Things are about to get much tougher for Kenyans as towards the end of last month the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) released the monthly maximum retail pump prices, showing that the prices of super petrol, kerosene and diesel would go up in the October-November period. Motorists in the capital city will now have to part with Sh3.37 more for a litre of super petrol, Sh1.85 more for a litre of diesel and Sh1.82 more for kerosene. According to the Energy Regulatory Commission Ag. director general, Robert Pavel Oimeke, the changes in prices is as a result of the average landed…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Naivas supermarket, one of the largest supermarket chains in Kenya, in partnership with Africa’s leading payment solutions provider, Interswitch Limited has launched its Digital Retail Strategy by rolling out its own payment network, Naivas Pay. The supermarket first introduced the service to its customers in its outlets in Westlands and Kiambu Rd. The payment network will enable customers to pay via several channels such as mobile, Internet or cards, which are connected to their bank accounts. This will be advantageous to the merchants who will not have to rely on the traditional point of sale devices anymore. In addition, it…
By David Wanjala In the past few months, Kenya has experienced one of its longest electioneering periods that has seen the economy almost come to a complete standstill. Since August 8, a lot has happened in the country, from the presidential elections being nullified by the Supreme Court to demonstrations happening all over the country. In the midst of all these activities, a number of people ended up losing their lives in the fracas while many others incurred injuries. In addition to these fatalities, the economy also took a heavy blow as many businesses all over the country recorded few…
BY Luke Mulunda To cap or not to cap interest rates? That’s the million-dollar question whose answer depends on where you sit during working hours. Bankers, including the Central Bank of Kenya, for obvious reasons, want the law regulating interest rates repealed. On the other hand, borrowers who include businesses as well as consumer lobbies feel a return to a free market model in the pricing of loans will be punitive. Clearly, the debate on interest rates has become very emotive, and inadvertently betrayed the capitalistic interests behind the renewed push to give banks a free hand in determining the…
Advances in technology and changing trade patterns are affecting opportunities for export-led manufacturing. Smart automation, advanced robotics and 3-D printing are new factors influencing which locations are attractive for production. While these shifts threaten significant disruptions in future employment, particularly for low-skilled workers, they also offer opportunities, according to a new report released last month by the World Bank Group. The report, Trouble in the Making? The Future of Manufacturing-Led Development, underscores the resulting changes in the manufacturing sector’s ability to create jobs and lift people out of poverty in developing countries. It encourages policymakers to adjust their approach to spurring…
By Kosta Kioleoglou House prices increased by 2.08% during the first half of 2017, according to the latest House Price Index for the second quarter 2017, released last July by the Kenya Bankers Association. This is the result of a downward market trend that started a couple of years ago. The second quarter of 2017 saw the slowest price increase since the third quarter of 2016. While several people read these numbers as a sense of overall price stability, the actual trend over the past four quarters points to the underlying demand and supply characteristics. In particular, it depicts a…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Time and again, natural disasters have continued to be a thorn in the flesh humanity, proving the fact that we are truly all subject to Mother Nature. As time goes by, climate change has continued to take place causing natural disasters to increase all over the world. According to the World Bank, these incidents have managed to increase by 30% since the 1960s. Over the years some of the natural disasters that occurred have been so devastating that they have managed to change the planet in one way or another. In 2011, for instance, Japan was hit…
Considering that stretched elections are now a permanent fixture of our Constitution and the fact that the political deadlock Kenya is now witnessing could see the exercise stretch beyond the 60 day period for a repeat exercise contemplated under the Constitution, SHADRACK MUYESU indulges Anzetse Were, Kosta Kioleoglou and Antony Mutunga on what this portends for the economy and some guidance on the way forward. Ms Were is a development economist and a researcher with over ten years of experience working in Africa on development economics, Impact Investment and Enterprise Development. Mr. Kioleoglou is a civil engineer, an expert real…
BY VICTOR ADAR As recent as a year ago, banks charged an average of 18% on loans. Some passed exorbitant percentages of as high as 27% to borrowers. Today, the maximum interest charged by banks is less than 14%, yet bottom up economy is not strong. Experts say that from manufacturing to trade, real estate to transport, as well as agriculture, which are the biggest contributor to Kenya’s economic growth, have not benefited from credit after the country re-introduced interest rate capping law that was scrapped in 1991. Asset management firm, Britam, reveals that the drive to lower interest rate…
BY PETER WANYONYI Back in 1929, at the height of British colonial oppression in Kenya, the Kikuyu Central Association sent Mzee Jomo Kenyatta abroad to lobby for Kikuyu land rights and restitution. It was felt that, given the denial of rights to Black people to express themselves in British colonial Kenya, there was only one place in the world that would tolerate and in fact welcome and embrace the ideals of free speech and open debate to the extent needed to push African land rights to the fore of British colonial debate. That place was, quite ironically, Britain – the…