Category: INTERNATIONAL
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South African presidency defends new team to oversee state-owned companies
South Africa’s presidency on Thursday defended plans to give President Jacob Zuma supervision over state-owned companies after allies of under-fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said it was a tool to limit his control. Cabinet announced on Monday that a new committee on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would be set-up to “provide Zuma line of sight on…
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Kenya:Bank stocks lose Sh47bn on first day of trading after loan caps
Banking stocks Thursday came under a heavy battering at the Nairobi bourse as investors reassessed their positions in the sector following Wednesday’s signing into law of a new Bill capping interest rates. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) slid further down the bearish slope that wiped out a total of Sh106 billion in investor wealth, nearly…
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Kenya takes lion’s share of Japanese funding in region
Relations between Nairobi and Tokyo date back to 1963 when Kenya attained independence from British colonial rule. Japan, known as ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, opened her diplomatic mission in Nairobi in 1964. Kenya in turn set up an embassy in Tokyo in 1979. Over time, Kenya – Japan bilateral ties have grown and now…
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Tullow raises Kenya’s oil export hopes with March 2017 production date
British oil firm Tullow on Wednesday raised Kenya’s hopes of becoming an oil exporting country after it officially announced plans to start producing oil from Turkana in March next year. Tullow Oil chief operating officer Paul McDade told President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Nairobi that it will initially produce 2,000 barrels of crude oil…
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South African assets plunge after finance minister is summoned by police
South African assets slumped on Wednesday after an elite police unit summoned Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over an investigation into a suspected rogue spy unit in the tax service, fuelling speculation that there was a plot to oust him. Gordhan and other former officials at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) must report to the…
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Rise of Kenyan-born economist to India central bank top job stokes controversy
The recent appointment of Kenyan-born Urjit Patel as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stoked controversy over his roots even as those who know him celebrated in Nairobi. Some have criticised him for being ‘less Indian’ than his predecessor Raghuram Rajan whose term ends on September 4. “Patel, perhaps, is far…
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Nigeria gets tough with marauding “Sons of the Soil” in search of land to seize
A year before his wedding, Jude Egharevba was overjoyed when he bought a plot of land to build a house for him and his fiancee on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. But his joy was short-lived, after a group of young men stormed his land and demanded cash to leave peacefully. The same…
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Zimbabwe abolishes 8,000 jobs in agriculture ministry to cut wages
Zimbabwe’s government plans to abolish about half the jobs in the agriculture department, a government official said on Wednesday, as President Robert Mugabe’s administration struggles to pay public service wages. The southern African nation is facing a biting shortage of cash, its worst since 2009 when it dumped its hyperinflation-wrecked currency in favour of the…
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U.S:Men’s sales march Jimmy Choo higher
Designer shoe brand Jimmy Choo has seen higher revenues, partly because of increasing sales of men’s designs. Men’s shoes are the fastest-growing sector for the brand, representing 8% of global revenue. The company also said in its half-year report that the weakness of the pound since the Brexit vote had also helped boost the company’s…
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U.S. banking regulators focused on cyber security after SWIFT attacks
U.S. banking regulators said on Wednesday they are focused on cyber security risks and controls for U.S. financial institutions after attacks earlier this year involving the global financial network known as SWIFT. In a letter responding to questions from Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, the regulators also said the U.S. Treasury Department’s…