethiopian Ruling Party Picks Leader From Protest-Hit Region

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ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia’s ruling coalition appointed a top official from the protest-hit Oromia region as leader, as the government tries to quell unrest that’s posed the biggest challenge to its rule in a quarter-century. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front chose Abiy Ahmed, 42, a retired lieutenant general and recently appointed chairman of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, to succeed Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is now expected to be voted in by…

Kenya’s Biggest Bank Sees Rate Caps Staying Until at Least 2019

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s biggest bank reckons limits on interest-rate charges that have weighed on profit will be around for at least another year. “There are a lot of conversations happening and I have not seen anything today that says that we are ready to move,” KCB Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, last week. Even the bank’s best-case scenario is that a review process of the…

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