To help Kenya in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its growing debt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has entered into an agreement with the Kenyan government to lend it a three-year, Sh263 billion ($2.4 billion) financial package. According to Mary Goodman, an advisor in the strategy, policy and review department at the IMF, the two had come to an agreement that will help the Kenyan Government to enhance economic growth in the future. “I am pleased to announce that the Kenyan authorities and the IMF mission team have reached agreement on economic and structural policies that would underpin…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Stanbic owned investment bank SBG Securities posted a 71.3% drop in net profit in the Financial Year ended December 2020 attributed to lower advisory fees and brokerage commissions. SBG Securities reported a net profit of Sh34.98m in the period, down from Sh121.85m in 2019. Advisory and consultancy fees, earned when the firm handles corporate deals, fell by Sh83.1m to Sh11.2m in the period, while brokerage commissions were down by Sh63.7m to Sh189m. This saw total income shrink by Sh155.5m to Sh259.6m during the year. Brokerage commission fell at a time when the equities and bonds markets at the NSE returned…
In a bid to grow the gems and jewellery industry and give back to the mining communities, Rosenkrantz Africa has partnered with Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) across Africa to foster links between miners in Southern Kenya and their regional and international clientele in Europe, the Middle-East, Southeast Asia, and America. Rosenkrants is one of the players founded in 2016 by Iver Rosenkrantz, a trained gemologist whose his history in Africa working in conservation and minerals dates back to 1999. The founder CEO of Rosenkrantz Gems Limited says that partnerships and collaborations in the mining industry are a vital and…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA The future of automobiles has been labeled to be electric in recent years although, in much of the developing world, their adoption has remained low for a couple of years due to lack of adequate infrastructure. In Kenya, although, this is about to change as Kenya Power, the country’s electricity distributor plans to improve infrastructure for electric cars. The electricity distributor has announced its plans to set up a nationwide network of public charging points along highways, malls as well as parking stations. This is expected to increase the adoption of electric cars in the country. In…
The Government, through the tabled Landlord and Tenant Bill 2021 looks to take control of commercial and residential rents in order to protect tenants from the rising costs in the real estate sector. According to the Bill, rent increase should not surpass the annual average inflation rate for the preceding year, meaning, if Parliament was to adopt the proposed law then rent increase for the year would be capped at the average 2020 inflation which stood at 5.2%. In the recent years, the housing sector has been one of the fastest growing sectors, mostly from exorbitant, even prohibitive rent incomes.…
Some of Africa’s most respected film industry practitioners joined over 60 women on February 21 for the official launch of the Ladima Film Academy. This gathering of women from 12 countries including Zimbabwe, The Central African Republic, Uganda, Gambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, was a powerful moment ushering in a new era in film education for Africa. The Ladima Foundation, with the support of the DW Akademie, Deutsche Welle’s center for international media development, has now officially launched its Film Academy that will see these introductory courses roll out over the next six weeks across seven key…
At a time that many businesses are facing a number of challenges in the midst of a pandemic, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has announced a Sh1.6b advance aid that aims to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) move past the harsh conditions. According to Linus Gitahi, DTB Board Chairman, the pandemic has caused much harm to entrepreneurs by creating harsh economic conditions that make it difficult to operate. “We all know that the pandemic has had a terrible impact on our lives and livelihoods. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) felt the brunt of the pandemic-induced harsh economic conditions that…
KENYA – Refinitiv partnered with the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) to enhance Fixed Income (FI) price discovery and raise market transparency in Kenya. As part of the partnership, the NSE will roll out Refinitiv Fixed Income Callouts in Kenya, an automated workflow that facilitates negotiations and agreements of secondary Fixed Income (FI) bond trading among banks, brokerage firms, and real-time integration with the Central Securities Depository (CSD). The primary FI market has been steadily growing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as governments explore better access to financing. According to the 2020 Refinitiv investment banking review, SSA debt issuance totaled $19b in 2020. With…
Equity Group through its medical subsidiary, Equity Afia, has opened a new medical centre in Muranga County to help offer quality and affordable healthcare to the residents. The new medical centre, the Group’s second clinic in the county after Equity Afia Kenol, is located at ECN Building along Uhuru Street. The centre will offer services such as general consultation, dental services, optical services, dermatological services, paediatric services, nutrition services, specialised care in obstetrics and gynaecology and wellness services. According to Professor Isaac Macharia, Equity Group board chairman, the new centre is a part of a larger strategic plan that is aimed…
A decade of political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa has generated levels of displacement never seen before, according to the latest report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). An estimated 12.4 million people are currently internally displaced across the region. When the Arab Spring protests broke out a decade ago, the MENA region was home to more than 3.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs). The figure has more than tripled in a decade as a result of enduring civil wars and localised conflict. It is expected to increase further with climate-related disasters generating new displacement every year. According…