Interest |

Botswana keeps lending rate unchanged at 5.5%, sees low and stable inflation

GABORONE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Botswana’s central bank maintained its benchmark Bank Rate at 5.50 percent and forecast low and stable inflation in the medium term, consistent with the 3-6 percent target range, that augurs well for accommodative monetary policy that can support lending to businesses and households. Bank Botswana (BB), which cut its rate by 50 basis points in August 2016, also said it aimed for a 0.26 percent upward rate of crawl…

Mozambique Holds Key Interest Rate as Inflation Seen Peaking

Posted on by The Editorial Team

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s central bank held its key lending rate, with inflation expected to peak as the debt-distressed nation’s currency stabilizes. The Monetary Policy Committee kept the benchmark rate at 23.25 percent, Governor Rogerio Zandamela told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Maputo.Banco de Mocambique has raised the monetary policy rate by a total 13.5 percentage points in past meetings this year to try stem spiraling consumer prices in the coal-producing country. Consumer prices have…

The Banking Bill: A State of Transition for the Kenyan Banking Sector

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Banking (Amendment) Bill by Parliament to cap banks’ lending rates at 400 bps above the Central Bank of Kenya’s base rate and impose a deposit floor at 70% of the CBR was signed into law on 24th of August 2016. If the law is implemented immediately, banks will charge a maximum of 14.5% on loans while paying about 7.35% on deposits held in interesting earning deposits. Impact on Banks…

Bank of Mauritius cuts the Key Repo Rate by 25 basis points to 4.40 per cent

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Port Louis, Capital Markets in African — The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Mauritius (Bank) has unanimously decided to cut the Key Repo Rate by 25 basis points to 4.40 per cent per annum to boost domestic economic activity, at its meeting on Monday 9 November 2015. The Key Repo Rate had been kept at 4.65 percent since June 2013 when it was reduced by 25 basis points from 4.9 percent. See…

South Africa’s Central Bank says interest rates to be unchanged in short term

Posted on by The Editorial Team

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa’s central bank will keep interest rates unchanged in the short term as it lowered its inflation outlook but will monitor European and U.S economic events closely, deputy governor Daniel Mminele said on Tuesday. “The more benign projected inflation path… gives the Bank some room to pause in its interest rate normalisation process,” Mminele told an annual gathering at the South African Reserve Bank.