Author: David Indeje

HF Group PLC, a multi-dimensional financial services provider, expects the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis to hit its profit in the year ending Dec. 31, 2020.  In a cautionary announcement to investors, the group’s chief executive Robert Kibaara says the duration, severity, and volatility of the pandemic has resulted in a slowdown in the real estate sector credit growth adversely “affected the non-performing loans take out initiatives.” “As a result, HF Group Plc projects that the net earnings for the year ended 31 December 2020 are expected to be substantially lower compared to the earnings reported for the same period  in 2019.”…

Kenya’s headline inflation rate hit a 7-month high of 5.46% from 4.84 in October, the statistics body said on Monday. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics attributed the increase to higher food costs with year-on-year food inflation standing at 6.09%  in November 2020. “This was a net effect of increase in prices of several food items which outweighed decreases in prices of others. Prices of beef with bones, wheat flour-white and tomatoes increased by 0.99, 0.69, and 0.67 percent, respectively.” Government data also showed that the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index, increased by 0.07 percent in the…

Britam Holdings, a diversified financial services company and Kenya Airways have issued profit warnings that earnings for the year will be lower than 2019 earnings. According to Britam, the uncertain economic outlook from the Covid-19 pandemic has affected its core business units vital including real estate and the stock markets. In a statement to shareholders, Britam through the Company secretary Nancy Kiruki said “Based on a preliminary assessment of the forecasted financial results of the Company for the period ending 31 December 2020, the earnings of the Company for the current financial year are expected to be substantially lower compared…

Kenya’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed further in the 12 months to October 2020 on the back of agricultural exports and resilient remittances. According to the Central Bank of Kenya data, the current account deficit narrowed to 4.9 percent of GDP in the 12 months to October 2020 compared to 5.3 percent of GDP during a similar period in 2019. “This reflected strong performance of agricultural exports, resilient remittances, as well as lower oil imports,” said the CBK in its Weekly Bulletin.  Current Account is the sum of the balance of trade (exports minus imports of goods and services), net factor…

Kenyan banks have restructured 46% of loans equivalent to Ksh 1.38 trillion to provide Covid-19 relief to borrowers the Central Bank said Thursday. This translates to 46.5 percent of the total banking sector loan book of KSh 2.97 trillion by the end of October.  The regulator said this was in line with the emergency measures it announced on March 18.  “These measures have continued to provide the intended relief to Borrowers,” said Dr Patrick Njoroge when the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met to assess the outcomes of its policy measures deployed since March to mitigate the adverse economic effects and…

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Kenya’s Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday as expected amid concerns over a surge in Covid-19 infections. According to the regulator’s November 2020 MPC Private Sector Market Perception Survey, respondents attributed the improvement to continued normalization of economic conditions with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, strong agricultural production, and Government focus on infrastructural projects. The Committee said policy measures that have been implemented since March were having the intended effect on the economy.  “The MPC concluded that the current accommodative monetary policy stance remains appropriate, and therefore decided to retain the Central…