Economy

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa): Economic growth in Rwanda could accelerate to more than 10% this year if the construction of a planned $1.3 billion airport starts, according to the World Bank, which increased its estimate for 2019 expansion for a second time. Growth was likely 8.5% last year, more than the 7.8% the Washington-based lender had initially anticipated, according to World Bank Senior Economist Aghassi Mkrtchyan. “The growth will be driven by an unexpected…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Less than a month into 2020, South African companies have already announced thousands of job cuts. In a country where a third of the labor force is already unemployed, this will put even more strain on demand and economic growth. Almost 8,000 jobs are at risk as companies including Telkom SA SOC Ltd., the country’s largest fixed-line operator, and Walmart Inc.’s local unit Massmart Holdings Ltd. plan to reduce their headcount after…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa)~ Zimbabwean inflation is beginning to stabilize, even with consumer prices increased more than 500% on an annual basis, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. Year-on-year inflation remains high, “but that’s expected, that happens when you liberalize a currency,” Ncube said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos. After a decade of using a basket of foreign currencies, including the South African rand and the…

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – For decades, Irba Jana has scraped out a modest living from sugar cane, selling his harvest to mills run by Ethiopia’s state-owned sugar monopoly. But lately, he’s been working as a security guard to supplement his income, as two of the three nearby processing facilities have closed because of a lack of upkeep and investment. “Sugar cane just isn’t profitable anymore,” says Irba, a grizzled, 50-year-old father of…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt unexpectedly refrained from another cut in interest rates on Thursday after inflation ticked up in December and as unrest jolted other parts of the Middle East, from Iran to Libya. After three rounds of easing since August, the Monetary Policy Committee left the deposit rate at 12.25% and the lending rate at 13.25%, according to a statement Thursday. All but three of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African consumer confidence remained trapped at a two-year low and economic prospects are expected to worsen. The consumer-confidence index stayed at -7 in the fourth quarter, FirstRand Ltd.’s First National Bank said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. That’s still the lowest level since the final three months of 2017 and well off the record high of 26 when Cyril Ramaphosa took over as president two years ago. Business confidence in Africa’s…