Category: INTERNATIONAL
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Nigeria: IMF welcomes decision to end currency peg
The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it welcomed the decision by Nigeria’s central bank to abandon its currency peg and adopt a flexible exchange rate policy, saying this was important to reduce fiscal and external imbalances. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told a weekly news briefing the Fund wanted to see how effectively the naira…
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SA companies racing to lock the cyber door
Companies in South Africa are rapidly deploying increased security to frustrate cyber thieves who are intent on stealing financial information, says an industry expert. According to the Gemalto Breach Level Index (BLI) for 2015, 1 938 383 data records were stolen per day in 1 673 data breaches across the globe as criminals ramped up…
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South Africa:Motorists in for stiff petrol price hike
Ongoing oil strength, with limited support from the exchange rate, has set the stage for further increases in the fuel price, the Automobile Association (AA) warned on Friday. Commenting on unaudited mid-month data released by the Central Energy Fund, the AA said the data predicts a rise of up to 27 cents a litre for…
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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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Nigerian central bank “optimistic” naira will settle at 250 per dollar: document
Nigeria’s central bank is “reasonably optimistic” the naira will settle at around 250 to the U.S. dollar after an initial period of weakness following a flotation on Monday, the bank’s governor has said in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria’s central bank said on Wednesday it would begin market-driven foreign currency trading next week,…
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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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Mozambique: Russia’s VTB sees no significant losses from default
Russia’s VTB does not expect any significant losses from its operations in Mozambique despite experiencing problems with a major loan, VTB Chief Executive Andrei Kostin told Reuters in an interview. Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) borrowed $535 million from VTB to build shipyards in Maputo and the northern town of Pemba in expectation of a rapid…
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Algeria: Energy – Over USD14 Billion in FDI Over 2010-2015
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Algeria’s energy sector has reached USD14.01 billion between 2010 and 2015, that is, an annual average of USD2.3 billion, the ministry of Energy has said. In 2015, the FDI in energy sector stood at USD2.3 billion, up 45% compared with 2014, the ministry underlined in the latest issue of Algerie…
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Zimbabwe: Govt Issues Directive for Multi-Currency Use Within Departments, Parastatals
GOVERNMENT has given its ministries departments, parastatals and local authorities a two-week deadline to set up mechanisms to pay for goods and services in other currencies that are within the multi-currency regime, other than the United States dollar to mitigate against the prevailing cash crisis. Anyone intending to make payments to entities and institutions directly…