The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Wednesday, March 8, 2017
EVENTS:
TANZANIA – Statistics office to release February consumer price inflation data any time starting today.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked
conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second
time in three months.
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Wednesday after industry data pointed to a potential ninth straight week of inventory builds, renewing concerns about an oversupply of oil despite output curbs by OPEC and non-OPEC members.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South African stocks edged lower on Tuesday, led by gold mining shares as the price of the metal slipped to its
weakest level in four weeks, while the rand gained, shrugging off a fourth quarter contraction in gross domestic
product.
SOUTH AFRICA ECONOMY
South Africa’s economy contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of last year as
mining and manufacturing output shrank, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, putting credit ratings at risk.
SOUTH AFRICA POLITICS
South Africa on Tuesday formally revoked its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court after its High Court
blocked the government’s bid to pull out of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal.
NIGERIA ECONOMY
Nigeria unveiled a sweeping economic recovery plan on Tuesday, including measures to reduce its dependence on oil
and to relax foreign exchange restrictions, in a drive to pull Africa’s largest economy out of its first recession in
25 years.
KENYA ECONOMY
Kenya’s latest jump in inflation is unlikely to kick off second-round effects or mark a substantial change in core
inflation, its central bank governor told Reuters, hinting the spike was unlikely to lead to a monetary policy change
in March.
LESOTHO POLITICS
Lesotho’s king has dissolved parliament and will shortly set an election date, the deputy prime minister said on Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili lost a confidence vote in the assembly.
SOMALIA DROUGHT
Somali mothers are facing an agonising choice over how to divide their shrinking food supply among hungry children as a devastating drought kills off livestock and leaves the Horn of Africa nation facing the possibility of
famine.
BOTSWANA ECONOMY
Botswana will cut corporate tax by up to 77 percent for investors in a mining town southeast of the capital, the
trade and industry minister said on Tuesday, part of a package to attract them to a region hit by the collapse of
BCL Mine.
