Kenya may be headed for a jobless recovery, economists said, citing new labour market data showing that the productivity of workers has declined to record levels, forcing businesses to turn to capital for additional capacity to keep pace with growth, Business Daily Africa. The data from the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) shows that economic hardships linked to soaring inflation and skills deficiency has shackled productivity growth on factory and shop floors, making workforce expansion unattractive to business leaders.

Commercial banks are charging high premiums for difficulties they face establishing the value and authenticity of securities that their customers offer for loans, pushing the cost of credit beyond the reach of many Kenyans, a new lending market report indicates, Business Daily Africa reported.

Kenya’s treasury has busted its domestic borrowing target for the current financial year, pointing to the fact that the economy is not out of the woods yet and sparking debate over the country’s ability to cope with the debt in the long term, Business Daily Africa reported.

Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. and PTA Bank Ltd. have ended the receivership of Uchumi Supermarket Ltd., the retail chain said on its Web site yesterday, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. Specialized Receiver Manager, Jonathan Ciano, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Uchumi said. Uchumi went into receivership in June 2006 with debts of 2.2 billion shillings ($29 million), of which 957 million shillings was owed to Kenya Commercial and PTA. The retailer’s shareholders voted to end the receivership on Jan.

A judge has thrown out an application by Kenya Commercial Bank urging him to disqualify himself from hearing a dispute between it and the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU), Business Daily reported. Commercial Court Judge, Mr Justice Muga Apondi, ruled that his conduct on the matter was above board and had not favoured any party during the entire trial. KCB, through lawyer Tom Macharia, wanted the case transferred to another judge as a result of what he termed as “perceived” bias by Mr Justice Apondi.

Commercial banks were on Thursday scouring their records for signals as to how big the government’s decision to revoke more than 130 titles for prime properties in Nairobi, the first of a countrywide cancellation of dubious land ownership deeds, would damage their loan books, Business Daily Africa reported. Lands minister James Orengo said his office had used executive orders to cancel 137 titles that were illegally issued for public land without following due process.

The Chief Executive officer of the Capital Markets Authority Stella Kilonzo said the firm has been found not to be in compliance with the legal and regulatory provisions as outlined in the CMA Act for some time. Wycliffe Shamiah has been appointed the Statutory Manager with effect from 5 February 2010 for a period of six (6) months, the Kenya Broadcasting Company reported. This is the third brokerage firm to be put under receivership after Nyaga stockbrokers and Discount Security limited. Read more.

Dubai’s failure to reassure investors its restructuring plan will succeed is causing the emirate’s benchmark stock index to drop the most in the world and forcing companies to scrap bond sales, Bloomberg reported. The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 13 percent since Dec. 14, wiping out a rally sparked by Abu Dhabi’s bailout of Dubai World that day.

Dubai’s failure to reassure investors its restructuring plan will succeed is causing the emirate’s benchmark stock index to drop the most in the world and forcing companies to scrap bond sales, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 15 percent since Dec. 14, wiping out a rally sparked by Abu Dhabi’s bailout of Dubai World that day.

The government will review receivership laws with the aim of reducing the number of companies that are driven to the graveyard by statutory managers, the Daily Nation reported. Experts say that the current laws provide leeway to entities owed money — whose chief concern is recovery of their loans — sometimes leading to the collapse of companies that could have been saved by proper management. This review would have the effect of making the business environment better for local companies.