News and economy

Could we see the end of duty free imports to the U.S. from African states under Trump?

Will, now President, Trump really push for a repeal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act? Few countries have been able to take advantage of the provision and the vast majority of African exports to the U.S. under the act have been petroleum products. That said, industries such as textiles in countries such as Kenya have received a huge boost from AGOA.

Rwanda will resume its search for oil in Lake Kivu this March and is in the process of contracting firms to carry out exploration.

Ghana’s central bank is likely to cut its benchmark interest rate by as much as 1.5% after consumer prices rose at the slowest pace since July 2014. The interest rate currently stands at 25.5%.

Uganda has proposed to increase state spending by 15% in its 2017/18 budget proposal, a move private sector players are not comfortable with as increased government domestic borrowing may lock them out of the market.

Algeria’s economy grew 3.0% in Q3 2016 compared with 3.5% in the same quarter 2015 despite strong performance from the oil sector which expanded 7.7% in the quarter relative to a contraction of 1.4% in the same period the previous year. Full year GDP growth is projected to be 3.5% down from 3.9% a year before.

Corporate News

Nigeria’s government does not want to scare away South Africa’s MTN, which is the country’s largest mobile operator. This may be why the state slashed a penalty for flaunting SIM card registration rules by close to 70% to $1 billion. The telco is currently under yet another investigation. This time for illegal cash transfers of close to $14Bn out of Nigeria.

Kenya’s East African Breweries Limited (EABL) is in the process of disposing assets including an unused brewery.