Features | - Part 258

The Resilience that African Economies Have Built Over the Past 15 Years is Real

Donald Kaberuka, president, African Development Bank At the dawn of 2015, the question being asked frequently is: Are the good times over for much of Africa? Can the decade-long momentum be sustained, given the Ebola epidemic; the chronic crises in Central African Republic; South Sudan; the sharp fall in commodity prices; and a slowdown in the emerging markets, etc? In a sense it is déjà vu. The same question was asked in the aftermath of…

Who Gains and Who Loses from Plunging Oil Prices?

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Judging by the futures market, where the price of oil for delivery in August 2015 is US$56 per barrel, there is little optimism about a recovery in oil prices. With cheap oil looking like it is here to stay, the latest Quarterly Economic Bulletin offers a breakdown by country of the potential regional consequences. Here are the highlights: Gulf Cooperation Council (Loss) oil and gas revenues in 2013 accounted for over half of the Gulf economies’ GDP and 75%…

Positive outlook for African Equity Capital Markets in 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, February 2, 2015/ — 2014 saw the highest level of activity in African equity capital markets (ECM) over the previous five years, and a significant increase in both transaction volume and capital raised during 2014 compared to the prior year, according to a report issued by PwC today (http://www.pwc.com). PwC’s inaugural publication entitled, IPO Watch Africa 2014, has found that US$11bn was raised in 2014 in the African equity markets across the continent,…

Why less leverage can mean more trading profits

Posted on by The Editorial Team

TRADING financial markets is exciting for most people, particularly since most brokers offer high leverage and, with this leverage, even a small trader can generate a substantial gain. Yet this leverage can sometimes work to your disadvantage, leading to big losses very quickly. This is because markets are often random in the very short term. Sterling-dollar, for example, can rise or fall a great deal in just a week. The current average weekly change for…

How Fibonacci can help improve your forex trading

Posted on by The Editorial Team

FIBONACCI is one of the most famous names in mathematics, and his eponymous sequence of numbers can be observed in almost all areas of nature. But these same numbers can also be applied to FX trading, using the technical Fibonacci retracement tool. The tool’s major benefit is in identifying where potential entries and exits may arise. This is only logical as Fibonacci is a leading indicator. Leading indicators, unlike lagging indicators, can predict the inflection…

2015 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Equity Market Outlook

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Equity Market overview In 2014, Sub Saharan African (SSA) equity market performance was mixed. The East African markets generally performed well, led by Tanzania (+22.7%), Uganda (+14.1%) and Kenya (+13.3%). Rwanda declined by 4.5%. Similarly, most markets were up in Southern Africa, with the exception of Zimbabwe which declined 19.5%. In West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana performed poorly in 2014. The Ghanaian equity market was up in local currency but declined 31.9% on currency devaluation….

Nigeria: CBN Maintain or Tighten Policy?

Posted on by The Editorial Team

We expect policy to be held steady later today as the 100bp tightening in the MPR to 13% late-November 2014 is still yet to transmit its full effect throughout the economy. It is also unlikely for a tightening of policy prior to the election. However, there are various ways that the MPC could respond to current pressures, for example: • Tightening monetary policy further by around 100bp. • Raising Cash Reserve Ratio on Private Sector…

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