Author: David Indeje

Liberty Life Assurance in Kenya faces challenges generating returns on its guaranteed fund, a key product for retirement savings.  The company’s managing director, Nkoregamba Mwebesa, announced a 0% return for the 2023 fiscal year due to a combination of factors. Mwebesa cites the Kenyan equities market’s underperformance in 2023 and rising yields on government bonds, leading to losses. “We wish to advise that the Board of Liberty Life Assurance recently met and reviewed the company’s financial performance for 2023. Consequently, the final rate of return for the guaranteed pension fund portfolio is 0 per cent,” Mwebesa said. As a result, to address investor…

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) launched the Manufacturing Priority Agenda (MPA) 2024, themed “Steering economic growth through the manufacturing sector for the common good.” The four-point manufacturing agenda, which includes global competitiveness, export-led industrialization, SME development, and agriculture for industry, provides a roadmap to increase the manufacturing sector’s contribution from 7.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 20% by 2030. The MPA recognises that Kenya’s manufacturing sector faces hurdles driving economic growth due to excessive regulations hindering efficiency and development and high energy costs that make the industry less competitive. Others include inconsistent tax policies and changes in…

Kenya’s private sector activity contracted slightly in March after a six-month slump, according to the Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).  The PMI reading fell to 49.7 from 51.3 in February, indicating a deterioration in business conditions. The slowdown was attributed to lower new orders and cash flow problems faced by some companies.  “Output contracted modestly, which survey panellists attributed to lower new order intakes and cash flow problems,” Stanbic Bank said in the survey. “The decline in new orders signalled by the survey was only fractional, however, as firms reported an easing of price pressures that supported customer…

Listed cement company Bamburi has warned investors that its 2023 profit will be significantly lower than 2022 due to a one-time expense from selling its Ugandan subsidiary. The company expects net earnings to be at least 25% less than the KSh181 million reported in 2022 and not exceed KSh135.8 million. “The expected decline in net earnings is largely attributable to the one-off settlement of outstanding tax liabilities and legal disputes in Hima Cement Limited in Uganda as part of the closure of the sale transaction, thereby impacting 2023 results,” the company said through a notice published on Tuesday. Now Bamburi…

Kenya’s headline inflation rate fell to 5.7% in March 2024, marking the first time it dipped below 6% in 24 months. This represents a significant decline of 0.6 percentage points from the previous month’s rate of 6.3%. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported monthly inflation of 0.2%, compared with 0.1% in February. However, the risk of high fuel prices keeping inflation near the upper end of the Central Bank of Kenya’s target range (2.5% to 7.5%) remains. The CBK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet on April 3rd, 2024, to decide on interest rates. Analysts note that its decision…

TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media platform, has established a global Youth Council.  The Global Youth Council comprises 15 teenagers aged 15–18 from around the world and aims to make the platform safer for those under 18. “Today we’re announcing the launch of TikTok’s global Youth Council, a new initiative that further strengthens how we build our app to be safe for teens by design,” reads the Newsroom post.  Council members come from diverse home countries, including the US, UK, Brazil, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, and Morocco. The initiative comes amidst a growing desire for youth voices to be heard on online…