Author: Muthoga Mungania

Professor Abraham Kithure Kindiki has been sworn in as the thirteenth (13th) Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya following the lifting of orders that had barred his assumption of the office by the High Court. Mr Kindiki took his oath of office at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) on Thursday, November 1st replacing...

Kenya is set to receive $606 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the seventh and eighth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangements. In a statement on Wednesday, the IMF said the funds will support the authorities’ efforts to rebuild fiscal and external buffers,...

Russia has expressed an interest in joint projects in the energy, tourism, agriculture and infrastructure sectors with Tanzania. Speaking during the Tanzania – Russia Business and Investment Forum in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said while meeting with Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa the two countries have had a...

Airtel Kenya has disclosed it secured an extension of its operating licence for two years from January in the newly published financial statements. Airtel Africa Plc through its unaudited financials for the half year to September 30th revealed its Kenyan firm was awarded a licence extension from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on September...

Listed firm HF Group has received approval from Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to raise up to $46.5 million (Ksh6 billion) through a rights issue. This rights issue is structured such that it offers shareholders two new ordinary shares for every one existing ordinary share held, with the shareholders having the option to apply for...

A Kenyan high court has issued conservatory orders blocking a $736 million government deal with Adani Solutions Limited for the construction of electricity transmission lines. The deal was between state utility Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) and India’s Adani Energy Solutions that would see the latter build and operate power infrastructure in the country....

Savannah Clinker has increased its proposed price for takeover of listed cement manufacturer Bamburi by 9.3 percent from $0.54 (Ksh70) to $0.59 (Ksh76.55), in a heated race to acquire the company. In a circular from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Bamburi Cement PLC has revealed to its shareholders of the new price change which could...

Nigeria’s federal government has withdrawn money laundering charges against detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan on medical grounds. The charges were dropped during a hearing on Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria. Mr Gambaryan, was accused and imprisoned in Nigeria for the past 264 days as part a criminal case against the giant cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The court...

Various humanitarian bodies including Amnesty International and the United Nation’s refugee arm have expressed deep concern and alarm over the abduction and repartition of four Turkish asylum seekers in Kenya. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Tuesday that it “urges the Government of Kenya to abide by their...

East African investors have been locked out of the initial public offering (IPO) of the Ethiopia’s state owned telecommunications company. Only Ethiopian citizens will be able to buy shares from Ethio Telecom I’m the ongoing IPO. “The offer is being made solely to Ethiopian citizens who are physically present in Ethiopia,” reads the prospectus of...

Kenya’s National Assembly speaker Moses Wetangula has gazetted Prof Kithure Kindiki, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Administration of National Government as the country’s new Deputy President following the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua. In a gazette notice dated Friday, October 18, the speaker said that the House had voted in support of the nomination of...

Kenya’s parliament has summoned former late President Daniel Moi’s son and former Baringo senator Gideon Moi for hoping in trust over 5,000 acres of land allegedly belonging to Rift Valley National Polytechnic. The members of parliament (MPs) specifically those in the public investments committee on governance and education have questioned why the board of trustees...

Ethiopian commercial banks will be required to disclose to customers all fees and commissions relating to forex transactions effective immediately, the central bank has said in a statement. In a statement issued on October 15th, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) said banks are to operate transparently while following international standards and disclose hidden charges...

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has cleared America’s largest bank, JP Morgan Chase and Co. to set up a regional representative office in Nairobi, about 12 years after disclosing plans. This announcement comes days before JP Morgan’s chief executive officer (CEO) Jamie Dimon makes his visit in Kenya among other African countries. The representative...

The Ugandan government has signed a $3 billion contract with a Turkish company for the construction of a section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). In a LinkedIn social media post, Yapi Merkezi, the Turkish firm took to celebrate the signing ceremony stating that the project is one of the largest by a Turkish contractor....

Eritrea, Egypt and Somalia have teamed up in a tripartite agreement to strengthen the latter’s army efforts against terrorism in a move that has left Ethiopia isolated. The presidents of the three countries have signed an agreement that will see Somalia secured on its land and sea borders.  In a joint statement the three heads...

Safaricom’s Mpesa and Airtel’s paybill and till numbers used by millions of Kenyans to make daily transactions across the country will soon be used as tax registers. Kenya’s President William Ruto’s government is targeting mobile money pay bills and till numbers to convert them into electronic tax registers (ETRs) by December 25 in a bid...

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) slashed the key lending rate by the largest margin since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic but banks are tightening their lending standards amid concerns over availability of credit. On Tuesday the CBK cut the benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points from 12.75 percent to 12 percent, after...

Stanchart Chartered Bank of Kenya and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) have the highest loan exposure in government entities as of June 2024. New disclosures by the National Treasury show Stanchart has the highest exposure from loaning out $128.64 million (KSh16.62 billion) followed by KCB at $113.08 million (KSh14.61 billion) at the end of the fiscal...

Kenya is losing its attractiveness as a desirable export market in the East African Community on tariffs and trade wars. Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have surpassed Kenya in various markets to be leading buyers in a move that could sour relations with other EAC partners. Rwanda has surpassed Kenya to become Uganda’s...

Kenya’s listed telecommunications company Safaricom Plc spent less in the year ended March 2024 on its expatriate staff by 17.7 percent to $36.8 million. This is a signal that the company’s reliance on senior specialists drawn from its parent firm’s (Vodafone Group Plc) is shrinking. The drop in the expats’ pay and other administrative costs...

Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell to 4.6 per cent in the three months leading up to June from 5.6 per cent a year earlier, marking the country’s worst growth in four years after the pandemic. Official data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), shows that despite the slower growth rates in other...

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has topped its African peers in returns for foreign investors in the nine months to September 2024, on the back of a stronger shilling boosting dollar-linked portfolios. Data from the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index, which monitors the performance of ten African stock markets, indicates that the NSE’s return...

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has overtaken Kenya and Uganda as Tanzania’s leading export market, signalling the changing trade dynamics in the East African bloc amid tariff wars.Official data from the Bank of Tanzania shows that DRC overtook Kenya and Uganda to become Tanzania’s leading export destination for its various goods. The data from...

Ethiopia’s khat export to Somalia has fallen amid diplomatic tensions and high taxation.Somalia has long been the largest export destination for Ethiopian khat, which has an estimated daily demand of 500,000 kilograms of the stimulant leaf. The country used to buy up close to 80 per cent of Ethiopia’s total khat exports. A quota system...

Ghana’s central bank slashed its base lending rate by 200 basis points to 27 per cent on Friday, the first cut since January, as inflation continues to ease. The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met during the week and deliberated while assessing local and international macroeconomic developments, and the balance of risks to...

Two days ago, a Kenyan High Court declared the Privatisation Act unconstitutional, a move that could sour the country’s relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had just concluded a week-long visit in Nairobi. The Privatisation Act proposed the sale of state-owned parastatals including the iconic Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), the Kenya Pipeline...

Nigeria’s Central Bank has raised its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 27.5 per cent attributed to the continuing inflationary conditions in the country and the stability of the foreign exchange market. In a statement on Tuesday (24.09), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) noted the slight ease in inflation between July and...

Kenya’s external borrowing next year is projected to fall to $1.29 billion from $2.76 billion in the current financial year on the back of a significant rise in primary debt repayments that will require new borrowing to be rolled over. Projections published by the National Treasury in the Budget Review and Outlook Paper (BROP) 2024...

Ecobank Kenya lost millions of dollars between 2020 and 2022 following the failure of its card operations team to upload critical transaction files exposing the lender to fraud.Revelations from an internal report by the bank, a task force appointed in 2023 highlighted the weaknesses that saw the lender lose millions to merchants and employees. The...