Africa Finance Daily

S/African envoy seeks improved trade with Nigeria
Vanguard
By HUGO ODIOGOR & BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE South Africa’s Con sul-General, Mokgethi Monaisa, has called on Nigeria to explore opportunities created by the volume of trade and investment that keeps rising between Nigeria and South Africa.

Impoverished Malawi devalues its currency by one-third in bid to repair IMF ties
Washington Post
BLANTYRE, Malawi — The official rate of Malawi’s currency has been cut by a third as the impoverished southern African nation seeks to repair ties with the International Monetary Fund, the country’s central banker said Monday.

South African Central Bank Has No Room to Cut Rates
Bloomberg
South Africa’s economic growth appears to be sustainable, though moderate, and there is little or no room to lower interest rates further with inflation at the top end of the target range, central bank Governor Gill Marcus said.

Tullow Oil shares set to rally after Kenya oil find
Telegraph.co.uk
The Ngamia structure is the first prospect to be tested as part of a multi-well drilling campaign in Kenya and Ethiopia. Al Stanton, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, said: “Considerable uncertainty still surrounds the commerciality of the Ngamia oil …

Judge orders CBK to pay microfinancier Sh1bn
Business Daily Africa
Photo/File By BENSON WAMBUGU (email the author) The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has been ordered to pay a micro-finance company close to Sh1 billion after the court decided that the regulator acted arbitrary in closing down the business seven years ago …

World Bank announces new Vice President for Africa
Vibe Ghana
A Senegalese national with more than 25 years of development experience, has been elected as the new World Bank (WB) Vice President for Africa. A press release by the Bank and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra revealed that Makhtar Diop was WB …

Nigeria’s Naira Erases Declines After Foreign Currency Auction
BusinessWeek
By Maram Mazen on May 07, 2012 The currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer was unchanged at 157.3 per dollar by 4:02 pm in Lagos, the commercial capital. It depreciated as much as 0.9 percent earlier. The Central Bank of Nigeria sold $120 million at …

Maritime Development Bank to begin operations in July
BusinessDay
The funds, it was learnt, would form part of Nigeria’s equity contribution to the project. “The Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) have been waiting for Nigeria to appoint financial and legal consultants and make sure the …

FirstRand eyes local investment banking
Business Daily Africa
Customers queue in a banking hall. South Africa’s FirstRand Bank Group CEO Sizwe Nxasana said the bank is focusing on organic growth of its Kenyan operation, discounting earlier reports attributed to the company’s Africa head, Jabu Khethe, …

Old Mutual Forecasts 4.5 Percent Growth for 2012
AllAfrica.com
This is a lower projection than that of the Ministry of Finance of 5.20 per cent and the International Monetary Fund’s prediction of 5.25 per cent issued earlier in the year. Peter Anderson, Old Mutual Kenya’s Chief Investment Officer said that they …

World Bank private arm offers Sh8.3bn loans to SMEs
Business Daily Africa
International Finance Corporation (IFC) is likely to lend more than Sh8.3 billion to Kenyan businesses this year. Photo/File By GEOFFREY IRUNGU (email the author) The World Bank’s private lending arm is likely to lend more than Sh8.3 billion to Kenyan …

NEXIM Eyes US$30 Billion Indian Trade Prospects
AllAfrica.com
By James Emejo, 6 May 2012 In the face of growing uncertainties in the global oil prospects and the need for diversification of the country’s economy from oil, the Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), the federal government’s trade finance institution, …

Equities Record 9.34 Percent Growth On Bluechip Gains
AllAfrica.com
By Goddy Egene and Eromosele Abiodun, 7 May 2012 Fuelled by positive performances on the shares of Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mobil Nigeria Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Plc, the Nigerian equities market last week continue its impressive performance with a …