FX Currency | - Part 5

Zimbabwe prints $102 million in bond notes, half its limit

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s central bank has printed half of the ‘bond notes’ quasi-currency it intends to issue under a $200 million scheme, a state newspaper reported on Friday, as the country grapples with a biting shortage of U.S. dollars. The notes are intended to be pegged to the U.S. currency but fears have been raised that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) would print more than planned, undermining their value. Long…

Nigeria tests waters for possible broad naira devaluation

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABUJA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria effectively devalued the naira for private individuals on Monday, paving the way for a possible broader move despite stiff resistance from President Muhammadu Buhari. With Buhari abroad for medical treatment and the country’s currency exchange system in chaos, the central bank said Nigerians wanting dollars for travel or to pay foreign school fees could buy dollars at nearly 20 percent above the official rate. Some Nigerians saw the…

Egyptian pound remained stable against the US dollar …

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Egyptian pound remained stable against the US dollar early Wednesday with sale prices ranging between EGP 17 and EGP 17.45 and buy prices ranging from EGP 17.5 to EGP 17.95. At the Société Arabe Internationale de Banque (SAIB), the dollar stood at EGP 17.45 and EGP 17.75 for buy and sell, respectively. The Egyptian Gulf Bank sold the USD-EGP at EGP17.95 and recorded EGP 17 for buying. Meanwhile, purchasing at…

South Africa’s rand falls on higher U.S. rate rise prospects

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand weakened on Thursday as bets on a December U.S. rate rise brought emerging currencies under pressure, while stocks ended slightly weaker as gold and platinum mining shares slid on lower precious metal prices. The benchmark Top-40 index closed down 0.6 percent at 45,051 points while the All-Share index fell 0.5 percent to 51,611 points. At 1530 GMT, the rand traded at 13.8550 per dollar, 1 percent…

Cocoa Beans to Bring Ghana Foreign-Exchange Market to Life

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s foreign-exchange market is about to be spurred to life: by cocoa beans. Currency transactions by Ghanaian banks are set to double as the government starts to auction foreign exchange raised by the country’s cocoa-exporting body, allowing companies to bid for dollars rather than buy them from the black market or exchange bureaus. The first $1.8 billion, a loan raised by the Ghana Cocoa Board, is hitting the market this…

South Africa’s Rand Strongest in World as Local Elections, BOE Boost Currency

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: The rand strengthened to a nine-month high against the dollar to lead global currency gains as results from South African local-government elections showed a swing toward the main opposition. The currency also gained to the highest since April last year against the pound as the Bank of England cut its main lending rate to the lowest on record as it tries to support the U.K. economy against fallout from Brexit….

Pound Slumps as Egyptian Banks ‘Scrape Barrel’ Over FX Shortage

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CARIO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa: The Egyptian pound extended a record low on the black market, as tighter restrictions on the use of local debit and credit cards overseas and comments by the central bank governor stoked speculation of a devaluation. The pound fell to 12.99 per dollar on Tuesday from 12.02 last week, according to the average quote of five currency traders in Cairo and Alexandria. That’s the lowest since Bloomberg started tracking black…

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