News items you should note this morning:

Suppliers on the spot as KRA re-introduces withholding tax

Kenya has re-introduced the withholding value added tax in a move seen as targeted at the thousands of suppliers to government that have evaded the tax since September last year. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) stopped charging withholding VAT in September last year following the realisation that it was the single largest source of the refund claims that are now estimated to be worth KES 30 billion. [...]

Njonjo, Kiereini not off the hook in Jersey funds probe

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) on Tuesday said it will not relent in its pursuit of former CMC directors to recover company funds that were shipped offshore and stashed in secret accounts. A forensic audit by South African firm Webber Wentzel established that the Jersey secret slush fund had received a total of £8.6 million (KES 1.2 billion) in commissions between 1977 and October 2013. “Kiereini, Forster, Jani and Njonjo were the directors of both Corival (1996) and CMC Group, the cheque signatories to the bank accounts,” said the Webber report. [...]

Chandaria’s firm pays off KES 1 billion bondholders early

Kaluworks, a manufacturer of aluminium utensils and roofing sheets, has bought back its KES 1 billion bond five years to maturity as it moves to lower its debt exposure. Accumulation of liabilities saw the company’s credit rating last year downgraded by South African agency GCR from a BB+ a year earlier to a BB. Kaluworks, owned by industrialist Manu Chandaria’s family, has exited the rating process after it refinanced its debt position. [...]

Kenya cautioned on East African Community monetary union

A parliamentary committee has proposed constitutional amendments to enable the proposed East African Community Monetary Union ( EAMU ) work. In its October report, the committee on Regional Integration states that there would be need to amend the Constitution of Kenya to conform to the provisions of the EAMU protocol by the year 2021. [...]

Petrol Prices Could Fall to Below KES 100 By Year End-Aly Khan Satchu

The shilling yesterday traded 89.40 against the US dollar and not far off from 89.50, the level where the Central Bank had previously and recently intervened. Nymex Crude Oil is below $80.00 trading and this sharp fall in the price of oil will see super petrol prices below Sh100 a litre before end of the year. This development will contribute a meaningful stimulus to the economy and will guide inflation sharply lower. [...]

Equity Bank to Release its third quarter results

Equity Bank to will release its nine months financial results today, becoming the first commercial bank to do so. [...]