The Markets

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa ) – Egypt’s central bank held the benchmark deposit rate unchanged on Thursday, defying expectations of a cut as it sought to keep inflation on target. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee kept the overnight deposit rate at 15.75% and the lending rate at 16.75%. Most economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a cut of as much as 100 basis points, arguing that while inflation had accelerated for two consecutive months through February, the central…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in  Africa) – Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the government will investigate the reasons behind the recent collapse of the country’s currency. The cedi weakened as much as 16 percent this year, before recovering partially over the past two weeks. Most of the losses were incurred after the central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark rate by 100 basis points to 16 percent in January and as some foreign holders of Ghana’s debt failed to rollover…

HARARE (Capital Markets in  Africa) – Zimbabwe’s attempt to ease a dollar shortage and stop its currency from plunging in the black market is showing little sign of working. The southern African nation’s currency, known as the RTGS$, fell to 4.2 per U.S. dollar Wednesday, its weakest level in more than five months, according to marketwatch.co.zw, a website run by analysts in Harare. That took its decline in March to 18 percent. The losses came even as…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in  Africa) – For investors considering the fate of Nigeria’s naira after the central bank’s unexpected rate cut on Tuesday, Egypt may be a better guide than Ghana. Both Egypt’s and Ghana’s central banks cut their main interest rates earlier this year, surprising most analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. But their currencies reacted differently. The Egyptian pound has since strengthened against the dollar and is one of the world’s best-performing units this year….

CAIRO (Capital Markets in  Africa) – The Federal Reserve has handed Egypt another reason to proceed with what could be the world’s deepest series of interest-rate cuts. The U.S. central bank’s surprise forecast for no rate increases in 2019, combined with a rally in Egypt’s currency, means policy makers may deliver a reduction in borrowing costs for the second straight month on Thursday. Renaissance Capital’s global chief economist Charles Robertson expects another cut of 100 basis points “due to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Confidence in South Africa’s civil construction sector is at the lowest in at least 22 years and could stay there for some time. A gauge tracking sentiment in the sector dropped in the first quarter to the lowest since its inception in 1997, according to a statement Tuesday by FirstRand Group Ltd.’s First National Bank and the Stellenbosch-based Bureau for Economic Research. That means 90 percent of participants in the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. shares fell almost 7 percent after Nigeria’s government said Africa’s biggest mobile operator evaded taxes and urged a Lagos court not to block a $2 billion penalty. The High Court of Lagos should throw out the Johannesburg-based company’s attempt to stop it from paying backdated taxes, T. A. Gazali, a government lawyer, said in court Tuesday. Wole Olanipekun, a lawyer for MTN, said Nigeria’s attorney-general, who imposed…