Banking | - Part 99

Botswana’s central bank keeps Bank rate unchanged at 5.5 percent

GABORONE (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of Botswana Bank Rate was maintained at 5.5 percent at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on December 13, 2016. This was in view of the positive outlook for price stability, with inflation forecast to be within the Bank’s 3 – 6 percent medium-term objective range. The Bank stated that the current state of the economy and both the domestic and external economic outlook, including the…

Banking Stocks Surprise Wrongfoots South African Money Managers

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Over-defensive South African money managers who have missed their performance benchmarks this year would be better positioned had they read signals that banking stocks were showing greater resilience than expected, according to Richard Schellbach, the equity strategist at Citigroup Inc. This time last year, the outlook for South Africa was starkly different, with the threat of economic recession looming, Schellbach said in an interview in Johannesburg. “But at the end of the…

Namibia’s central bank maintains repo rate at 7%, inflation lower

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Windhoek (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank left its benchmark repurchase rate steady at 7.0 percent, saying economic growth is expected to improve in 2017 after a slowdown this year and expected inflation to lower in 2017. The Bank of Namibia, which raised its rate twice this year by a total of 50 basis points, said inflation rose to an average of 6.6 percent in the first 10 months of this year, up…

MPC Maintains Status Quo but Ignores Elephant in the Room …

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held its scheduled 6th and final meeting for 2016 on the 21st and 22nd of November. The conclusions from the two-day deliberations were broadly in consonance with our prognosis in the Pre-MPC note; “Blunted Policy Tools Call for Rollback of Administrative Measures” where we projected that the MPC will likely hold all rates constant whilst reinstate the need for the CBN’s hierarchy to properly…

Central Bank of Kenya to hold rates at 10 pct on Nov 28

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya is expected to keep interest rates stable on Nov. 28 ahead of an expected rate rise in the United States while cautiously dealing with the impact of new banking regulations, a Reuters poll found on Friday. The shock of trade-sceptic Donald Trump ascending to the top office of the world’s biggest economy has wrong-footed African countries, many of which have enjoyed beneficial trade agreements. A stronger dollar and higher…

South Africa leaves key rate steady, warns of risks to inflation

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 7 percent on Thursday in line with market consensus, but warned that risks to the inflationary outlook had increased. Delivering the last scheduled rate decision for the year, the central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said food price inflation was expected to moderate at a slower pace than what the bank had previously forecast. The bank has kept the benchmark…

Ghana central bank reduces policy rate by 50 bps to 25.5 pct

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s central bank reduced its main policy rate by 50 basis points on Monday to 25.5 percent, which Governor Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku said reflected a better outlook for inflation and the need to boost growth. The first interest rate cut since July 2011 could herald further reductions next year as inflation, which for years has stood above government targets, begins to fall at a faster pace, according to economists. It is…

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