central bank - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Twin rate cuts set Mozambique apart as African currency rally

MOZAMBIQUE’S central bank has decisively cut its benchmark lending rate to 15.75% from 16.5%, setting a precedent as the first African country to slash rates twice in 2024. The move highlights Maputo’s aggressive push for economic growth amid a wider trend of cooling inflation and currency stability against the US dollar across Africa. Rate cuts in the southeastern African nation, prompted by near-four-year low consumer inflation, aim to stimulate economic activity through household spending. The steady Mozambican metical against the dollar since 2021 solidifies the central bank, Banco de Moçambique's move, balancing the rate cuts without igniting inflation or destabilising…

Apr

2024

By KOPANO GUMBI and ALEXANDER WINNING

South African policymakers in talks on lowering inflation target

BUSINESS

SOUTH African policymakers are in discussions on lowering the central bank's inflation target, its governor said, adding that a lower target would make the country more competitive and bring the central bank in line with peers. Lesetja Kganyago told Reuters he personally preferred a decision that would lower the target from its current range of between 3% and 6% "before we get to 2025", but that teams from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and National Treasury were still identifying the appropriate range and risks associated with it. "Our teams are in conversation now," Kganyago said in an interview. "The…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

Namibia central bank keeps repo rate and key forecasts unchanged

BUSINESS

NAMIBIA'S central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged for the fourth meeting in a row, sticking to its forecasts for this year's economic growth and inflation. The southern African country's repo rate has been at 7.75% (NACBIR=ECI) since June 2023. "With real interest rates remaining positive, and slow credit growth, amid a fair level of international reserves, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) decided to maintain the repo rate at its current level," the Bank of Namibia said in a statement. Inflation edged up to 5.4% year on year in January (NACPIY=ECI), from 5.3% in December. It is projected to average 4.8% in…

Jan

2024

By TAREK AMARA

Tunisian cabinet approves bill allowing the central bank to finance the treasury

BUSINESS

THE Tunisian cabinet approved a controversial bill allowing the central bank to finance the treasury, in a move aimed at financing the budget deficit but which reinforced fears over the bank's independence. Last year, President Kais Saied said the law must be reviewed to allow the central bank to finance the budget directly by buying state bonds, a step bank governor Marouan Abassi has warned against. Economists believe the bill's approval by the cabinet enhances speculation the governor, who has headed the bank for six years, will leave the post next month at the end of his first term. Critics of the…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Ghana to issue $3.24 billion in bonds in second quarter, central bank says

BUSINESS

GHANA plans to issue 24 billion cedi ($3.24 billion) in bonds in second quarter according to a government debt issuance calendar published by the central bank. It said 20 billion cedi would be used to roll over maturing bonds, while the remaining 4.5 billion is fresh issuance to meet the government's financing requirements. Ghana's economy is currently facing a raft of financial woes including rampant inflation, a depreciating currency and a heavy debt burden. Its credit ratings have recently been downgraded for reasons including concerns for the country's access to international capital markets. The calendar showed that the government plans…