Author: Khusoko

South African lender Absa Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank, have signed a $500 million syndicated loan, that will be used for general corporate purposes including trade-related finance. The Facility has an initial tenor of two years, subject to an extension option available at the Borrower’s discretion to extend the maturity by a further one-year at the end of the initial two-year tenor. The Facility pays a margin of 1.05% per annum. “The need for this syndicated loan is to fund the growth in our U.S. dollar lending both in South Africa and our Regional Operations,…

Kenya’s economy grew at a much lower than expected 5.6% in the January-March period compared to 6.5% the same period last year the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. The drop is attributed to dry weather which impacted the agriculture sector. “The quarter was characterised by a slowdown in agricultural activities following the delay in the onset of long rains,” KNBS said in a statement impacting agro-processing and the manufacturing sector. READ Kenya Records 6.3% Growth Driven by Agriculture in 2019 Kenya Manufacturing Growth Disappoints in Q1, But There is Optimism Ahead Highlights Manufacturing declined to 3.2% from 3.8%…

US fast-food chain operator KFC, plans to open more outlets in East Africa through a joint venture with oil marketer Vivo Energy in a deal with the owners of Kuku Foods East Africa Holdings. The 50:50 joint venture is expected to help the growth of KFC through the opening of new outlets at Vivo’s properties in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. “We are delighted to be partnering with Kuku Foods to replicate the KFC, joint venture model, we pioneered in Botswana and Côte d’Ivoire. Kuku Foods shares our ambition to invest in order to grow the number of restaurants and give…

Kenya’s annual consumer price inflation jumped to 5.70% in June from 5.49% in May attributed to the rise of foodstuffs according to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on Friday. The prices of spinach, kales and tomatoes recorded decreases of 2.42, 6.87, and 0.36%, respectively, in June 2019 compared to May. “However, the prices of some other foodstuffs like maize grain, beans, green grams and sifted maize flour increased during the same month,” KNBS director general Zachary Mwangi said in a statement. “Over the same period, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel’s index increased by 0.05% as a result of…

Kenya Airways will face stiff competition for the South African route as Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC) unveils four direct flights per week after a 10-year absence. Other fleets that operate regular flights on the route include Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates, Turkish Airlines and RwandAir. Air Tanzania looks at connecting its four major airports Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar International Airport, Kilimanjaro International Airport in northern Tanzania, and Mwanza International Airport on Lake Victoria with the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The four direct flights – on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday- …

Motor-vehicle corporation, Suzuki, has introduced a multi-utility passenger vehicle, Suzuki Ertiga, to meet the growing demand for station wagons in Kenya. For the past five years, there has been a trend with the country registering a shift from passenger-travel to passenger-cum-cargo vehicles according to Economic Survey 2019. Majority of new vehicle registrations made in 2018 were station wagons recording an all-time high of 64,179 in 2018, the survey indicates. “The growing need for space pushes customers to look for spacious station wagons and the new Ertiga delivers this,” said Toyota Kenya, Managing Director, Arvinder Reel. READ: East Africa Touted as…