Economy | - Part 88

S&P may reduce Nigeria Credit Ratings

S&P may cuts Nigeria Credit RatingsStandard & Poor’s Ratings Services put Nigeria’s credit ratings on watch for potential downgrade following the fall in oil prices and continued political instability according to S&P’s analysts led by Ravi Bhatia wrote in the statement: “Political risks also remain significant”. Nigeria is the latest country that S&P has docked for reasons related to oil. Its BB-rating is three notches below investment-grade territory. In light of the months long oil slump,…

Ghana to grow by 5.8% in 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Business Monitor International anticipated that the Ghanaian cedi would resume its depreciation in the coming three to six months after stabilizing during the last months of 2014. It attributed the expected depreciation of the cedi to the strengthening US dollar, wide current account deficit and uncertainty about an agreement between the International Monetary Fund and the Ghanaian authorities. It forecast the current account deficit to widen from 9.2% of GDP in 2014 to 11.9% of…

Net private capital inflows to decrease by 2% in 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The Institute of International Finance (IIF) projected net private capital inflows to emerging markets at $1,064bn in 2015, constituting a decrease of 2.2% from $1,088bn in 2014 and a drop of $94bn from its forecast in October. It attributed the decline to the expected increase of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy rate and to the relative slow growth in emerging markets. It said that lower oil prices would stimulate global growth, but it noted that…

2015 outlook commodity for oil, copper, gold and aluminium

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Crude oil prices to decline by 42% in 2015The crude oil market in 2015 is expected to be more volatile and more uncertain than it was in 2014. In 2014, the Bloomberg Brent Crude Oil Total Return Sub-Index decreased by 47.6%, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Oil Sub-index dropped by 41.7% last year.Crude oil prices are expected to remain low through 2015 until the excess supply in the market is corrected. It is forecast to…

Egyptian pound under pressure

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Recent FX reserve losses highlight that external pressures on Egyptian pounds ( EGP) have not yet materially abated. But still, it is anticipated that Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will keep EGP stable in the run-up to the March Economic Summit. Mobilizing enough GCC external aid and international investments will likely be crucial to support EGP further out, given the still large external funding needs and the upcoming parliamentary elections. Political economy matters suggest EGP…

IMF’s 2015 growth forecast for Egypt, Algeria and Sudan

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Egypt’s Fiscal deficit to narrow to 11% of GDP in current fiscal yearThe International Monetary Fund projected Egypt’s real GDP growth rate at 3.8% in the fiscal year that ends in June 2015 and at 4.3% in FY2015/16, up from 2.2% in FY2013/14. It forecast Egypt’s annual average inflation rate at 9.7% in FY2014/15 and 9.9% in FY2015/16, down from 10.1% in FY2013/14. Further, it expected the growth of broad money at 16.7% in the…

Drop in oil prices to support global growth

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The World Bank anticipated that the decline in global oil prices would have significant macroeconomic, financial and policy implications on the global economy. First, the Bank pointed out that sustained lower global oil prices would contribute to global growth, would temporarily reduce the global inflation rate in 2015 and would generate substantial real income shifts to oil importers from oil-exporters. But it noted that the recovery in global growth would be slow. It said that…

« 1 … 86 87 88 89 »