Author: Muindi

Kenya launched its second infrastructure bond on Tuesday, inviting bids for Ksh 60 billion for funding projects in the FY 2022/23. The seven-year amortised infrastructure bond is the second within the calendar year. The sharp rise in interest rates witnessed throughout the global economy in 2022 led to the sovereign’s delayed access to international financial markets—in light of debt service obligations falling due (USD 2.00Bn 2024 Eurobond). The underperformance of the domestic debt market and shortfalls in the fiscal outturn have seen the sovereign suffer liquidity constraints that culminated in significant pending bills. As at 31st March 2023, the total…

Kenya’s central bank held its benchmark lending rate steady at 9.50 per cent on Monday, against a backdrop of continued global uncertainties, a weak global growth outlook, easing inflationary pressures and geopolitical tensions. “The Committee noted that the impact of the further tightening of monetary policy in March 2023 to anchor inflationary expectations was still transmitting in the economy,” said Dr Patrick Njoroge in an emailed statement. Inflation in Kenya dropped to an annual 7.9 per cent in April from 9.2 per cent a month earlier, helped by lower prices for some food items. “The Committee will closely monitor the…

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has approved the acquisition of 51 per cent of all issued shares of Smep Microfinance Bank by Hope Advancement without conditions. Hope Advancement Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hope International, a charitable entity registered in the United States of America. SMEP Microfinance Bank is a public company incorporated in Kenya that offers financial services with a focus on group, SME and church banking. “The approval has been granted based on the finding that the transaction is unlikely to negatively impact competition concerns nor elicit negative public interest concerns, the two key considerations during…

RUBiS Energy Kenya has partnered with GirlsRunPeriod and the Women Development Centre (WODEC) to host the GirlsRun event for a second year to promote girls’ health and well-being. In addition to supporting women’s economic opportunities to end period poverty across Kenya. The run was held in Kapsisiywa, Nandi County and brought together over 3,000 girls from local schools who benefitted from the distribution of Sanikits and the provision of menstrual health education. RUBiS Energy Kenya Group Managing Director, Mr Jean-Christian Bergeron said that a key component of their commitment to being a responsible company is to bring a positive impact…

KCB Group has reported a KSh9.75 billion net profit for the period ended March 31, 2023. The total assets rose by 39.8 per cent to close at Sh1.63 trillion on the back of the consolidation of its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) subsidiary. The lender attributed the performance to a 26.9 per cent rise in revenues which closed the quarter at KSh36.9 billion, driven mainly by non-funded income (NFIs) from customer transactions across the Group network and consolidation of Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), the Group’s newest subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Group Chief Executive Paul Russo said the…

Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator, plans to set up a factory in Kenya that will assemble between 1.2 million and 1.4 million smartphones annually. The cheapest device will retail at Ksh 11,500. However, new taxes on mobile phones proposed in the Finance Bill, 2023, make the devices costly, as the levies will push the price up by 40 per cent. Safaricom’s Head of Ventures, Karanja Gichiri, appearing before the parliamentary Finance and Planning committee on Tuesday, said that if they were to work with the President’s vision of a 50-dollar phone, they needed to address the question of import, excise,…