Economy

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) — Kenya’s economy contracted for the first time in almost 12 years in the second quarter as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic battered key sectors. Gross domestic product fell 5.7%, compared with growth of 4.9% in the three months through March and expansion of 5.3% in the same period a year earlier, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday on its website. The median of six economists’ estimates…

JOHANNESBURG (Bloomberg) — South Africa won’t be able to meet its finance ministry’s debt targets and it may be undesirable for it to attempt to do so when the economy is being battered by the fallout from the coronavirus, according to an advisory panel appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. In a more than 100-page document advising the government on an economic recovery program that Ramaphosa is due to unveil on Oct. 15, the President’s Economic…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) — In Zimbabwe, pregnant women are left alone in hospitals to give birth, taps have run dry in major urban centers, infrastructure has all but collapsed and more than half the population needs food aid. This is the toll that two decades of economic mismanagement have taken on a nation once considered one of Africa’s shining stars. Promises of an economic revival and more political freedom made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa,…

CAIRO(Capital Markets in Africa) — Consumer prices in urban parts of Egypt grew at the slowest annual pace since November as the global pandemic weighed on demand and food costs declined. Defying some analyst expectations for a moderate pickup, inflation eased to 4.2% from a year earlier in July, compared with 5.6% in June, according to data published on Monday by the state-run statistics agency, CAPMAS. The deceleration left the country with the world’s highest interest…

DR CONGO (Capital Markets in Africa) — S&P Global Ratings held Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-term foreign-currency debt rating at CCC+ and lowered its outlook to stable from positive amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Emergency foreign assistance should help balance out the worst effects of the virus on Congo’s economy, which could rebound if copper and cobalt demand and production increase as expected, the ratings agency said Friday on its website. “DRC’s economic…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) —  Even before the pandemic struck, South Africa was in a parlous state. Jacob Zuma’s disastrous nine-year rule left a toxic legacy of endemic graft, soaring government debt, and evaporating investor confidence. President Cyril Ramaphosa has made only stuttering progress since he succeeded Zuma in 2018, replacing some inept and corrupt officials, but has struggled to ignite economic growth or tackle rampant unemployment.  The arrival of Covid-19 has compounded South…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Bank indicated that Sub-Saharan African(SSA) countries will benefit from debt-service relief from China under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. It expected the agreement to suspend the repayment of bilateral loans for low-income economies until the end of 2020. It considered that Angola, Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya will benefit the most from the suspension of debt payments to China, as they owe a large position of their…