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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>In 2016 the Kenyan Parliament capped interest rates at 4 percent above the Central Bank’s benchmark amid concern about high rates in an effort to help small traders affordably access capital. At the time the interest rate controls were considered to be among the most drastic ever imposed by a government, now the conversation is about potential plans to repeal. To discuss this and other business headlines coming out of the country, Journalist, Joseph Bonyo joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Kenyan tax evasion crackdown sees billions of shillings recovered

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<p>Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has told the Central Bank to stop providing funding for food imports, a move that has raised questions about the bank’s independence. Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Financial Derivatives and Emmanuel Ijewere, Chairman of Best Food Farms (BFF) both join CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Buhari tells CBN to stop providing FX for food imports, how will this impact Nigeria’s food security?

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<p>Analysts say yields in Nigeria’s Fixed Income market have declined by over 50 basis points as it adjusts significantly to the two major recent decisions rolled out by the Central Bank. Henry Okoye, Fixed Income Dealer at Coronation Merchant Bank joins me CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Nigeria’s fixed income market declining: What does this mean for investors?

<figure>
    <img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283647/original/file-20190711-173366-1yxkn7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" />
      <figcaption>
        The Central Bank of Kenya has financial inclusion in its stewardship of the financial system.
        <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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  </figure>

By <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/danny-bradlow-168878">Danny Bradlow</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pretoria-1645">University of Pretoria</a></em></span>

<p>Many central banks are rethinking their approach to the environmental and social impact of their operations. This is because their decisions can affect  access to housing, healthcare, education, work, to adequate food and water and the security of their pensions.</p>

<p>For example, 36 central banks and banking supervisors, participate in the central bank and supervisors <a href="https://www.banque-france.fr/en/financial-stability/international-role/network-greening-financial-system">network</a> for greening the financial system. The list of central banks includes Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany and Mexico. </p>

<p>The network’s focus is on climate change. But this pushes them to pay more attention to other environmental and social considerations. </p>

<p>The precise mandates of central banks vary. But one thing they all have in common is responsibility for maintaining price stability. Their primary policy tools for achieving this objective are interest rates, the capital and reserve requirements for banks, and trading debt instruments in financial markets.</p>

<p>Central banks also act as a lender of last resort to the banking system or more generally to the financial sector. They regulate and supervise the activities of banks and other financial institutions. They manage the country’s payment system, maintain financial stability and manage the country’s foreign exchange reserves. In some countries, the central bank can be given additional responsibilities such as promoting development finance or financial inclusion.</p>

<p>To fully understand the risk that climate poses to price and financial stability, central banks need to consider how changing weather patterns will affect a number of variables. These include food production, migration patterns, and people’s access to food, water, housing, and jobs, and how these, in turn, influence aggregate demand, credit allocation, inflation and government deficits.</p>

<p>In other words, as I explain <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/why-central-banks-need-take-human-rights-more-seriously/">in more detail in this article</a>, central bankers are being inexorably pushed to reconsider the relationship between central banking and human rights.</p>

<h2>The connections</h2>

<p>The mandates, powers, and governance arrangements of all central banks are established by law. They must comply with all the applicable law including the constitutional and international legal obligations of their home states. In principle this means that central banks are bound by the international human rights commitments of their sovereigns.</p>

<p>Historically, central banks have been able to avoid dealing with human rights issues. This is because the political leadership determines the price stability goal for the economy and then lets the central bank decide how to meet this inflation objective.</p>

<p>This arrangement suggests that the central bank’s independence is limited to the technical issues relevant to achieving the goal set by the government. In addition, it assumes, at least implicitly, that the social and environmental implications of the country’s monetary and financial goals are the government’s responsibility.</p>

<p>However, in reality central banking is not a purely technical function. For example, the social and environmental impact of its decision to change interest rates will vary depending on how it implements the decision. If the central bank decides to change interest rates through open market operations the social and environmental impacts will depend on which instruments it chooses to trade – and in what proportions. On the other hand, these affects will depend on the decisions of banks if it implements the decision by changing the reserve requirements or the interest rate it charges banks for short term loans.</p>

<p>There are some noteworthy examples. The central banks of <a href="https://www.centralbank.go.ke/bank-supervision/">Kenya</a>, the Netherlands and the <a href="https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/">Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco</a> consider factors such as community development and financial inclusion in their stewardship of their financial systems. And the Dutch central bank now has a mandate to include <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/from-mission-to-supervision-putting-sustainable-prosperity-on-the-agenda-of-the-dutch-central-bank/">sustainability</a> in its decision making. The <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-17/with-climate-losses-rising-central-banks-push-greener-finance">Chinese central bank</a> has been authorised to take climate considerations into account in its monetary decisions.</p>

<p>Central bank operations, therefore, cannot avoid affecting human rights. </p>

<h2>The human rights responsibilities</h2>

<p>The unavoidable impact of central banking operations on human rights means that central banks have to develop a better understanding of their human rights responsibilities. The applicable law is the starting point. But the relevant law and jurisprudence is unlikely to provide detailed guidance on how central banks should interpret and implement their human rights responsibilities.</p>

<p>A good reference tool for the central bank is the <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/un-guiding-principles">UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights</a>. These principles stipulate that all businesses should have a human rights policy. The policy should be publicly available and should be applicable to all the business’s operations and decision-making. </p>

<p>The Principles also state that businesses should conduct adequate human rights due diligence before and during their decision making and implementation process. This requirement means that they should conduct human rights impact assessments of their proposed operations. They should also take steps to avoid or mitigate the identified adverse human rights impacts.</p>

<p>Central banks will face particular challenges in meeting their human rights responsibilities. Their instrument independence means that their human rights policy will need to be respectful of the central bank’s independence and its mandate. </p>

<p>At the same time, the central bank needs to be cognisant of the fact that its human rights policy may have implications for other state entities and for the country’s political leadership. These considerations complicate but do not render impossible the task of drafting a central bank human rights policy.</p>

<p>Their ability to conduct detailed human rights impact assessments will be complicated by the relative speed and discretion with which they must often operate. This does not, however, make it impossible for them to assess their impact on human rights. Instead, it suggests that central banks need to develop and maintain a sufficiently detailed general and ongoing understanding of the actual impact of their operations on human rights. This is so that they can make informed judgements about the likely effects of their proposed monetary decisions on specific communities.</p>

<p>This disaggregated approach should provide central banks with a detailed and nuanced understanding of how their policies actually affect different sub-groups of their society. By doing this it should enable central banks to determine the true costs and benefits of their policies and actions. This should improve their decision-making.</p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>This analysis demonstrates three key points. First, it is becoming untenable for central banks to avoid incorporating their human rights impacts into their decision-making and operations. Second, a human rights approach offers central banks a new tool for understanding the true costs and benefits of their operations. Third, central banks can meet their human rights responsibilities without compromising the independence they need to meet their monetary and financial responsibilities.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120192/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" /></p>

<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/danny-bradlow-168878">Danny Bradlow</a>, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pretoria-1645">University of Pretoria</a></em></span></p>

<p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-central-banks-need-to-take-human-rights-more-seriously-120192">original article</a>.</p>

Central banks need to take human rights more seriously, here’s why

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<p>The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed Deposit Money Banks to offer mobile money wallets without prior approval. Chidinma Lawanson, Financial Services Consultant at International Finance Corporation (IFC) joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Improving payment services in Nigeria

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<p>Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele says the apex bank will keep its foreign exchange system as he unveiled his economic blueprint for the country.</p>


Nigeria’s Central Bank unveils policy direction for 5 years


<p>NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has renewed Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge’s term, local station Citizen Television said on Thursday.</p>



<p>Njoroge was first appointed to his post in June 2015 for a four-year term, which is renewable once.</p>



<p>Njoroge is a U.S.-educated economist and worked as an adviser at the International Monetary Fund before becoming governor in 2015.</p>



<p>During his first term, the government introduced a cap on commercial lending rates in 2016 as well as moratorium on the issuance of new commercial bank licences in 2015.</p>



<p>His first term saw the government introduce of caps on commercial lending rates in 2016, the introduction of a moratorium on issuance of new commercial bank licences in 2015.</p>



<p>At the time, the temporary closure of Chase Bank Kenya, which followed the closure of Imperial Bank, another mid-sized lender, and Dubai Bank Kenya, a smaller lender, had dented confidence in the industry, which has also seen a jump in bad debts.</p>



<p>Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Angus MacSwan</p>


Kenya’s president Kenyatta renews central bank governor’s term, what you should know…


<p>LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s MTN Group has resolved a dispute with Nigeria’s central bank and made a $53 million payment, the telecoms company said in a message posted on Twitter on Monday.</p>



<p>Nigeria’s central bank had said $8.1 billion in dividends paid by MTN Nigeria to its parent company between 2007 and 2015 and sent back to South Africa were illegal and should be returned.</p>



<p>While the west African country’s regulator had accused MTN of illegally transferring the funds out of the country, MTN denied any wrongdoing.</p>



<p>“MTN resolves Nigeria dividend issue, makes $53m payment, engaging with banks regarding the agreement,” it said on Twitter.</p>



<p>Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, accounting for a third of its annual core profit, but has proved problematic in recent years.</p>



<p>Around two years ago MTN agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle a dispute over SIM cards in Nigeria.</p>



<p>In a separate case, MTN faces a $2 billion tax demand from Nigeria’s attorney general.</p>



<p>Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Jason Neely</p>


MTN and Nigeria resolve dispute, here’s what you need to know

<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwean miner RioZim is demanding $92 million from the central bank in a lawsuit brought to force the Reserve Bank to pay for more of its gold purchases from the company in U.S. dollars, court documents showed.</p>
<p>Miners are struggling as Zimbabwe grapples with an acute shortage of dollars.</p>
<p>Producers sell all their gold to the central bank’s subsidiary Fidelity Printers and Refiners, which then exports it. RioZim, however, says that since 2016 the central bank only paid for 15 percent of gold it purchased from the company in dollars, breaching its policy to pay for 30 percent in the U.S. currency.</p>
<p>The central bank has not commented on the lawsuit.</p>
<p>RioZim first announced on Oct. 9 that it would take legal action against the central bank, signalling impatience by miners over the dollar shortages.</p>
<p>In its summons filed with the High Court dated Nov. 14, RioZim says it failed to receive $48 million due in payments from the central bank for its sales in dollars and suffered losses of $44 million due to lost production.</p>
<p>“The plaintiff suffered a direct loss of money and the devaluation of the purchasing power of its earnings &#8230;,” RioZim said in the documents seen by Reuters on Thursday.</p>
<p>The company says failure to receive dollar payments left it unable to import equipment and materials for capital projects, putting its operations in jeopardy.</p>
<p>The gold miner shut its three mines last month due to the dollar crunch until it can find a solution.</p>
<p>RioZim CEO Bekhinkosi Nkosi did not answer calls to his mobile phone for comment, while company attorneys Devittie Rudolph and Timba refused to comment.</p>
<p>The southern African nation adopted the U.S. dollar in 2009 to tame hyperinflation, but it is facing acute dollar shortages and that has sent prices of basic goods spiralling and inflation rising to double digits.</p>
<p>On Monday, in a change of policy, central bank Governor John Mangudya and the deputy minister for mines announced that the government would allow gold, platinum and chrome mining companies to retain up to 55 percent of their earnings in dollars, up from 30 percent. The move is aimed at ensuring operators remain viable.</p>
<p>Mangudya could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.</p>
<p>Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Susan Fenton</p>


Zimbabwean miner RioZim is demanding $92 million from central bank in lawsuit, what you need to know…

<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s gold miner RioZim has closed its three mines due to a shortage of dollars, the company said in a letter to the central bank seen by Reuters on Wednesday.</p>
<p>RioZim is the southern African nation’s third biggest gold producer and early this month threatened legal action to force the Reserve Bank to pay it more U.S. dollars for part of its output.</p>
<p>Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia</p>


Why Zimbabwe’s RioZim closed three of its mines

<p>LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; A Lagos judge adjourned a hearing on Tuesday in a $10.1-billion dispute between South African telecoms firm MTN Group and Nigeria’s central bank to Dec 4.</p>
<p>The central bank alleges the firm illegally sent $8.1 billion abroad, and the Nigerian government has demanded $2 billion in taxes from MTN.</p>
<p>MTN, which makes about a third of its annual core profit in Nigeria, has said the allegations are without merit.</p>
<p>Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha and Didi Akinyelure; Writing by Paul Carsten; editing by John Stonestreet</p>


Court case between MTN and Nigeria’s central bank postponed

<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s MTN Group shares rose as much as 2.55 percent after the Nigerian central bank governor said on Sunday the bank may reduce the amount it has ordered the telecoms firm to repatriate as part of an ongoing disagreement.</p>
<p>MTN and the central bank are in a dispute over the transfer of $8.1 billion of funds which the bank said the company had sent abroad in breach of foreign-exchange regulations. At 0837 GMT shares in MTN were up 2.03 percent to 85.50 rand.</p>
<p>Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia</p>


MTN shares rise as Nigeria’s central bank could reduce amount it ordered the company to repatriate

<p>NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; A cap on commercial lending rates in Kenya is “strangling” the economy by locking out many borrowers who are deemed too risky to lend to by banks, the head of the central bank, Patrick Njoroge, said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The cap, at four percentage points above the central bank’s policy rate, was imposed in Sept. 2016. An attempt by the Finance Minister Henry Rotich to repeal the cap in June was blocked by lawmakers last month.</p>
<p>Reporting by Omar Mohamed; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Andrew Heavens</p>


This East African country’s central bank says lending cap is “strangling” the nation’s economy, here’s why…

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<p>Rwanda’s Central Bank launched a campaign dubbed BNR Engage in an effort to enhance the knowledge of the public on issues related to the economy. Two months down the line, how far has this campaign gone? Samuel Baker, Economist, Central Bank of Rwanda joins CNBC Africa to share more details.</p>


Rwanda’s BNR Engage campaign: Progress made so far

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<p>Robert Aderinmola, Consumer Insight and analytics Partner Corporate Planning at Diamond Bank joins CNBC Africa to discuss how the MPCs decision will affect Nigerian banks.</p>


How Nigeria’s MPCs decision will affect banks

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<p>In March this year, Kenya agreed to review the interest rates capping law as treasury and Central Bank officials pushed for an extension of the $1.5million precautionary facility by the International Monetary Fund.</p>


central bank

Rwanda records 8.4% growth as trade deficit widens

Kenyan tax evasion crackdown sees billions of shillings recovered

Buhari tells CBN to stop providing FX for food imports, how will this impact Nigeria’s food security?

Nigeria’s fixed income market declining: What does this mean for investors?

Central banks need to take human rights more seriously, here’s why

Improving payment services in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Central Bank unveils policy direction for 5 years

Kenya’s president Kenyatta renews central bank governor’s term, what you should know…

MTN and Nigeria resolve dispute, here’s what you need to know

Zimbabwean miner RioZim is demanding $92 million from central bank in lawsuit, what you need to know…

Why Zimbabwe’s RioZim closed three of its mines

Court case between MTN and Nigeria’s central bank postponed

MTN shares rise as Nigeria’s central bank could reduce amount it ordered the company to repatriate

This East African country’s central bank says lending cap is “strangling” the nation’s economy, here’s why…

Rwanda’s BNR Engage campaign: Progress made so far

How Nigeria’s MPCs decision will affect banks

Kenya set to abolish law on interest rates cap

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central bank

Rwanda records 8.4% growth as trade deficit widens

Kenyan tax evasion crackdown sees billions of shillings recovered

Buhari tells CBN to stop providing FX for food imports, how will this impact Nigeria’s food security?

Nigeria’s fixed income market declining: What does this mean for investors?

Central banks need to take human rights more seriously, here’s why

Improving payment services in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Central Bank unveils policy direction for 5 years

Kenya’s president Kenyatta renews central bank governor’s term, what you should know…

MTN and Nigeria resolve dispute, here’s what you need to know

Zimbabwean miner RioZim is demanding $92 million from central bank in lawsuit, what you need to know…

Why Zimbabwe’s RioZim closed three of its mines

Court case between MTN and Nigeria’s central bank postponed

MTN shares rise as Nigeria’s central bank could reduce amount it ordered the company to repatriate

This East African country’s central bank says lending cap is “strangling” the nation’s economy, here’s why…

Rwanda’s BNR Engage campaign: Progress made so far

How Nigeria’s MPCs decision will affect banks

Kenya set to abolish law on interest rates cap

News Tips

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