Author: David Indeje

The National Treasury plans to raise Ksh.40 billion from the sale of FXD4/2019/10 (8.00 years) and FXD1/2018/20 (16.40 years) bonds in December. The papers carry a coupon rate of 12.280 per cent and 13.200 per cent respectively. The bonds are open until December 7. “The ticket size is smaller than previous issues of about Ksh 60.00 billion on average. This is consistent with the better revenue outturn, slower spending and potential support from the IMF,” NCBA Research analysts note. The government has borrowed Ksh 302 billion, approximately 49 per cent of the target.  “The sovereign could target to raise about…

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has announced the delisting of the  National Bank of Kenya from the bourse on 25th November 2021. “The delisting follows the successful takeover of 100 per cent shareholding by KCB  Group Plc and NBK shareholders’ approval,” the NSE said in a notice to the public. The move has been approved and issued by the Capital Markets Authority. Initially, KCB Group had said it would not delist the bank but suspend the stock from Sept. 2  2019 after NBK failed to list it as part of the resolution during the 14 June 2019 Annual General Meeting. NBK,…

The Kenyan shilling continued its slide a week before the Monetary policy Committee meets on November 29.  The currency exchanged at 112.11 against the US dollar on November 18, compared to KSh 111.77 per US dollar on November 11. The depreciation was attributed to increased dollar demand from commodity and energy sector importers outweighing the supply of dollars from exporters. Cytonn Investments says “These are the lowest lows that the Kenyan shilling has ever depreciated to against the dollar. On a YTD basis, the shilling has depreciated by 2.8 per cent against the dollar, in comparison to the 7.7 per…

WFP, Corsali and Celo partner for Digital Microwork project in Kibera, Nairobi Young people are using digital skills to gain an edge in preparing for work, finding work and advancing at work, through the Digital Microwork project in Kibra, Nairobi that enables them to learn, work and earn income using cryptocurrencies. The Digital Microwork project is part of the World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator initiative, Empact. It has partnered with machine learning company Corsali and blockchain technology firm Celo.  During a three-week pilot phase, 200 unemployed Kenyan youth have been trained to access digital microwork from global platforms on their…

Sub-Saharan Africa (SAA) remains the most expensive region to send diaspora remittance to, according to estimates from the latest World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief. The brief states that the cost of sending money around the world “continued to be too high,” as it averaged 6.4 per cent for a $200 transfer.  The most expensive region was sub-Saharan Africa at 8 per cent while transferring money to South Asia cost 4.6 per cent. “Data reveal that costs tend to be higher when remittances are sent through banks than through digital channels or through money transmitters offering cash-to-cash services,” the World…

Safaricom says its future maintenance and upgrades on its mobile money platform M-Pesa will drastically be reduced to remain successful by driving efficiency, ensuring reliability and improving sustainability.  This year, Safaricom has undertaken over 10 enhancements and maintenance of its systems consequently, complaints from its customers have not stopped. George Njuguna, chief information officer at Safaricom says on the M-Pesa platform, they are working on canary deployment to reduce the risk of deploying a new version that impacts the workload.  Canary deployment is the slow rollout of a new version of an existing application. “You actually can deploy a release…