Author: Khusoko

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says it will hold its next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. In the last meeting held January, it maintained the base lending rate at 9% largely on stable macro-economic fundamentals. However, the regulator said it will revisit the issue of the interest rate cap, that capped lending rates at 4.0% above the Central Bank Rate (CBR) with an aim of having structural reforms for uplifting the growth and expansion on the MSMEs in the medium to long term. With the macroeconomic environment expected to remain stable inflation declining driven…

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has suspended KenolKobil’s shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange for 12 trading days following a conclusion of a takeover offer on Monday. “The suspension from trading of the company’s shares will remain in force until March 11, 2019,” the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) said in a note to investors. “All shareholders, investors and the general public are asked to take note of the suspension.” https://twitter.com/FIB_Kenya/status/1096360048777936897 The suspension will enable Rubis Energie to reconcile records and establish how many investors took up the offer. The results of the takeover will be released on 12 March 2019.

Diaspora remittances rose 17.22% in January this year compared to a similar period in 2018 according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data. “The inflows improved from KSh20.94 billion in January 2018 to KSh24.55 billion in January 2019, an increase of 17%. The 12-month cumulative inflows to January increased to USD 2,733 million from USD 2,013 million in the 12 months to January 2018, reflecting a 36% growth.” North America, Europe and the rest of the world accounted for 44 %, 34%, and 22%, respectively, of the total remittances in January 2019. In 2018, Kenyans in the diaspora remitted…

The last 20 years of real estate boom in East Africa has changed our building landscape and inventory, as it quite rightly should have done. Our starting point was a region that was short of every kind of building, from housing, to shops, through offices, warehouses, hotels, and even student hostels. In all, we faced a real estate landscape that was cripplingly underinvested. And we invested. Choosing which type of investment barely mattered. Every type of property sold fast. Developments got snatched up even before the building bricks were laid, simply because the market had little to offer. We are…

Applications for the inaugural Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) for African entrepreneurs open on March 27 and close on 30 June. The top 50 regional finalists of the Africa Netpreneur Prize will be announced in August, while the competition’s 10 finalists are set to be announced in October. The prize is an initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation. Each year for the next ten years, the Prize will host a pitch competition in Africa where ten finalists from across the continent will compete for US$1 million in total prize money. The Prize, which is supported by its continental partner Nailab,…

Cytonn Asset Managers has received a license from the Capital Markets Authority to operate as a REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Manager. The asset management subsidiary of Cytonn Investments Plc becomes the ninth Kenyan fund manager to be granted a REIT Manager License by CMA. REITS are regulated investment vehicles that allow collective investment in real estate where both retail and corporate investors pool their funds and then engage in real estate projects. “Financing structures such as REIT’s and real estate backed funds such as high yield fund, offer a capital markets based solution to raising funds towards real estate…