The World Bank is poised to approve $1.2 billion of budget financing to Kenya before the end of April, unlocking key financing for the East African nation that wants to cut its reliance on commercial debt, Bloomberg News reported. The amount is slightly less than the $1.5 billion that Kenyan authorities had anticipated receiving from the Washington-based lender and follows other disbursements by the International Monetary Fund as well as Trade and Development Bank, a pan-African lender. Kenya had earmarked the World Bank funds to finance its budget in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Read more
Resources Per Country
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo
- Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Kenya
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
The Standard Group on Wednesday refuted claims that the organization was facing bankruptcy and would be shutting down, Kenyans.co.ke reported. In a statement issued by the Group’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Joe Munene, the media house stated that the information circulating online was purporting a false narrative. “The Standard Group PLC wishes to inform its audiences, customers, suppliers, staff, shareholders and all other stakeholders that information circulating on social media touching on the integrity of the Company, its Management and Staff is fake”, read the statement.
A proposal by France, Denmark and Sweden to restrict used-clothing exports from the European Union could hurt the clothing resale industry in Kenya, which employs 2 million Kenyans, a representative of second-hand clothes sellers said, Reuters reported. The EU exported 1.4 million tonnes of used textiles in 2022, more than twice as much as in 2000 according to U.N. trade data. Exports to developing countries can lead to pollution when clothes that can not be resold end up in dumps, the EU has said.
KCB Group Plc.’s efforts to clean up its loan book of legacy bad debt is being frustrated by government delays in paying suppliers and court injunctions slowing down the sale of collateral to recoup losses, Bloomberg News reported. The Nairobi-based bank with operations across seven African nations posted a 29% jump in gross non-performing loans to 208.3 billion shillings ($1.57 billion) in its full-year earnings.
Read more
A group of Zambia's international bondholders has signed a non-disclosure agreement with the government to discuss a $3 billion debt restructuring proposal, three sources familiar with situation said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The government sent a formal debt rework proposal to the steering committee of the creditor group last week, two of the sources said. Entering into a non-disclosure agreement usually marks the start of formal restructuring talks.
Read more
Ghanaian authorities and international bondholders expect to begin talks this week aimed at a deal to restructure roughly $13 billion of defaulted global debt, Bloomberg News reported. A group representing the private investors and government officials plan to hold meetings to kick off negotiations over the coming days. Creditors entered into non-disclosure agreements with the government this week, signaling a first step in the process. Bondholders are weighing a proposal put forth by the government.
Read more
Nigerian authorities have asked an Abuja court to extend the detention of two Binance executives caught up in the country's cryptocurrency crackdown after an initial warrant used to hold them lapsed this week, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is Binance's regional manager for Africa, flew to Nigeria following the country's decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites, but they were detained on arrival on Feb. 26.
Read more
Ghana is resisting calls by holders of the country’s eurobonds to offer a sweetener for restructuring $13 billion of debt, risking a self-imposed deadline for a deal, Bloomberg News reported. Investors have asked Ghana to link interest payments on some of the debt to the future economic growth of the West African nation. Bondholders want Ghana to mirror Suriname, which last year issued a so-called value-recovery instrument that pays out if the nation becomes oil-rich.
Read more
Kenyan lawmakers approved the Treasury’s plans to offer debt-for-nature and food-security swaps to bolster the nation’s finances for its next fiscal year starting July 1, Bloomberg News reported. The East African nation is in talks with the United Nations and development partners to structure the debt swaps, according to a Treasury report that was published last month. The report didn’t provide details on how much Kenya plans to raise via these instruments and how they would work.
Read more
South Africa’s economy escaped a technical recession in the fourth quarter as fewer rotational power cuts helped energy-intensive industries including mining rebound, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the three months through December, compared with a contraction of 0.2% in the prior quarter, Statistics South Africa said in a report released in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday. The South African currency traded 0.2% stronger at 19.0087 per US dollar as of 12:25 p.m. In Johannesburg.
Read more