East Africa | - Part 9

Kenya Banks Face New Row with Lawmakers over Deposits Plan

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – A new row is brewing between Kenyan banks and parliament after a lawmaker proposed placing restrictions on deposits by state-owned companies, months after the state imposed a cap on lending rates. Kimani Ichung’wah, vice chairman of the Public Investments Committee, drafted a bill seeking to bar state-owned corporations from investing or depositing public funds with lenders in which the government has a stake of less than 20 percent. Ichung’wah declined to…

Kenyan Bourse Develops Equity Index, Single Stock Futures

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nairobi Securities Exchange has sought regulatory approval to introduce products in derivatives market, Capital Markets Authority says in e-mailed statement. Regulator proposes to charge fee not exceeding 0.14% per value of equity index futures contract, 0.17% per value of single stock futures contract. Proposed fees will “give investors exposure to price movements in the derivatives instruments rather than the underlying individual constituents”. Charges cover securities exchange, clearing member, trading…

Power Africa Partner Gigawatt Global Advances 1,000 MW in Burundi

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BUJUMBURA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Amid the lush and rolling hills of Mubuga, 100 km outside the Burundian capital of Bujumbura, 2,500 people came yesterday to celebrate the festive ground-breaking for a 7.5 MW solar field that will add 15% to the East African country’s generation capacity. In a colorful and drum-accented ceremony attended by government officials, international investors, religious leaders and the diplomatic community, Gigawatt Global (http://GigawattGlobal.com), the leading frontier solar and social development…

Kenya Hires StanChart, Citigroup, RMB for $800 Million Syndicated Loan

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s government mandated four international banks to raise $800 million in syndicated loans that authorities need to boost foreign-currency reserves and plug a widening budget deficit, according to two people familiar with the agreement. The East African nation’s Treasury informed the Nairobi-based units of Citigroup Inc., Standard Bank Group Ltd., Standard Chartered Plc and Rand Merchant Bank on Tuesday that they were appointed to arrange the financing, the people said, asking not to be identified…

Kenya Central Bank Expects Current-Account Gap to Stabilize

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s current-account deficit will stabilize after shrinking last year as the currency strengthens, exports increase, tourism improves and remittances climb, central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said. The gap probably narrowed to 5.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2016 from 10.4 percent 1 1/2 years earlier, he said in an interview Thursday in Davos, Switzerland. The bank will continue to intervene to slow the shilling’s depreciation and appreciation, trying to smooth…

Citigroup, Top Africa Loan Arranger, Sees M&A Boosting Lending

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citigroup Inc., sub-Saharan Africa’s top loan arranger in 2016, expects increased sovereign demand and mergers and acquisitions to drive lending in the region this year as low valuations spur deals. “Lots of financing activity is expected in 2017,” Aziz Rahman, the bank’s head of corporate finance in the region said in an interview on Monday. Loans to sovereigns and corporates will increase as M&A deals rise and infrastructure spending picks…

Kenya’s economy to grow at a slower pace this year, IMF Rep Says

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s economic growth rate will slow in 2017, from about 6 percent last year, due to sluggish credit growth and as investors take a wait-and-see attitude before a presidential election in August, a senior IMF official said on Monday. Armando Morales, the International Monetary Fund’s representative in Kenya, said growth is likely to remain within the 5-6 percent range of the past five years, despite the slowdown. “We expect a…

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