1. How De La Rue currency deal cost taxpayers Sh10bn

 The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) used Sh10.2 billion (£75.3 million) to procure 2.6 million bank notes from De La Rue between March 2003 and December last year through expensive stop gap orders.

The CBK placed six interim orders for the bank notes at prices higher than the $51.2 million (Sh3.8 billion) contract signed in 2006, which Transport minister Amos Kimunya, who held the Finance docket at the time, cancelled.- Business Daily

2. Bank agent transactions hit Sh105bn in seven months

 Commercial bank agent transactions shot up by Sh12 billion in July to Sh105 billion in the first seven months of the year, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has said. New data by the banking sector regulator shows the agents facilitated 21 million transactions by the end of July, compared to 18.7 million in June.- Business Daily

3. Food, books to be removed from VAT Bill

 The Cabinet has bowed to public pressure and resolved to remove food items from the intended review of the VAT Bill that would have resulted to at least 16 per cent increase in prices. According to Finance minister Njeru Githae the move after the public raised objections to the proposed amendment.- Daily Nation

4. Barclays to launch mobile money transfer platform

 Barclays Bank of Kenya is set to launch a new mobile banking platform as it seeks to cut costs by shifting to alternative channels of transacting with customers.
It becomes the second bank to launch a new mobile banking platform after KCB last month started Mobi Bank.- DailyNation

5. Britain to aid Kenya on green energy

The British government has pledged to help Kenya fully exploit its potential to generate renewable energy as the main engine for economic growth.

United Kingdom (UK) Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey said Britain will assist in bringing the best technologies in generation of renewable energy to Kenya. - Capital Business

6. Kenya to build $21 mln port security system

Kenya's main port ofMombasa, east and central Africa's main gateway will build a $21.4 million security system to safeguard the port from emerging threats of terrorism and pirates, managing director Gichiri Ndua said on Tuesday. - Reuters

 7. US firm wins bid to manage Konza city development

New York-based HR & A Advisors has won a hotly contested contract to manage and develop Konza technopolis for about Sh168 million. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which together with the World Bank carried out the tendering, communicated the verdict to the government last Friday. - Business Daily

8. Should You Buy African Airline Stocks?

African airlines have been making news of late. FastJet (RUBI:LN), a new airline backed by the head of EasyJet, will launch in Ghana in a matter of months. And, in June, Kenya Airways (KNAL:KN) concluded a capital-raise for the purpose of doubling its fleet of planes by 2016.

Both news items would seem to be bullish indicators for airline stocks.

Should investors be hopping on board or cooling their jets?

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Investing In Africa