Category: INTERNATIONAL
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Nigeria central bank lifts currency ban for small imports
Nigeria’s central bank has lifted a ban on currency allocation for importers bringing in goods worth up to $20,000 per quarter, it said in a circular seen by Reuters on Thursday. The bank in 2015 placed a restriction on 41 items for which importers could no longer get dollars, including rice, toothpicks, cement, private jets,…
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Kenya:Flour scarcity hits retailers as millers run out of maize
Kenya is staring at potential food shortages with an acute deficit of maize flour already being experienced in supermarkets. A spot check in different retail outlets in Nairobi shows some supermarkets have run out of stocks while others are selling just one brand, meaning prices could rebound to previous highs as millers say they have…
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Kenya oil exports loom as transport deal issued
Movement of crude oil from Turkana fields to Mombasa port on road will start mid-this month after three Kenyan companies won lucrative contracts to provide trucks and oil tank-tainers. Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau said yesterday this is the final phase of the early oil export journey that seeks to test Kenya’s crude in the global…
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Zimbabwe banker to lead reforms at Shelter Afrique
Mortgage lender Shelter Afrique has picked a Zimbabwean banker to implement proposals made in a forensic audit into cases of accounts manipulation and professional misconduct at the institution. The troubled housing lender has hired Stanley Tsikirayi as a ‘change agent’ for a term of eight weeks following the exit of South African national Dave Jennings.…
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Nigeria: Again, 253 Repatriated From Libya
Barely one week after report went viral that African immigrants were being sold as slaves in Libya, more stranded Nigerians were on Tuesday evacuated from the North African country. No fewer than 253 Nigerians arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) cargo terminal aboard a chartered flight which touched the ground at around 8…
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Nigeria: Govt Mulls Relaxing Forex Restrictions On 41 Items
The Federal Government may get the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to relax the ban imposed on 41 items from official foreign exchange window. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who disclosed this in an email obtained by Bloomberg, said the government would consider “policy-driven restrictions” to promote local manufacturing of 41 items, such as rice and…
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Kenya:Barclays Bank offers currency conversion
Barclays Bank of Kenya has introduced the Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) for its cardholders. This allows the conversion of the purchase price for goods or services into a currency the customer is more familiar with. Trading in a currency best understood by the buyer is meant to ease transactions for international customers so as to…
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East Africa: EY ranks Kenya Africa’s 2nd best for investments
Consultancy EY has named Kenya as the second most attractive investment destination in Africa after Morocco in 2017 despite last year’s poor performance, where FDI dropped by 57.9 per cent. EY’s Africa Attractiveness Index 2017 (AAI 2017) showed Kenya scored highly in the long-term outlook in governance and human development (16 out of 20), economic…
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S.A rand expected to trade 5% weaker towards ANC conference in December
South Africa’s rand will remain resilient in the short term in the absence of policy surprises and further downgrades, but the currency will weaken towards a December conference of the ruling African National Congress, a Reuters poll showed. The poll of up to 40 strategists suggested the rand would trade five percent weaker at 13.99…
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UBS breaks ranks with push for mid-tier Asian millionaires
UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) plans to hire about 100 wealth management client advisors over the next two years in Hong Kong, the biggest wealth hub in Asia-Pacific, to grab a bigger share of the fast-growing mid-tier millionaire segment. The Swiss bank’s sharpening focus on the middle of the wealth market comes as some global banks…