Real estate developers are moving out of Nairobi to smaller towns, aiming to tap rising demand for residential houses that the high cost of land in the Kenyan capital has left unmet and adding a new dimension to property market growth, Business Daily Africa reported. Latest market data indicates that there has been a marked upsurge in construction of new housing units in Naivasha, Kisumu, Mombasa, and Nakuru – a trend that is expected to ease demand pressure on Nairobi and help tame price inflation.

Royal Media Services chairman SK Macharia has moved to forestall a looming bankruptcy by filing an application seeking to set aside a court ruling that ordered his vast estate be placed under receivership, Business Daily Africa reported. Through his lawyers Dr Gibson Kamau Kuria and Mr Paul Muite, Mr Macharia on Monday appeared before Mr Justice Muga Apondi and pleaded to be allowed to deposit Sh35 million as security pending the filing of an intended appeal.

Royal Media Services chairman SK Macharia risks being declared bankrupt for failure to pay a transporter Sh35 million, Business Daily Africa reported. Lady Justice Martha Koome on Friday issued orders that the businessman’s vast estate be placed under receivership and appointed a government official as the trustee of his assets and liabilities. The orders followed a successful bankruptcy petition filed by Livingstone Waithaka, the managing director of Ocean Freight Transporters Company Limited.

The Central Bank has lowered its main policy rate by a quarter percentage point, in a move meant to afford Treasury and businesses cheaper access to credit, Business Daily Africa reported. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced on Thursday after its bi-monthly meeting that it had cut the Central Bank Rate to 5.75 per cent. Interest rates have been on the rise in the past two months as investors demanded higher returns on Treasury bonds following the State’s announcement that it would increase its domestic borrowing target by 14 per cent to Sh120 billion this year.

Parliament’s Budget Office (PBO) says Kenya’s large and rapidly expanding underground or grey economy is never captured in official data but now accounts for nearly half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, Business Daily Africa reported. Kenya’s underground economy has expanded rapidly in the past five years to become a mammoth Sh825 billion industry that is denying the government at least Sh275 billion in uncollected revenues, the PBO says.

Commercial banks and micro-lenders are now required to share a wide range of information on their customers, including records of dishonoured checks, compulsory closure of accounts and late payments or credit defaults on all types of facilities, according to the new rules published last week to facilitate the establishment of a reliable risk assessment system.

Kenya’s public pensions provider, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), risks losing a significant portion of its movable assets next week over a Sh663 million debt it owes a developer for breach of contract, Business Daily Africa reported. NSSF was left holding the multi-million shilling debt after it lost a legal tussle pitting it against a company it had contracted to build an estate in Nairobi’s upmarket Kitisuru area.

The Attorney-General has been directed to respond to a petition filed by the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) seeking to be bailed out of receivership, Business Daily Africa reported. Constitutional Court Judge Roselyn Wendoh on Wednesday told the State Law Office to file its replying affidavit within 14 days. Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Coffee Board of Kenya were also asked to respond within seven days upon being served by the AG. The parties involved in the dispute will return to court on November 3 to confirm compliance with the orders.

Kenyans should use the recently launched credit information sharing system to negotiate favourable terms and lending rates with commercial banks, the financial services sector regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya, has said. The bank fears that the system is beginning to look like an additional weapon in the hands of lenders to tighten the rules for individual and household borrowers to the exclusion of potential benefits.

Uchumi Supermarkets’ 12,0000 owners have agreed to convert the chain’s debts into equity in a bid to win back firm’s trading rights at the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Business Daily Africa reported. Uchumi’s shares were suspended from trading on the stock exchange in 2006 after it closed its stores following an aggressive but failed expansion plan that led to a Sh1.2 billion loss and left the firm reeling in a Sh2 billion debt owed to suppliers, Kenya Commercial Bank and PTA bank. At the time of delisting from the bourse, Uchumi shares were trading at Sh14.50.