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Kenya, IMF agree terms for $3 billion Extended Credit Facility

Published

2 years ago

May 24, 2023

Kenya has reached an agreement that could unlock more than $3 billion of new financing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The international lender and the country said the agreement could help relieve pressure on government finances in East Africa’s largest economy.

The agreement is the fifth review of Kenya’s External Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility arrangements, an extension of the program and augmentation for access under a 20-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Under the agreement, Kenya will get access to $544 million through the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which is intended to support climate change adaptation and resilience. A total of $3.5 billion had been committed to funding for Kenya under the three facilities, and its executive board would likely consider the staff-level agreement in July.

The IMF stated that the medium-term outlook for the Kenyan economy remained favourable, although the economy had been strained by a challenging external environment. The IMF maintained that the planned fiscal consolidation was appropriate, while also protecting priority social spending.

“Exchange rate flexibility and proactive monetary policy will remain critical to preserving macroeconomic stability and supporting market confidence against the backdrop of a challenging global economic outlook and continued uncertainty in international financial markets,” IMF said in a statement.

Kenya has insisted that it would not default on its debt repayment obligations despite delayed payment of civil service salaries.

The country in April revealed plans to issue a new Eurobond to manage 2024’s maturity of a Ksh270 billion ($2 billion) 10-year bond.

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Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery exports first fuel to Cameroon

Published

5 days ago

December 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria said on Wednesday that it had exported its first petrol to Cameroon, marking a significant milestone that may help stabilise gasoline costs throughout the region and open the door for regional energy integration.

When fully operational, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000-barrel refinery in Lagos is intended to alter the trade of refined products in the Atlantic basin and compete with refineries in Europe.

According to a statement by Neptune Oil, an energy company based in Cameroon, both businesses were looking into new projects to create a dependable supply chain that would assist in stabilising fuel costs and opportunities throughout the area.

According to Neptune Oil, there were no middlemen involved in the petrol delivery deal.

It is anticipated that the refinery’s operations will spur growth in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, increasing investments in cement manufacture, plastic and rubber production, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, and oil refining.

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Egypt’s November inflation drops to 25.5%, near 2-year low

Published

7 days ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to figures released Tuesday by statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate fell more than anticipated to 25.5% in November, the lowest level since December 2022.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused international investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian treasury markets, inflation started to rise sharply in early 2022.

In September 2023, headline inflation reached a record high of 38.0%. It dropped to 26.5% by October 2024.

In a Reuters survey last month, 15 economists’ consensus prediction was for annual inflation to gradually decline to 26.4%.

According to CAPMAS statistics, headline inflation decreased from 1.1% in October to 0.5% in November every month.

Compared to October, when they fell 1.1%, food costs fell 2.8% over the month, making them 23.3% more than they were a year ago.

An increase in the money supply has been a major contributor to inflation. According to central bank data, Egypt’s M2 money supply increased by 29.54% in October compared to the same month last year.