The COVID-19 epidemic could cost the global economy US$2.7trillion, according to the Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) Interim Economic Assessment. Global GDP growth is projected to drop to 2.4% in 2020 from 2.9% in 2019, with growth possibly even being negative in the first quarter of 2020. Ghana’s economy is not left out […]
Category: Economy
East African Stock Exchanges suffer due to Covid-19 panic
TRADING on East African stock exchanges has been hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to register low turnover and market capitalisation records in recently days. The three exchange indices- Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and Uganda Securities Exchange (USE)-started to show plunging sign at the beginning this month’s […]
Tanzania: Total Market Capitalisation Down As Major Indices Decline During the Week
THE Banking, Investment and Finance index fell by 2.23 per cent at the bourse while the underlying securities contributed about 82.11 per cent of total weekly turnover after CRDB contributed 56.14 per cent of the total weekly turnover, NMB contributed 18.54 per cent of the total weekly turnover and DSE contributed about 7.43 per cent […]
Kenya: COVID-19 Brings Economy to Near Standstill
With people staying at home, conferences suspended, nightclubs closed, schools shut and global supply chains disrupted, Kenya has started walking down the path of nations whose economies have been devastated by Covid-19. Companies are trying to figure out where to get money to pay their employees at the end of the month due to the […]
Census: 2 in 5 of Kenyan youth are unemployed
“The conventional population of youth aged 18 to 34 was 13.7 million, out of which 61 percent were working while 1.6 million were seeking work or indicated that there was no work available,” stated KNBS Director-General Zachary Mwangi during the release of the findings. This means that more 3.7 million people between the ages of […]
Capital markets offer alternative funding to SMEs
There have been recent developments in the capital markets prompted by the introduction of innovative financial products such as the derivatives. There is a saying that the capital market is the gift that keeps giving, albeit intrinsically an unstable market but with a better reward when you watch that grass grow. Interestingly, in an economy […]
Kenya Commercial Bank completes NBK takeover
It is now official, National Bank will be part of Kenya’s largest lender by assets, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), after the Capital Markets Authority gave the go ahead. This comes a few days after Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approved the acquisition saying it would strengthen the two institutions. KCB confirmed that it had received […]
Kenya: Centum’s performance driven bonus system affects CEO too, giving him a 75 % Salary Reduction
Chief Executive officers are presumed to be immune to the company’s tough policies given that many company boards pull out all the stops to make the bosses happy. However, this is not usually the case for many firms. Centum Investment CEO James Mworia’s failure to meet his performance targets cost him 75 % salary reduction […]
Uganda: How 20% Share Offer Rule Starves Uganda’s Bourse of Public Listings
A rule that requires local companies to offer at least 20 per cent of their shares to the public before they are listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange is keeping away large companies from listing. According to industry sources, large companies operating in Uganda have majority ownership of between 85 per cent and 90 per […]
Kenya: Interest rate cap being blamed for lurking mix of high inflation, unemployment on the way
Parliament must humbly accept to untie the hands of Central Bank by removing the interest rate cap legislation. To avoid sinking to the lowest depths, take money away from the white elephant project and drop interest rate capping The Kenyan economy is starting to buckle under the weight of weak economic policies. The latest estimate […]
