West Africa
Nigeria
The latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) reveal the federal government’s debt service to revenue ratio rose to 111.8% in 2022. This is according to the CBN’s 2022 statistical survey data where most of the country’s fiscal and monetary-based data is reported.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed that it has disbursed a total of ₦144.0bn to exporters of semi and finished commodities as rebates in line with its RT200 Programme. In Q1-2023, the exporters were paid a total of ₦25.0bn, an 8x increase compared to the same period last year.
Nigeria’s senate has approved the restructuring of ₦23.7trn ($53bn) in short-term loans that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) advanced to the federal government under its ways and means policy. The Senate agreed to convert the short-term loans to 40-year debt at a 9% interest rate.
Cote d’Ivoire
According to IMF Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire Kadima Kalonji, the country which secured an IMF staff-level agreement for the 40-month programme in April will need to end broad-based fuel and food subsidies. Kalonji added that the government has committed to replacing the subsidies with targeted transfers and widening the tax net. Moreover, Kalonji sees the Côte d’Ivoire as having room to increase its VAT which stands at 18%.
Ghana
Ghana has successfully secured approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$3bn bailout package. As expected, Ghana will receive an initial disbursement equivalent to US$600m, according to the IMF’s statement. The IMF said that authorities have taken bold steps to tackle deep challenges, including the acceleration of fiscal adjustments.
Senegal
International Monetary Fund staff have reached an agreement with Senegal on financing facilities totalling about $1.9bn, the Fund said in a statement. The deal is subject to approval by the IMF executive board, which is tentatively scheduled to consider it in mid-June.
East and Southern Africa
Kenya
Kenya’s economic growth slowed to 4.8% in 2022, down from 7.6% in the preceding year. It is 0.7% lower than the 5.5% growth the Ministry of Finance projected. This was due to severe drought conditions which had a negative impact on agricultural output.
Moody’s has downgraded Kenya’s foreign-currency and local-currency ratings to B3 from B2 and placed the sovereign on review for further downgrade. The agency said that the downgrade was primarily driven by increasing government liquidity risks, as domestic funding conditions have deteriorated significantly over the past few months, resulting in financing shortfalls and delays in government spending.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the country’s public debt in Q1-2023 increased by 12.0% y-o-y to 9.4trn shillings from 8.3trn shillings in Q1-2022. Domestic debt increased by 8.0% to 4.5tn shillings, while external obligations grew 15.0% to 4.9trn shillings over the period.
Zambia
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) hiked the policy rate by 25bp from 9% to 9.25%, in line with our expectations. While the central bank’s revised inflation projection had moderated, the MPC noted that it still expects inflation to remain outside the target range (of 6%-8%) over the forecast horizon (18 months). Additionally, the MPC cited fragile growth and the financial sector’s vulnerabilities as key considerations for hiking rates.
Central Africa
Cameroon
The Cameroonian tax directorate (DGI) announced it has collected a total of CFA818.5 billion over the first three months of 2023, up from the initial target of CFA761.5 billion. This makes a collection rate of 107.5%.
Read Also: Business Trends, Industry Insights & Policy Changes – Vol 10
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