Category: INTERNATIONAL
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Asia stocks hold gains before Yellen speech, dollar firm
Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday but clung to recent well-worn trading ranges while the dollar held firm against regional currencies ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at a global central bankers’ meeting. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS edged 0.3 percent higher. It is down 1.6 percent…
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Europe:Oil prices fall as hopes of production freeze fade
Oil prices slipped on Thursday as the market focused on oversupply and fading hopes of a production freeze. Global crude oil benchmark Brent LCOc1 was down 15 cents at $48.90 a barrel by 0830 GMT, having closed down 1.8 percent on Wednesday. U.S. light crude oil CLc1 was unchanged at $46.77 a barrel, after dropping…
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U.S:Central bankers eye public spending to plug $1 trillion investment gap
While markets wait for Janet Yellen’s latest message about the direction of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve chief and her colleagues already have one for politicians: the U.S. economy needs more public spending to shift into higher gear. In the past few weeks, Yellen and three of the Fed’s other four Washington-based governors have called…
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Egypt, Russia Agree On Roadmap for Resumption of Flights – Minister
Egypt and Russia agreed on a roadmap for the resumption of Russian flights and tourism to Egypt, Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy said on Monday. Fathy said in a press conference that the roadmap includes the arrival of a number of delegations to inspect resorts, hotels and airports’ security. A Russian delegation is expected to…
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Kenya:Pamoja Capital-led investors get Genghis takeover approval
A consortium of investors led by the regional corporate advisory firm Pamoja Capital Ltd has received regulatory approval to take over investment bank Genghis Capital Ltd at an undisclosed price. The shares will be sold by Zafrullah Khan, the former chairman of the troubled lender Chase Bank, and his co-owners. The new investors will acquire the entire…
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Nigeria central bank suspends nine banks from FX market – source
Nigeria’s central bank has suspended nine banks from the interbank currency market for failing to remit money owed to the government, banking sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The suspension comes after the central bank tightened restrictions on the flow of dollars to domestic lenders in March. That has forced the banks to delay hard-currency loan…
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Zambians feel pinch as election row delays moves to revive economy
With their country in post-election disarray over allegations of vote rigging and the economy in a tailspin, Zambians like pensioner Memory Musonda are struggling to cope and fear that help will not come soon. Depressed global commodity prices have slashed Zambia’s receipts for copper, its top export, and in turn have caused a 9 percent…
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Egypt: Sisi Approves Amended Law Jailing Black Market Foreign Currency Traders
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved on Sunday the amendments of a central bank law that imposes harsher punishments on illegal foreign currency traders, amid wider efforts to crackdown on the black market. The House of Representative approved earlier in August. The House has set prison sentences between three to 10 years and fines up…
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Kenya:M-Pesa agents commissions rise 19pc on strong customer growth
M-Pesa agents’ commissions rose by nearly a fifth last year to Sh14.6 billion, driven by an increase in the money transfer subscribers. The agents contracted by Safaricom earned 19.6 per cent more commissions compared to 2015 when they chalked up Sh12.2 billion. The commissions earned by Safaricom M-Pesa agents are just about equivalent to what…
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Kenya:Three-year bank audit plan masks underlying issues
The three-year term limits proposed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for auditors of banks is a clear response to corporate governance concerns and as an auditor, I support the objective of improving the quality and independence of their reports. However, I do not think that mandatory auditor rotation on a three-year basis for…