Category: East Africa
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Kenya:CBK, Deloitte on the spot over change of Chase Bank results
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) allowed audit firm Deloitte to alter and publish Chase Bank’s 2014 financial results as part of Deloitte’s cover-up of the reporting mess it created in the classification of the lender’s controversial Islamic assets, it has emerged. Documents that Chase Bank directors submitted to Parliament last week show that Deloitte…
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Rwanda: Central Bank Steps Up Efforts to Check Effects of Dollar Shortage
The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has responded to the prevailing US Dollar shortage by increasing the volumes and frequency of supply into the market. The intervention follows dollar shortage in the market that players say has persisted for close to two weeks. Speaking in an interview, Chantal Kasangwa, the BNR director-general for operations, said…
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Kenya:Deposits protection fund to foot Imperial Bank audit bill
Kenya’s bank deposits protection fund will foot the bill for the ongoing forensic audit into the collapse of Imperial Bank, the agency said on Thursday. The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) says its willingness to foot the bill is because the agency plans to use the findings to help in recovery of looted cash and…
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Kenya Turns Down Maize Buy Request From Drought-Hit Malawi
Kenya has declined Malawi’s request to buy 1.2 million tonnes of local maize to meet the shortage in the drought-hit southern Africa state. A letter seen by the Business Daily, written on behalf of the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the director of crops, makes a request on behalf of Malawi.…
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Kenya:CBK clears Oriental Bank acquisition by Tanzanian lender
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has cleared the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in the shareholding of Oriental Commercial Bank by Bank M of Tanzania setting the stage for its entry into Kenya. The regulator said Thursday it had also approved an application by M Holdings Limited to form a Non-Operating Holding…
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Kenya:Foreign dollar investors pump Sh1bn into NSE
Foreign investors have scaled up their buying activity at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) over the past four weeks, pumping in a net of Sh1 billion as return for dollar investors goes up. The hard currency return on the constituent stocks of the NSE FTSE 15 index over the past month stand at 1.44 per…
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Kenya:Taxpayers question Sh1bn per kilometre Western bypass cost
The cost of building Nairobi Western bypass has sparked uproar with revelations that it will on average cost Sh1 billion to construct a kilometre, nearly twice the fee of comparable roads. The cost of the 17.3-kilometre bypass has raised concern on whether taxpayers are getting value for money given that roads of similar complexity such…
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Kenya:Telcos warn new CA rules may lead to loan defaults
Safaricom and Airtel have warned that proposed guidelines that allow subscribers to switch telecommunication providers irrespective of whether they have outstanding mobile money debts will lead to high risks of default. The two leading mobile operators now want the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to review the proposal, arguing that mobile cash borrowers may abuse…
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Kenya:Rotich’s new consumer levies catch taxpayers by surprise
Some of the new tax measures that Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich proposed in his Budget Statement last Wednesday came into force hours after they were submitted to Parliament, causing consumers instant pain. Through the Finance Bill 2016, which was not immediately made available to the public, Mr Rotich instituted far-reaching tax measures that immediately raised…
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Rwanda to provide financial support for exporters
Rwanda’s export sector now has the means to financially support exporters with small businesses struggling to move goods out of the country; this was said at a discussion between exporters and the ministry. The East African country has had to contend with a decline in trade merchandise exports compared to the previous years which were…