Category: East Africa
-
Kenyattas’ CBA bank in bid to acquire Kigali lender
Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), which is majority-owned by the Kenyatta family, is in the running to acquire the Rwandese subsidiary of Uganda’s Crane Bank in what marks the latest expansion of the wealthy family’s empire. CBA already operates an equivalent of mobile banking service M-Shwari in Rwanda using a microfinance licence. The Nairobi-based lender…
-
East Africa: Oil prices unlikely to rise beyond $55 soon as glut lingers
Indications are that global crude oil over-supply will linger on much longer, and this will slow down the upward movement of prices. When the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided last November to strengthen oil prices by reducing production by 1.8 million barrels per day(bpd), global oil prices complied and increased to a range…
-
East Africa:Savers hit as pension returns fall below the inflation rate
Pension returns fell below the rate of inflation in the year to March mainly driven by poor stock returns, effectively eroding the gains of savers in retirement schemes for the period. A pension industry survey for the first quarter of the year done by Alexander Forbes Financial Services shows the average return by pension schemes…
-
East Africa: Safaricom full-year profit rises 18.3 per cent to Sh45bn
Telecommunications firm Safaricom has announced an 18.3 per cent net profit rise to Sh45.1 billion in the year to March 2017. Total revenue crossed the Sh200 billion mark for the first time to stand at Sh212.9 billion, an 8.8 per cent rise. The revenue growth is backed by a strong performance in mobile money M-Pesa…
-
kenya: EABL blames erratic tax for its high business costs
Unpredictable tax rises have escalated East African Breweries Limited’s (EABL) cost of doing business and made planning difficult. EABL group chairman Charles Muchene on Monday said volatile tax is making it difficult for investors to attract long-term capital. “Investors are looking for a predictable environment so that they can plan. If we have a policy…
-
Kenya: 50pc tax will drive us out of business, say betting firms
The Association of Gaming Operators has called for the withdrawal of the proposed 50 per cent turnover tax on gaming, betting and lottery. Chairman Ronald Karauri warned the tax would bring the gaming industry to its knees. Speaking at PrideInn Beach Resort in Mombasa on Monday during a public participation meeting organised by the Parliamentary…
-
Kenya:Banks lending to Treasury up by Sh119bn from March
Bank share of government debt has gone up by Sh119 billion in the past two months to cross the Sh1 trillion mark, in a move that could signal a prolonging of slow credit growth for the private sector. The outstanding government domestic debt held by banks now stands at Sh1.088 trillion, equivalent to 55.1 percent…
-
Technocrat behind Kenya’s cashless platforms retires
The man credited with setting up Kenya’s globally acclaimed cashless regime, Stephen Mwaura Nduati, on Monday retired from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) at 60. Mr Nduati was head of the national payments system for more than a decade with the highlight of his career being the integration of mobile money platform M-Pesa into…
-
Rwanda: Egyptian Envoy Tips Local Exporters
The business community should take advantage of the good trade relations between Rwanda and Egypt to create useful linkages and partnerships to expand market for locally-made products. According to Mazen Gaber Mousa, the deputy chief of mission at the Egyptian embassy in Kigali, such partnerships could help build capacity of local industrialists and boost the…
-
Kenya:Flour scarcity hits retailers as millers run out of maize
Kenya is staring at potential food shortages with an acute deficit of maize flour already being experienced in supermarkets. A spot check in different retail outlets in Nairobi shows some supermarkets have run out of stocks while others are selling just one brand, meaning prices could rebound to previous highs as millers say they have…