Africa Markets Podcast
382 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago -RMB's research offering spans across the fixed income, currency and credit markets to offer strategic insight to our clients across multiple sectors and markets.
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Episodes
AMI 1 April: Zambia inflation moderates while Namibia’s economy rebounds
April 01, 2022 06:50 - 3 minutes - 3.45 MBZambia: Inflation for March continued on its disinflationary path as it eased to 13.1% from the 14.2% recorded in February. The moderation can be attributed to a slower pace of price growth for both the food and non-food segments See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 31 March 2022: Mozambique hikes amid fears of rising inflation
March 31, 2022 06:05 - 1 minute - 1.79 MBMozambique: The monetary policy committee of Mozambique has opted to hike interest rates by 200bps, a sign that the central bank is concerned about inflation. Notably, the central bank targets single digit inflation – this hike suggests that the central bank is convinced that inflation would edge over 10% in the short to medium term. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 30 March 2022
March 30, 2022 07:27 - 1 minute - 1.35 MBKenya: The monetary policy committee have opted to keep interest rates flat in Kenya given their broad view that the economy is on a path of recovery and inflation at the moment remains within its target range. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 29 March 2022: IMF and Mozambique reach staff level agreement
March 29, 2022 06:45 - 1 minute - 1.65 MBMozambique: The IMF team reached a staff-level agreement with the Mozambican authorities on a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for 2022-2025 to support sustainable, inclusive growth, and long-term macroeconomic stability. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 28 March 2022: Zinc prices remain high on limited supply
March 28, 2022 06:58 - 1 minute - 1.41 MBCommodity prices have continued to soar since the start of the war in Europe. While part of the gains were associated with the general sell-off, the recent gains in base metal prices is influenced by concerns around supply. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 25 March 2022: Zambia currency to remain rangebound
March 25, 2022 08:53 - 1 minute - 1.75 MBThe MoF indicated that Zambia was on path to reach an IMF board approval by mid-year. While we change our base case for board approval later in the second half of the year, we agree that overal momentum around Zambia’s fiscal and economic developments, is improving. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 24 March 2022: Ghana set to announce expenditure cuts
March 24, 2022 06:44 - 1 minute - 1.59 MBGhana: The Ghanaian authorities are expected to announce budget cuts later today to improve the fiscal trajectory of the country. Concerns have mounted over the past year regarding the authorities’ abilities to both contain expenditure and present credible revenue targets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 23 March 2022: A focus on Egypt
March 23, 2022 06:35 - 2 minutes - 2.26 MBEgypt: Since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, Egyptian authorities have set in motion both fiscal and monetary policy changes. We saw similar swift responses from the authorities at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 22 March 2022: Ghana hikes amid inflationary concerns
March 22, 2022 04:08 - 1 minute - 1.6 MBGhana: Bank of Ghana has opted to hike the main policy rate by 250bps, raising it to 17% in an attempt to arrest inflation across the economy. The MPC has seemingly opted to frontload it hikes as opposed to taking a staggered approach towards its hiking cycle. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 18 March 2022
March 18, 2022 07:21 - 2 minutes - 2.04 MBNamibia: We expect Namibia’s tourism sector to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, in line with our expectations. We indicated last year, that the pace of the recovery in the sector will take time given low domestic vaccination rates and slow recovery in regional travel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 17 March 2022: Botswana’s inflation remains well above central bank target range
March 17, 2022 06:29 - 2 minutes - 2.15 MBBotswana: Botswana’s February headline inflation registered 10.6% y/y, unchanged from the January print. Also unchanged were the major contributors to the latest print, being the transport index, which accounted for 6.0ppt, utilities which made up 1.3ppt, food and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.9ppt) and miscellaneous goods and services (+0.7ppt). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 16 March 2022: Namibia’s inflation remains contained – for now
March 16, 2022 06:05 - 1 minute - 1.82 MBNamibia: Inflation in February remained relatively unchanged, declining only marginally to 4.5% y/y from 4.6% y/y in January. The slowdown from the previous month was observed in the main basket items namely food, alcoholic beverages and transport. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 15 March 2022: Cedi on the backfoot
March 15, 2022 07:14 - 1 minute - 1.5 MBCedi: We continue to monitor the depreciation of the cedi as dollar demand increases amid an already tight liquidity environment. Despite central bank intervention, the cedi weakened over the past month given the broader sell-off caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 14 March 2022: Mozambique’s sovereign ratings
March 14, 2022 07:01 - 1 minute - 1.87 MBMozambique: Moody’s has changed the outlook for Mozambique’s sovereign rating to positive from stable while affirming the country’s rating at Caa2. Fitch also recently affirmed the country’s rating at CCC See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 11 March 2022: Egypt’s inflation on the rise
March 11, 2022 06:54 - 1 minute - 1.54 MBEgypt: Inflation is on the rise across several parts of the continent, particularly in Egypt where higher food prices led to an 8.8% y/y increase in February. Over the past few months, inflation has steadily risen across this market in line with rising oil prices globally, with the recent increase in food prices likely to exacerbate the situation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 10 March 2022: Ghana’s February inflation spikes to the highest in 5 years
March 10, 2022 06:41 - 1 minute - 1.63 MBGhana: Ghana’s February headline inflation rate spiked to 15.7% from 13.9% in January, moving further above the central bank’s upper target band of 10% for a sixth consecutive month (note that the lower target band is 6%). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 09 March 2022: Bullish on copper
March 09, 2022 06:53 - 2 minutes - 1.88 MBCommodities: The London Metal Exchange (LME) suspended nickel trading yesterday, following an unprecedented surge in prices. The base metal piked by 250% in two days and was the result of industrial users of the metal and investors scrambling to buy contracts back after prices initiall rallied on the pack of supply concerns from Russia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 08 March 2022: Currencies retreat as markets slip
March 08, 2022 05:26 - 1 minute - 1.7 MBCurrencies: Market sell-off continues as the Russia-Ukraine war rages-on, leading to weakness across key African currencies. Liquidity challenges in certain key markets would likely exacerbate currency weakness over the next few weeks as the dollar gains in broader risk-off environment. So far this year, the shilling, kwacha, and cedi have been on the backfoot. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 07 March 2022: PMI – recovery in February but input costs still problematic
March 07, 2022 06:03 - 1 minute - 1.73 MBPMI: The latest PMI data shows a broad increase in output from various countries after the lacklustre performance in January on the back of Omicron virus. In the key markets we track, See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 04 March 2022: Namibia private sector credit extension
March 04, 2022 07:16 - 1 minute - 1.73 MBNamibia: Private sector credit extension (PSCE) growth picked up to 2.7% y/y in January 2022 after reaching a 15 year low of 1.2% y/y in the preceding month. The increase was observed for both households and corporates – household credit growth increased to 3.2% y/y from 2.1% y/y in December 2021 while corporate credit growth increased to 2.0% y/y after contracting by 0.1% y/y. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 3 March 2022: Egypt’s quandary over rising wheat prices
March 03, 2022 07:08 - 2 minutes - 2.11 MBEgypt: Ukraine and Russia export more than a quarter of the world’s wheat. The geopolitical tensions and invasion of Russia into Ukraine has resulted in closed ports and disengaged logistics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 2 March 2022: Kenya’s inflation print defies food prices increase
March 02, 2022 06:54 - 2 minutes - 2.26 MBKenya: Kenya’s headline inflation for February surprised to the downside, printing at 5.1% y/y – lower than Bloomberg consensus figure of 5.7% y/y and January’s figure of 5.4% y/y. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 1 March 2022: Zambia pump prices adjusted higher
March 01, 2022 05:41 - 2 minutes - 2.59 MBZambia: Zambia’s energy regulator decided to increase fuel pump prices effective 1st March 2022 by an average of 10.4%. The revision will see petrol price increase from 19.84 to 21.96 kwacha per litre while diesel prices will increase from 18.93 to 21.54 kwacha per litre. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 28 February 2022: Inflation continues to moderate in Zambia
February 28, 2022 05:20 - 1 minute - 1.84 MBZambia: Headline inflation for February trended lower at 14.2% y/y, easing by 0.9 percentage points from the 15.1%y/y recorded in the previous month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 25 February 2022: Botswana’s bank rate stays put at 3.75%
February 25, 2022 06:07 - 2 minutes - 2.59 MBThe Bank of Botswana’s MPC maintained the bank rate at 3.75% at a meeting held on 24 February 2022. This decision was made against a backdrop of elevated levels of price growth, with risks being skewed to the upside See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 24 February 2022: Commodities rise on Russsia-Ukraine tensions
February 24, 2022 05:58 - 1 minute - 1.6 MBThe ordered Russian military action on Ukraine has sent commodity prices soaring, including PGMs lift as well as safe-haven assets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 23 February 2022: Brent crude oil expected to breach US$100/bbl
February 23, 2022 05:38 - 2 minutes - 2.25 MBNigeria: The Russia-Ukraine tensions have persisted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 22 February 2022: Kenyan shilling supported by satisfactory FX reserves and higher remittance inflows
February 22, 2022 06:45 - 3 minutes - 3.44 MBKenya: Kenya’s National Treasury released the Quarterly Economic and Budgetary review for 2021/22. The document noted that the economy had grown, on average, by 7.8% in the first three quarters of 2021. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 21 February 2022: Zambia - Kwacha gains and credit rating upgrade
February 21, 2022 06:33 - 2 minutes - 2.2 MBhe kwacha has gained ground over the past week, leading to a monthly gain of 3.6% See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 18 February 2022: Nigerian economy grows by 3.4% in 2021
February 18, 2022 07:08 - 2 minutes - 1.89 MBNigeria: Real GDP growth came in at 3.40% y/y in 2021 as one of Africa’s largest economies recovered from the 2020 recession. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 17 February 2022: Zambia and Namibia interest rate decisions
February 17, 2022 06:29 - 1 minute - 1.69 MBMonetary policy: The Bank of Zambia MPC opted to keep interest rates flat at the February meeting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 16 February 2022: Botswana inflation – still on the rise
February 16, 2022 05:37 - 3 minutes - 2.86 MBBotswana: Inflation kicked-off the year by printing a staggering 10.6% y/y in January (compared to 2.3% y/y in January 2021). The main driver of domestic price growth remains the transport index See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 15 February 2022: Mozambique GDP growth — lower than expected
February 15, 2022 06:51 - 1 minute - 1.58 MBData from Mozambique’s statistics institute revealed that growth came in lower that we had expected in 2021, printing at 2.16% y/y versus our estimates of 2.50% y/y. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 14 February 2022: Pressure mounts on regional inflation
February 14, 2022 05:28 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MBInflation: The latest surge in oil prices, combined with higher regional maize price indicators relative to last year, will cause further price inflation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 11 February 2022: Base metal prices boosted by US inflation print
February 11, 2022 06:25 - 1 minute - 1.68 MBBase metals: Commodity prices have received a boost this week post the latest US CPI print. Inflation rose by 7.5% y/y in January, driving yields higher and leading to sizeable gains in commodities. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 10 February 2022: Inflation rises in Ghana and Mozambique
February 10, 2022 06:09 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MBInflation: Price pressures have continued to mount at the beginning of the year across various economies as supply-side factors elevate inflation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 09 February 2022: Zambia medium-term budget plan
February 09, 2022 04:42 - 1 minute - 1.54 MBThe Ministry of Finance and National Planning in Zambia released a white paper detailing its medium-term budget plan. Critically, the report shows that focus will primarily be on lowering the fiscal deficit (on a cash basis, excluding amortization) to -5.2% of GDP See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 08 February 2022: Botswana fiscal policy
February 08, 2022 06:03 - 2 minutes - 2.33 MBBotswana: Finance Minister Peggy Serame delivered her maiden budget to parliament on 7 February 2022. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 07 February 2022: Cedi to remain on the back foot
February 07, 2022 05:20 - 1 minute - 1.77 MBAs the second month of the year gains momentum, the cedi continues to weaken as dollar demand ramps up in Ghana and liquidity conditions tighten. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 04 February 2022: Omicron leads to lower PMI figures
February 04, 2022 07:20 - 1 minute - 1.83 MBThe latest PMI data reveals that most countries are starting the year on the back foot, with readings dropping on average by 2.9 index points. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 03 February 2022: Brent crude still expected to climb
February 03, 2022 07:20 - 1 minute - 1.76 MBOil: OPEC+’s decision to stick to its schedule of increasing supply by 400,000 barrels a day has not eased the market, with Brent crude prices still expected to lift over the next few weeks See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 02 February 2022: Botswana set for strong rebound
February 02, 2022 06:28 - 2 minutes - 2.6 MBThe value of Debswana’s rough diamond sales over the course of 2021 registered P38.1bn, 60.7% higher than in 2020 (P23.7bn). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 01 February 2022: Namibia private sector credit extension
February 01, 2022 06:14 - 2 minutes - 1.9 MBDespite historically low interest rates, credit extended to business and households in Namibia is growing at the slowest rate ever recorded over the past 15 years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 31 January 2022: Food inflation to taper later in the year
January 31, 2022 07:01 - 1 minute - 1.59 MBThe FAO Index, that tracks cereal prices, recorded a 12.4% y/y increase at the end of 2021 as food inflation decelerated during the final quarter of last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 28 January 2022: Zambia inflation decelerates while trade activity increases
January 28, 2022 05:28 - 2 minutes - 2.03 MBZambia: A deceleration in food inflation has led to the overall decrease in the headline inflation figure. Annual inflation in January recorded 15.1% y/y, down from 21.5% in January 2021. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 26 January 2022: Nigeria MPC decision
January 26, 2022 06:53 - 2 minutes - 2.13 MBThe Central Bank of Nigeria MPC made a unanimous decision to maintain the current monetary stance in view of the fragile economy that continues to recover since the events of 2020 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 25 January 2022: Diamond prices edge higher
January 25, 2022 05:54 - 1 minute - 1.35 MBDiamonds: The bloomberg polished price diamond index is up 17.7% over the past year as demand for diamonds globally remains buoyant. In 2021, the recovery in the luxury segment continued unabated pushing up the prices of overall diamonds. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 24 January 2022: Commodity prices still expected to climb
January 24, 2022 06:10 - 1 minute - 1.54 MBCommodities: Despite dipping in prices in December, overall commodity prices are back on a path of recovery as global demand picks up. Covid-19 induced fears have seemingly dissipated from the market allowing for economic activity to resume unabated across the globe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 21 January 2022: Vaccination rates still low across key markets
January 21, 2022 05:46 - 2 minutes - 1.91 MBCovid-19: Most economies seem to be easing from the fourth wave that started during the latter part of last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AMI 20 January 2022: Oil prices to remain elevated
January 20, 2022 06:21 - 1 minute - 1.64 MBOil: The price of oil is expected to remain elevated in 2022 as demand globally rebounds amid restricted supply. Over the past year, despite being volatile on the back of covid-19, prices have been on a steady increase as economy’s lessen restrictions around covid-19 and as vaccination rates improve. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.