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<p>The U.S Federal Open Market Committee maintained an accommodative monetary policy at its meeting on Wednesday with no signal of tapering.</p>


Is there a slowdown in Nigeria’s corporate bond market?

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<p>CFG Advisory says Nigeria is now faced with stagflation, a situation that is more protracted than a recession. They also note that monetary policy has reached its limits and supply side structural reforms and fiscal discipline are now required to get Nigeria out of the stagflation quagmire. CEO of CFG Advisory Tilewa Adebajo and Kayode Akindele, Partner at TIA Capital join CNBC Africa to put this in perspective.</p>


CFG Advisory: Nigeria now faced with stagflation – which is more protracted than a recession

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<p>In August this year, the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo more than doubled its key interest rate from 7.5 per cent to 18.5 per cent to cushion the depreciation of the local currency and keep the inflation in check. Michel Losembe, CEO of Tshinu Consulting joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Tshinu Consulting CEO on the effectiveness of Congo’s central bank rate hike

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<p>Global investment management group BlackRock believes that the best market cure for the impact of Covid-19 is inclusive and coordinated fiscal and monetary policy response. Joining CNBC Africa to unpack more on this and their 2020 investment themes is Karim Chedid, Investment Strategist at BlackRock.</p>


BlackRock on Covid-19 markets & economic damage

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<p>Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the benchmark Interest rate unchanged at 13.5 per cent. In its communiqué, the MPC noted that holding its current policy position offers pathways for appraising the effect of policies encouraging lending by the banks. Head of Research at Vetiva, Usoro Essien joins CNBC Africa for a focus on Nigeria’s banking sector.</p>


Markets react to Governor Emefiele’s decision to keep rates on hold

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<p>During Buhari’s budget presentation, the Nigerian President said the 2020 budget is designed to drive fiscal consolidation to strengthen the economy. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Nigeria&#8217;s elevated fiscal deficits rely on central bank financing which complicates monetary policy. To breakdown Nigeria&#8217;s spending plan, Sam Chidoka, Managing Director and CEO of Kairos Capital joins CNBC Africa.</p>


From the economy to monetary policy: Key takeaways from Nigeria’s 2020 budget

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<p>Rwanda&#8217;s Central Bank Governor, John
Rwangobwa released the 2019 Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement.
Director General of Financial Stability Department
at the Central Bank, Peace Uwase Masozera joins CNBC Africa&#8217;s Arnold Kwizera for more. </p>


Rwanda records 8.4% growth as trade deficit widens

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<p>Recent troubles at South Africa&#8217;s electricity public utility Eskom have led to a revised outlook on the economy by Fitch ratings. For a discussion on the bank&#8217;s reaction to the latest downgrade and if the country&#8217;s monetary policy was ready for it, CNBC Africa&#8217;s Arnold Kwizera caught up with South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor, Lesetja Kganyago for more.</p>


How does Eskom downgrade affect monetary policy? A revised look at economic stability

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<p>The monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Rwanda has decided to keep the key repo rate at 5.5 per cent while maintaining the country’s policy stance. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Prof. Kasai Ndahiriwe, Director of Monetary Policy of the National Bank of Rwanda to shed some more light on this decision.</p>


Rwandan central bank maintains its key repo rate at 5.5%

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<p>The Central Bank of Nigeria has cancelled its first Monetary Policy Committee meeting for the year due to the inability to form a quorum.</p>


Nigeria’s January MPC meeting cancelled

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<p>PwC has released the latest Uganda economic outlook which forecasts economic growth for the 2017/18 financial year to reach 5 per cent. For more CNBC Africa is joined by Francis Kamulegeya, Partner at PwC Uganda.</p>


PwC forecasts growth for Uganda’s economy

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<p>The Central Bank of Kenya has played down the impact of the ongoing political noise on the growth of the economy, contradicting economists who have projected the growth to fall below five per cent for the year.</p>


Central Bank of Kenya bullish on economic growth

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<p>Kenya&#8217;s inflation is likely to remain above the upper limit of the government&#8217;s target this year on lingering effects of the higher food costs, analysts have projected.</p>


Food prices to keep Kenya’s inflation above central bank target

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<p>Citing an economic recovery and contained inflation, Bank of Uganda left its key lending rate unchanged at 10 per cent. The Central Bank Governor Tumusiime-Mutebile said the economy was expected to improve supported by the current accommodative monetary policy and fiscal stimulus measures outlined in the national budget. Dr Kenneth Egesa, Director Statistics department at Bank of Uganda joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Bank of Uganda holds key lending rate at 10%

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When I began to teach in 2012, I decided to start my course with an analysis of how money affects social order. What my students found particularly fascinating was the then-nascent world of cryptocurrencies, which I described at length as a crucial feature in the future of money.</p>
<p>Some colleagues criticised my approach. They accused me of indirectly encouraging students to invest in what they saw as a shady, crime-ridden financial underworld. But I was simply exposing young minds to a fast-evolving, complex phenomenon that in my view would have a major impact on power distribution in the global economy.</p>
<p>Behind most cryptocurrencies is a simple technology known as “<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Blockchain-technology">blockchain</a>”, a system residing in multiple computers that allows for peer-to-peer financial ledger recording of all transactions occurring in a network.</p>
<p>This results in a transparent open-access registry of monetary flows which makes the intermediation of banking authorities unnecessary. Thus it challenges the conventional belief that money can only work through central planning.</p>
<p>As I explain in my book, <a href="http://panmacmillan.co.za/catalogue/wellbeing-economy/">Wellbeing Economy: Success in a World Without Growth</a>, money systems are undergoing an unprecedented transition from centralised authority to decentralised networks.</p>
<p>Conventional money is managed by states and banks, with users on the receiving end of monetary policy decisions. By contrast, most alternative currencies are peer-to-peer. That means they are managed by users themselves and do not require intermediaries. Some of them have global outreach thanks to digital technology, while others are locally based.</p>
<p>Take BitCoin, the most popular peer-to-peer currency in the world, with a market capitalisation <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/">above 40 billion US dollars</a>. A person buying the equivalent of $1 in BitCoin in 2009 would now possess roughly $25 million. One BitCoin is currently equivalent in value to two ounces of gold. Other rising stars include Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.</p>
<h2>Taking the world by storm</h2>
<p>Many of these currencies remain quite volatile in the short term. Their upward and downward swings reach over 10% of the value on a weekly basis. But the long-term trend is impressive. States are warming up to them.</p>
<p>In April 2017, Japan <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-spikes-as-japan-recognizes-it-as-a-legal-payment-method-2017-4">accepted BitCoin</a> as a legal payment method for retail markets. After threatening digital currencies last year, the Russian government took a U-turn. President Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-06/ethereum-could-change-russian-banking-and-government">met the developers of Ethereum</a> and committed to recognising cryptocurrencies in 2018.</p>
<p>Following an initial freeze, the People’s Bank of China <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-bitcoin-idUSKBN18S42X">readmitted withdrawals</a> in BitCoin in June 2017, catapulting the currency to new heights. In the US, cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/27/coinbase-bitcoin-irs-government-summons-data-cryptocurrency">accepted</a>as both a method of payment and store of value.</p>
<p>The Australian government will soon make it easier for new innovative digital currency businesses <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2017-18/content/glossies/factsheets/html/FS_innovation.htm">to operate</a>, exempting traders and investors from goods and services tax.</p>
<p>It’s clear that cryptocurrencies will in the near future become much more common as methods of payment for a wide range of purchases, from online shopping to the local supermarket.</p>
<h2>Developing countries are leapfrogging</h2>
<p>Developing economies, too, are opening up to cryptocurrencies. In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/02/03/why-venezuelas-currency-crisis-is-a-case-study-for-bitcoin/#7f41f14819b2">Venezuela</a>, BitCoin has become the leading parallel currency. It provides millions of citizens with an opportunity to perform transactions and generate livelihoods, including buying food and other basic necessities in a country where official money is worth almost zero. It also allows them to purchase goods from overseas, overcoming ever-stricter capital controls.</p>
<p>In East Africa, local innovators have introduced cryptocurrency systems to support cross-border transactions, as exemplified by initiatives like <a href="https://www.bitpesa.co/">BitPesa</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://mybroadband.co.za/news/banking/206590-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrency-on-the-rise-in-south-africa.html">South Africa</a>, cryptocurrencies are becoming particularly popular. In <a href="https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/africa-ripped-bitcoin/">Nigeria</a>, local traders and activists believe this new money presents an opportunity to democratise the economy. This is propelled by the fact that people in Nigeria have been failed by conventional money.</p>
<p>According to my colleague Verengai Mabika, founder of <a href="http://techloy.com/2016/12/27/zimbabwean-bitcoin-startup-bitfinance-raises-funds-from-angel-investor/">BitFinance</a> in Zimbabwe, the collapse of his country’s formal financial system has made BitCoin an attractive alternative. This is especially the case for online payments, which are restricted by banks, and for remittances, which constitute the backbone of the economy.</p>
<p>A growing number of Zimbabweans are also using cryptocurrencies as a saving mechanism (37% of all Bitfinance customers use it for that purpose), Verengai tells me. This is after the massive loss of personal savings during the hyperinflation period of 2008, which led to the collapse of the country’s banks.</p>
<h2>Decentralisation and local economic development</h2>
<p>The decentralisation of money is indeed at the core of this new trend, with potential repercussions in other fields. For instance, <a href="https://www.ethereum.org/">Ethereum</a> is designed as a smart contract platform, that is a trading system completely based on peer-to-peer property rights. <a href="https://fair-coin.org/">FairCoin</a> was developed as the preferential currency for cooperatives, social economies and fair trade networks around the world.</p>
<p>Cryptocurrencies are just the tip of an iceberg. According to <a href="https://payment21.com/blog/complementary-currencies-entering-digital-era">recent estimates</a>, there are over 6,000 complementary currencies in the world, over 50 times the number of conventional money systems. Most of these are user-controllled and are interest-free. One cannot make money by simply trading in them.</p>
<p>Hoarding makes no sense in this new world. This is because value is not in the accumulation but in the exchange.</p>
<p>The scope is often limited to certain territories or types of transactions (for example, personal care, sustainable mobility and local trade). This creates an incentive to support local economic development and forms of exchange that are valued by communities of users.</p>
<p><a href="http://regiogeld.com/">Regiogeld</a>, a network of local currencies which I studied when I was a researcher in Germany, has proliferated throughout the country. It has become the world’s largest system of local currencies, supporting small businesses and empowering communities.</p>
<p>In the near future, we will have a variety of money with different qualities and different purposes. This will make economies more resilient against shocks and will support more equitable and sustainable development, by putting users in the driver seat and reinforcing local economic development.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/lorenzo-fioramonti/how-complementary-currencies-can-save-europe">my research</a> demonstrates, a combination of regional, national and local currencies could also be the best way forward for the European Union, engulfed by its monolithic and unsustainable euro, and for any other process of regional integration, from Africa to other continents.</p>


Op-Ed: Alternative currencies are the future: why it matters for development

<div class="inlineRelatedContent">ABUJA &#8211; Nigeria will need to combine monetary policies with fiscal and structural policies in order to overcome its worst economic crisis in decades and return to growth, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday.</div>
<p>Nigeria is in the middle of its worst crisis in decades as a slump in oil revenues hammers public finances and the naira. Gross domestic product shrank in the first quarter and the central bank governor has said a recession is likely.</p>
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<div class="teads-ui-components-label">&#8220;We fully understand that monetary policy alone is not sufficient to bring about desired economic growth,&#8221; Buhari told a meeting of African central bank governors in Abuja.</div>
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<p>&#8220;For us in Nigeria, while we recognise the challenges we are confronting &#8230; we are determined to diversify the economy away from the excessive reliance on oil and other primary products.&#8221;</p>
<p>Economists have criticised Buhari and the government for not doing enough to address the crisis.</p>
<p>Nigeria&#8217;s central bank raised interest rates last month, and has been soaking up liquidity in order to support the naira, which has lost around 40 percent of its value since it was floated in June.</p>
<p>Buhari said the continent was confronted with slowing growth, weakening demand, rising inflation, restrictions to capital flows, rising debt levels, increases in exchange rate volatility and a depletion of foreign reserves.</p>
<p>The central bank governors were meeting to discuss ways to safeguard their economies from the expected unwinding of loose monetary policies in the leading developed economies.</p>
<p> (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha and Felix Onuah; Editing by Kevin Liffey)﻿</p>


monetary policy

Is there a slowdown in Nigeria’s corporate bond market?

CFG Advisory: Nigeria now faced with stagflation – which is more protracted than a recession

Tshinu Consulting CEO on the effectiveness of Congo’s central bank rate hike

BlackRock on Covid-19 markets & economic damage

Markets react to Governor Emefiele’s decision to keep rates on hold

From the economy to monetary policy: Key takeaways from Nigeria’s 2020 budget

Rwanda records 8.4% growth as trade deficit widens

How does Eskom downgrade affect monetary policy? A revised look at economic stability

Rwandan central bank maintains its key repo rate at 5.5%

Nigeria’s January MPC meeting cancelled

PwC forecasts growth for Uganda’s economy

Central Bank of Kenya bullish on economic growth

Food prices to keep Kenya’s inflation above central bank target

Bank of Uganda holds key lending rate at 10%

Op-Ed: Alternative currencies are the future: why it matters for development

Nigeria's Buhari says monetary policy alone not enough to expand economy

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monetary policy

Is there a slowdown in Nigeria’s corporate bond market?

CFG Advisory: Nigeria now faced with stagflation – which is more protracted than a recession

Tshinu Consulting CEO on the effectiveness of Congo’s central bank rate hike

BlackRock on Covid-19 markets & economic damage

Markets react to Governor Emefiele’s decision to keep rates on hold

From the economy to monetary policy: Key takeaways from Nigeria’s 2020 budget

Rwanda records 8.4% growth as trade deficit widens

How does Eskom downgrade affect monetary policy? A revised look at economic stability

Rwandan central bank maintains its key repo rate at 5.5%

Nigeria’s January MPC meeting cancelled

PwC forecasts growth for Uganda’s economy

Central Bank of Kenya bullish on economic growth

Food prices to keep Kenya’s inflation above central bank target

Bank of Uganda holds key lending rate at 10%

Op-Ed: Alternative currencies are the future: why it matters for development

Nigeria's Buhari says monetary policy alone not enough to expand economy

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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