Economy | - Part 45

South Africa Inflation Stays Firmly Within Target Band in August

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s inflation rate stayed firmly within the central bank’s target band in August, strengthening the case for more policy easing on Thursday. Inflation quickened to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent in July, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said Wednesday in a report on its website. The median estimate of 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for 4.9 percent. Prices rose 0.1 percent in the month. The higher inflation is unlikely to…

Kenyan Credit Growth Accelerates for First Time in Two Years

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lending to Kenya’s private sector accelerated in August for the first time in two years, after growing at the weakest pace since 2002 the month before as banks continued to shun borrowers because of a government-imposed interest-rate cap. Credit grew 1.6 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with 1.4 percent in July, the Central Bank of Kenya said in an emailed statement. The bank kept its benchmark interest rate…

South Africa Current-Account Gap Widens as Customs Payouts Rise

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JOHANNNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s current-account deficit widened in the second quarter as the amount paid to the nation’s customs union partners increased. The shortfall on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, increased to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product in the three months through June from a revised 2 percent in the previous quarter, the Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin released on Thursday in the…

Tunisia Eyes GDP Growth, Currency Reform, to Boost Economy

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TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tunisia’s government is looking to double economic growth, slash its budget deficit and revise some currency restrictions in an effort to revive its struggling economy. Prime Minister Yousef El-Shahed told parliament the government seeks to raise economic growth to 5 percent in 2020 compared with an expected rate of 2.5 percent this year and would work to halve the budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by that…

Largest Africa Economies Need More Growth to Cut Joblessness

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A surge in agriculture has helped lift Africa’s biggest economies out of their slumps, but the recovery may be weak. Gross domestic product in Nigeria, the continent’s largest crude producer, advanced for the first time in six quarters in the three months ended June from a year earlier, growing 0.55 percent, the statistics agency said. In South Africa, GDP expanded 2.5 percent from the previous quarter, ending the second recession in almost…

Nigeria’s Economy Expands to End the Worst Slump in 25 Years

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economy expanded in the second quarter, ending its worst slump in 25 years as agricultural and oil output increased. Gross domestic product of Africa’s largest crude producer grew 0.55 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier compared with a revised 0.9 percent contraction in the first quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report Tuesday. The median of 10 economists’…

Worst May Be Over as Biggest Africa Economies End Growth Rut

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The worst may be over for Africa’s two largest economies as they likely emerged from a slump in the second quarter. Official data on Tuesday will probably show South Africa’s economy expanded in the three months through June, ending its second recession in less than a decade. Nigeria’s gross domestic product probably grew from a year earlier, and came out of its worst slump in a quarter of a century. South Africa…

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