Issue  No. 10
05 March 2019
This is an exclusive new report designed to give you an overview about Africa countries tackling Economic, Political, Stock Market and Company transactions issue. 


 
   



 
   

         Economic Outlook

  • The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) decreased the interest on short-term treasuries reaching 6.96% and sold six-month and one-year T-bills for an average of 8.38% and 9.49% to investors respectively, marking the lowest interest since late July 2013.
  • Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed that Kenya inflation fell in February 2019 reaching 4.14%, being the lowest in six months as the prices of food commodities and transport eased compared to 4.7% in January 2019.
  • Central Bank of Kenya announced that Kenya trade deficit widened by 1.2% in 2018 while total imports increased 1.88% reaching 1.76 TR KES (17.59 BN USD), compared to exports which increased 3.16% reaching 612.88 TR KES (6.12 TR USD).
  • The second-hand clothes "mitumba" industry in Kenya continues to grow as it saturates the market with imported goods from 'Western' countries. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated that Kenya citizens living below the poverty line is estimated at about 44%.
  • Uganda has regained its position as the biggest buyer of Kenyan goods after making orders worth 61.9 BN KES (618.69 MM USD) from Nairobi.
  • The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) allows forex transactions inside industrial parks. Companies operating in industrial parks can transact in foreign currency while selling and buying raw materials with each other beginning this month, March 2019.
  • The Tanzanian government is encouraging the private sector's investment move in education, saying that the move is supporting the 5th phase government's efforts to provide better education for every Tanzanian.
  • A total of 13 Chinese companies visited Tanzania intending to set up different industries in Coast Region, with collective investment capital of 167 MM USD.
  • In Namibia, the Minister of Mines and energy Tom Alweendo announced that fuel prices will remain unchanged, 12,05 NAD (0.8 USD) per liter for petrol and 13,13 NAD (0.9 USD) per liter for diesel for March 2019.
  • Zimbabwe Reserve Bank has borrowed 356.47 BN ZWD (985 MM USD) from African banks including Mozambique central bank and the African Export and Import Bank to purchase fuel and other critical imports.
         Political Events

  • The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that six states in Nigeria were the leading destinations for illegal mining of solid minerals in the country.
  • Leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea paid an official visit to South Sudan in an effort to take another step towards the regional integration.
         Stock Market
  • Kenya capital markets regulator plans will introduce the industry with new measures to improve liquidity and trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. In the new measures, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) plans to either eliminate or significantly reduce the lock-in period for shares held by anchor shareholders and directors in listed firms to six months.
 
Note: Weekly values are calculated on Tuesday of each  week. 
         Major Companies Transactions

  • Kenya biggest electricity generator, KenGen, has signed a 7.6 BN KES (75.9 MM USD) contract to drill geothermal wells in Ethiopia in a joint bid with Chinese company Shandong Kerui Group.
  • Airtel Kenya is expanding its 4G network coverage to 40 new towns across Kenya which will see the telco's customers enjoy faster internet speeds including Kisumu, Nyeri, Meru, Nakuru, Bungoma, Lamu and Garissa.
  • I&M Bank Rwanda is launching a major social media engagement campaign in March 2019 which aims to boost its client's engagement and online audience.
  • Volkswagen Rwanda will assemble a total of 90 cars by end of March 2019 to meet demand on the local market. The firm has a target to produce about 1,000 cars annually for its operations in the mobility solution as well as sales.
  • Eco-sanitary Trading has joined the local market to produce affordable quality, reusable and disposable pads of different sizes for women in Namibia.
  • Zimbabwe resumed the construction of the 1.5 BN USD Hwange Expansion Project for Units 7 and 8 as it aims to progressively implement the Vision 2030 which will transform Zimbabwe into an upper middle-class economy. The project is being funded by China Exim Bank, Sinohydro and Government through Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC).
  • The earnings of Bidvest Group, South African corporate group company, increased 9.6% in H1-2018/2019, supported by services, freight and office and print divisions, despite a sluggish economy and political uncertainty.
  • Safaricom has unveiled its partnership with Chinese technology giant Huawei which will provide it with the world's first end-to-end 400G backbone network.

 

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