Kenya’s Weekly News Review: 6th Feb 2015

Kenya’s Weekly News Review: 6th Feb 2015

The National Treasury will be seeking to spend an additional Sh137 billion before June as government speeds up investment in big projects while setting aside Sh8 billion to pay salaries and allowances for public servants. The revised estimates, which will have to be tabled before parliament in supplementary budget, are contained a draft budget policy statement published on Friday. Additional money will also finance other projects recommended by parliament during budget approval but which the…

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Who Gains and Who Loses from Plunging Oil Prices?

Who Gains and Who Loses from Plunging Oil Prices?

Judging by the futures market, where the price of oil for delivery in August 2015 is US$56 per barrel, there is little optimism about a recovery in oil prices. With cheap oil looking like it is here to stay, the latest Quarterly Economic Bulletin offers a breakdown by country of the potential regional consequences. Here are the highlights: Gulf Cooperation Council (Loss) oil and gas revenues in 2013 accounted for over half of the Gulf economies’ GDP and 75%…

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Nigerian Bourse: Foreign transactions rose by 47.68% in 2014

Nigerian Bourse: Foreign transactions rose by 47.68% in 2014

The Nigerian Stock Exchange released its December 2014 Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Participation in Equity trading. Total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 41.83% from N181.97 billion recorded in January to N258.08 billion (about $1.54 billion) in December 2014. This represents an increase of 28.53% from N200.8 billion recorded in November. Total foreign transactions increased by 47.68% from N1,042.04 billion recorded at the end of 2013 to N1,538.92 billion at the end of 2014 while total…

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Nigeria to borrow N90billion in bonds

Nigeria to borrow N90billion in bonds

Nigeria plans to raise 90 billion naira ($475 mln) in sovereign bonds with maturities ranging between five and 20 years at its next regular auction on Feb. 11, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Tuesday.The debt office said it will auction 35 billion naira worth of the 5-year bond, 30 billion naira of the 10-year paper and 25 billion of the 20-year debt note, using the Dutch Auction System. The 5-year debt note is…

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Surge in dollar-debt leaves some African nations exposed

Surge in dollar-debt leaves some African nations exposed

A surge in foreign debt issuance by African nations has left some fragile economies exposed to the risk of billions of dollars in foreign exchange related losses if the U.S. currency strengthens abruptly, a think-tank said on Wednesday. Judith Tyson, senior researcher at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), said the notional losses in terms of higher interest and capital repayments could total $11 billion (£7 billion) in the event of a slump of 35 percent…

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Nigeria now most-watched frontier market

Nigeria now most-watched frontier market

Nigeria has solidified its title as the most-watched frontier market in the latest WSJ Frontiers/FSG Frontier Market Sentiment Index as an increasing proportion of multinationals put the country on their watch list for potential future investment. Nigeria has held the top spot since the index was launched in June 2014 despite having endured a rough ride for the past few months. Followed by Vietnam, Kenya, and Argentina, which all rank among the top 20, Nigeria…

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Fitch Affirms Cote d’Ivoire at ‘B’; Outlook Positive

Fitch Affirms Cote d’Ivoire at ‘B’; Outlook Positive

Fitch Ratings affirmed Côte d’Ivoire’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘B’, with a ‘positive’ outlook. It also affirmed the short-term foreign currency IDR at ‘B’ and the Country Ceiling at ‘BBB-‘, in line with the Country Ceiling of the West African Economic and Monetary Union to which Côte d’Ivoire belong. It said that the ratings and the outlook are supported by solid economic activity in the context of political stability,…

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