Economy | - Part 54

IMF Urges Nigeria to Start Belt Tightening, Cut Naira Curbs

LAGOA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria should remove currency-trading restrictions and reduce its budget deficit and debt-service costs to “sustainable” levels, the International Monetary Fund said. “Stronger macroeconomic policies are urgently needed to rebuild confidence and foster an economic recovery,” the Washington-based lender said in a report Thursday after a team visited Nigeria. There’s a “need for a front-loaded, revenue-based fiscal consolidation starting in 2017, to reduce the federal government interest-payments-to-revenue ratio to sustainable levels.” The…

Kenyan Inflation Jumps to Five-Year High as Drought Bites

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) -Kenya’s annual inflation rate accelerated to its highest level in almost five years as an ongoing drought compounds price pressures. Consumer prices surged 10.3 percent in March from 9 percent in February, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement emailed from the capital, Nairobi, when they broke through the Central Bank of Kenya’s 7.5 percent ceiling. The rate is the highest since June 2012 when inflation registered at…

Moody’s: Egypt’s IMF program to support fiscal and external position, reform pace may slip

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – While Egypt’s IMF program will support gradual improvements to the country’s fiscal and external position, its social and economic costs risk slowing the pace of fiscal reform momentum, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report today. The report, “Government of Egypt – IMF Program Supports Gradual Fiscal, External Improvements”, is now available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this report via the link at the end of this press…

Uganda Current-Account Gap to Widen on Projects, World Bank Says

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa)- Uganda’s current-account gap could widen to between 8 percent and 10 percent of national output annually over the next two years as imports for infrastructure and oil-related projects grow, the World Bank said. The shortfall on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, in the East African nation on the cusp of becoming an oil producer came in at 5.9 percent of gross domestic product…

Kenya GDP Growth May Plummet to 1 Percent by 2019, Investec Says

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s economic growth could slow to as little as 1 percent over the next two years as credit extension in East Africa’s biggest economy weakens, Investec Prime Services estimates. Banks reporting higher levels of souring debt and decelerating money-supply growth suggest gross domestic product expansion will plummet, according toChris Becker, frontier strategist at the Johannesburg-based brokerage. Growth was an estimated 6 percent in 2016. Investec sees growth of between…

Which Path Africa’s Inflation Rate is Taking in January?

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s inflation slowed to 40.39% year-on-year in January from 41.95% in December, data from the national statistics agency showed. Prices increases on a month-on-month basis rose 2.29% in January compared to 2.17% previously. Botswana’s consumer inflation inched up to 3.1% year-on-year in January from 3.0% in December, data from the statistics office showed. Prices rose 0.4% month-on-month compared to 0.1% previously. Burundi’s year-on-year inflation jumped to 12.9% in January…

Ivory Coast to Review 2017 Budget Amid Slump in Cocoa Prices

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ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, will revise its budget for 2017 after prices for the beans dropped by a third since the middle of last year, according to a government official. While the slump in cocoa prices weighs on income, the West African nation also has to provide for new expenditures, government spokesman Bruno Kone said by phone. Ivory Coast’s “resources are largely sufficient to face these expenses…

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