Economic |

World Bank Slashes Nigeria and South Africa 2016 Growth Forecast

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: The World Bank cut Nigeria’s economic growth forecast for this year, citing weakness from oil-output disruptions and low prices. The lender, in its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report, said Africa’s biggest economy is expected to grow 0.8 percent, down from an estimate of 4.6 percent in January. Growth is projected to pick up to 3.5 percent in 2017, it said. Furthermore, forecast South Africa’s economy to expand 1.1% in 2017,…

Zambia Will Only Take IMF Bailout If Terms Agreeable, Lungu Says

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LUSAKA, Zambia, Capital Markets in Africa: Zambian President Edgar Lungu said Africa’s second-largest copper producer will only access International Monetary Fund support if the lender’s conditions are acceptable. “If we find that there are conditionalities which we find acceptable, we will work with them,” he told reporters Friday in Lusaka, the capital. “If not, we will throw them out.” The southern African nation had earlier said it was working to seal an “inevitable” aid program from the…

Nigeria edging closer to China — Bank of America Merrill Lynch

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Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Buhari’s recent trip to China generated impressive headlines on funding. If the whole $6bn infrastructure loan is disbursed, it could give a significant boost to Nigeria’s productivity. However, in the short term, the focus is on some important details of the currency swap arrangement and to what extent it can alleviate the pressure on Nigeria’s FX reserves. CBN lauds currency swap with China, but important details are missing The…

Nigeria | More details emerge on Nigeria’s fiscal plans — BoAML

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigeria’s Senators have urged Buhari to sign the budget into law after he requested it be sent to him to check for any unapproved adjustments. The local press has reported that this should happen within weeks but the whole budgeting process has been fraught with delays since it was first started in December 2015. The current delays relate to the allocation of the US$30bn headline expenditure, but the…

Ghana’s Inflation Rate touches over-six-year high at 19.2% in March

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Accra, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa — The outlook for achieving the Bank of Ghana’s medium term inflation target (8% ± 2%) could shift further into late 2017 (from the projected mid-2017) as inflationary pressures remain elevated on the back of high cost-push factors. The year-on-year increase in Ghana’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) shocked expectations with a 70bps surge to 19.2% in Mar-2016. Consequently, average y/y price inflation in Q1-2016 (18.9%) turned out 130bps higher…

Africa’s Economic Growth Slashes AMIDST Global Economic Weakness

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Amid falling commodity prices and continuing weakness in global growth, Sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth decelerated to an estimated 3.0% in 2015 from 4.5% in 2014, according to the latest World Bank projections. This low pace of growth, which translates into an increase in the region’s GDP per capita of less than 0.5%, was last seen in 2009 following the global financial crisis, and contrasts sharply…

South Africa’s Growth Downside Amid Credit Outlook says S&P

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — Standard & Poor’s halved its 2016 growth forecast for South Africa as it warned that pressure on the nation’s credit rating comes mainly from a slow economic expansion. The rating company cut its growth forecast for this year to 0.8 percent, in line with that of the central bank, from 1.6 percent, and reduced its estimate for 2017 to 1.8 percent from 2.1 percent, according to an e-mailed statement…

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