Some key quoted companies at the Nigerian Stocks Exchange have recorded huge loss in their operations but the banking sector has performed well during the first quarter,2015 Daily Trust finding revealed. Data from Reuters revealed that as at the end of the quarter, Dangote Sugar’s first quarter pretax profit dropped from 51.9 percent to N3.79 […]
Category: Economy
IMF Lauds Nigeria’s Belt-tightening response to declining Oil Prices
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has applauded Nigeria’s response to the declining prices of oil just as African finance ministers expressed concern that the slow growth of the Chinese economy will impact negatively on many African countries. Responding to a question at the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings, yesterday, the IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, commended […]
South Africa join the austerity fan brigade
While the battle against austerity in Europe has entered a decisive phase — with the election of the radical-left Syriza in Greece — the term is seldom heard with reference to South Africa. Despite this, and the global discrediting of austerity, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s recent budget can only be described as austere. Austerity refers […]
World Bank sees Kenya’s GDP growth at 6.0 pct in 2015
Kenya is due to become one of the fastest-growing economies in east Africa, with a growth forecast of 6.0 percent in 2015 and 6.6 percent in 2016, the World Bank said on Thursday, citing falling oil prices and bigger infrastructure investments. Kenya’s economy grew by an estimated 5.4 percent in 2014, the bank said in […]
Falling oil prices gives petronations less wiggle room increasing political risk
Oil producing countries have experienced a rise in political risk, finds Aon’s 2015 political risk map, which focuses on emerging markets. Only seven countries managed to reduce risk compared to last year, while the commodity price decline was a common factor in most of the 12 countries that were downgraded. Oil prices may be stabilising […]
Delays at Zim border costing importers millions
ZIMBABWE’S firms are haemorrhaging from costs incurred from delays at the country’s borders, which they blame on the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), the Financial Gazette can report. According to industry sources, the delays are being caused by the revenue collector’s centralised declaration system under which bill of entry documents are no longer processed at border […]
Egypt’s foreign reserves rise on back of Gulf Aid
(Reuters) – Egypt’s foreign currency reserves rose to $15.43 billion at the end of January from $15.33 billion the previous month, the central bank said on Thursday. Foreign reserves fell sharply after the 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak but had risen again on the back of billions of dollars of Gulf Arab aid […]
Austerity advice comes back to Ghana
A policy think tank has called for a law to regulate excessive government borrowing, as Ghana’s public debt stock rose from 48.03 per cent in 2012 to 60.8 per cent in September 2014. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has warned that if a law is not passed to control undue government borrowing, the West […]
South African Benefit From Oil Price Decline Seen as Temporary
(Bloomberg) — The benefit from the lower oil costs for South Africa’s economy will probably be temporary as the drop hasn’t passed through to wider prices and crude should increase further, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. “Average wage settlements are still in the realms of 8 percent,” Kganyago said in a speech to a […]
“Radical” rethink of development practices needed to reach poorest
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in Kigali, Rwanda As a UN working group gathers in New York to discuss recommendations for a post-2015 development agenda, mounting evidence suggests that the legacy left by the last set of objectives – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – is a mixed one. Released on 2 February, a report […]