The Editorial Team

Why East Africa’s Facing Its Worst Famine in Decades: QuickTake

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in East Africa, which is in the grip of its worst drought in at least four decades. More than 80 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Djibouti are food insecure, and almost half of them are having to sell their possessions in order to eat, according to the World Health Organization. With forecasters seeing a high risk of rains…

S&P: External Environment For Emerging Markets Is Becoming More Difficult

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NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 17, 2022–Emerging markets (EMs) have been experiencing significant net portfolio outflows over the past few months, according to S&P Global Ratings (see attached report). Tightening financing conditions, expectations of economic slowdown in developed economies, as well as geopolitics are all contributing to portfolio outflows from EMs, particularly from China. External environment for EMs is currently worsening, and we expect pressures on EM assets to remain. A more polarized political…

S&P: Sub-Saharan Africa Remains Out Of Step With Islamic Finance

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markers in Africa) -Islamic finance is an unlikely showstopper across Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the region’s pronounced financing needs, particularly for infrastructure projects and to repay COVID-19-related debt, S&P Global Ratings believes that Sub-Saharan countries will access the market via multilateral institutions (MLIs) instead of through sukuk issuances. Sukuks’ Run May Be Short-Lived We foresee limited market issuance–of both sukuk and conventional debt–across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the remainder of the year. Senegal was…

Africa can learn from the Indian rebound – Cheryl Buss, CEO Absa International

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) -The Indian response to the COVID-19 pandemic could serve as a blueprint for economic recovery for the African continent. While there is a major focus on the Chinese expansion into Africa, there is often less appreciation of the importance India plays in Africa. Countries like Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania all count India as their single biggest export trading partner while South Africa is India’s largest trade market on the…

Odinga Rejects Kenya Election Outcome, Plans Legal Challenge (2)

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who narrowly lost last week’s presidential elections, rejected the official results, setting the stage for a protracted battle over control of East Africa’s biggest economy. Odinga, 77, secured 48.9% of the valid votes cast on Aug. 9 — his fifth unsuccessful run at the presidency. Deputy President William Ruto was declared the winner with 50.5% support. “We reject the presidential results,” Odinga told a televised…

Zambia Central Bank Holds Rates With Price Pressures Seen Waning

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third successive meeting as it sees inflation in single digits over the next two years. The monetary policy committee held the rate at 9%, Governor Denny Kalyalya told reporters Wednesday in Lusaka, the capital. While annual inflation quickened for the first time in a year to 9.9% in July and may remain elevated in the final quarter of this year and…

Namibia Raises Key Interest Rate by Most in Two Decades

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WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank raised borrowing costs by the biggest margin in almost two decades to safeguard its currency peg with South Africa’s rand and quell inflation. The monetary policy committee lifted the rate by 75 basis points to 5.5%, Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta told reporters in the capital, Windhoek, on Wednesday. That’s the biggest increase since September 2002. The hike brings Namibia on par with South Africa, which raised its benchmark interest…

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