Category: Africa
-
Nigeria: Another Airline Suspends Operations
A day after Aero Contractors announced the suspension of operations and placed staff on indefinitely leave, another national airline, First Nation, has closed business. The National Civil Aviation Authority announced on Thursday that First Nation had been ordered to shut down for mandatory maintenance. The director-general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Muhtar Usman, said in…
-
Nigeria: How N215 Billion Import Waiver Was Disbursed in 4 Years, Mostly During ‘Night Visits to President’
A total N215 billion in import duty exemptions was granted in four years, between 2011 and May 2014 under the leadership of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, PREMIUM TIMES can report today. Most of the waiver deals, it was gathered, were sealed during midnight visits to the presidential villa. Data obtained from the Budget Office of the…
-
Kenya:CBK orders banks to obey vague rate caps law in 2 weeks
Commercial banks have two weeks to comply with new interest rate caps even as the wording of the law transmitted by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to chief executives remained vague and confusing. The CBK, whose guidance the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) had said was awaited on the matter of capping interest rates, Thursday…
-
South Africa:IMF to visit Mozambique
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is sending a team to Mozambique at the end of September for an update on the southern African nation’s struggling economy, including its progress in accounting for over $2 billion in irregular state loans. The IMF team will be in Maputo for a week from Sept. 22 to review efforts…
-
Algeria: Medicines Imports Rise By 10 Percent in Seven Months
Pharmaceutical imports rose by 10% in the first seven months of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015, despite a slight drop in the imported quantities, the Algerian Customs told APS. The value of imports reached US$1.14 billion between January and July 2016, against US$1.03 billion during the same period of reference in 2015,…
-
Kenya:Relief for borrowers as KCB, CfC banks cut cost of old loans
Kenya’s biggest bank by assets KCB and CfC Stanbic Wednesday announced that they had lowered interest rates for existing borrowers in line with the new law capping the cost of loans, piling pressure on their peers to follow suit. The decision marks a departure from the industry lobby Kenya Bankers Association’s (KBA) earlier position that…
-
Nigeria: Govt Okays More External Borrowings, Says It’s Certain About How to Turn Economy Around
The Federal Government says it is focused on how to turn around the nation’s economy despite the staggering economic situation, which has pushed inflation to a double digit of 17.1. The declaration followed on the heels of the submission by the National Bureau of Statistics that the economy was technically in a recession. But at…
-
Kenya:MPs reject proposal raising core capital for banks to Sh5bn
MPs have handed small banks and mortgage firms a lifeline by rejecting a proposal to raise core capital to Sh5 billion, but passed the one requiring the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to consult the Treasury before putting lenders under receivership. The CBK and the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) must now consult the Treasury…
-
Nigeria: How We Will Get Nigeria Out of Recession – Govt
The Federal Government has declared that it has a long way to go in terms of fixing the economy. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said this on Wednesday while fielding questions from State House reporters after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. The minister admitted that this was the…
-
Egypt’s House of Representatives Approves 13 Percent Vat Rate
Egypt’s House of Representatives approved on Sunday the rate of the Value-added tax (VAT) to be set at 13 per cent. The VAT rate raised controversy between the House members with a number of MPs calling for the rate to be as low as 10 per cent. The Finance Minister Amr al-Garhy however argued that…