AMI 01072022: Namibia’s strong growth in the first quarter

Zambia: The statistics agency in Zambia reported first growth for 2022 at 2.4 q/q. Key contributors included Public Admin, ICT, Electricity, Accommodation and Real estate. 

AMI 29062022: Base metals down for the year

Commodities: Over the past month, there has a been a significant decline in prices across most commodifies – fueled by fears of lackluster economic performance. The market is pricing in a recession as higher inflationary pressures erode production and chip away at discretionary spending. 

AMI 28062022: Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya

Côte d'Ivoire: Moody’s has affirmed Côte d'Ivoire’s sovereign rating at Ba3 and has changed its outlook from stable to positive. This is largely informed by the country’s prospects for growth between now and 2025 with GDP expected to print north of 7% according to the rating agency. In addition to …

AMI 27062022: Fitch downgrades Namibia to “BB-“

Namibia: Fitch ratings agency has opted to downgrade Namibia’s sovereign rating from “BB” to “BB- “on account of worsening twin deficits relative to its peers. Fitch expects the budget deficit (% of GDP) to come in at 7.6% in 2022, wider than the average budget deficit of “BB” rated economies of 5.…

AMI 24062022: Egypt – MPC keeps rates on hold

Egypt: The MPC opted to keep rates on hold as they wait to observe the impact of the year-to-date 300bp increase in interest rates. Lending rate remains at 12.5% while the deposit rate is 11.5%.

AMI 23062022: Ghana’s growth – softer than expected

Ghana: Economic activity in the first quarter came in lower than anticipated with data from Ghana Statistical Services indicating a 3.3%y/y, with non-oil GDP growing by 3.7% y/y. Relative to the final quarter of the last year, where growth came in at 7.0%y/y, the slowdown was across all three broad…

AMI 22062022: Namibia’s hospitality sector continues to improve

Namibia: Room occupancy rates from the Namibia Hospitality Association of Namibia continue their upward trend, coming in at 39.4% during May. This is higher than the 36.5% recorded in April and the 25.7% recorded over the same period last year. 

AMI 21062022: Namibia house price growth cools

Namibia: The latest FNB Namibia residential property report indicated that the House Price Index grew by 4.7% at the end of the first quarter of this year, down from 7.1% at the end of 2021, but unchanged compared to 1Q21. 

AMI 20062022: Botswana’s Monetary Policy Rate up by 50bps

Botswana: The Bank of Botswana’s (BoB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MoPR) by 50bps at a meeting held on 16 June 2022, effectively increasing the MoPR from 1.65% to 2.15%. Furthermore, repo and reverse repo operations will be conducted at the MoPR (2.15%). 

AMI 15062022: Namibia’s rental price growth low but positive

Namibia: The latest FNB Rental Index data shows that prices edged up by 0.6% at the end of March as rental activity picks up across the country. According to the FNB Residential Rental report, upward price action is seen across the properties with more than three bedrooms.