Kenyan coffee prices drop at auction

The price of Kenyan coffee has dropped in recent sales, losing 22 per cent of its value in a month following improved harvests among major producers Brazil and Colombia. At the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE), the price of 50 kilograms has dropped from a high of $279 last month (Sh25,389) to $228 (20,748) in Tuesday’s auction. Improved weather in Brazil, the leading producer in the world, has seen the price at the New York Coffee Exchange drop from 168 US cents per pound a month ago to 134 on Wednesday [...]

Treasury seeks Sh25bn from 12-year infrastructure bond

The Treasury has launched the sale of a Sh25 billion 12-year infrastructure bond, with analysts saying they expect it to attract significant interest from both local and foreign investors. Analysts expect the bond to attract heavy demand given the roll-overs from maturing securities and the annual interest rate of 11 per cent that is to be paid to investors. The bond is also expected to give a major boost to the shilling, which some analysts have projected may reach Sh95 to the dollar by the end of the year [...]

Survey upbeat on Kenya’s economy

Higher customer demand and new export business pushed Kenya’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) higher in February compared to January. The index showed that companies continued to hire staff in response to increased production requirements in February. The PMI, a valued economic indicator in developed countries, captures the direction of the economy by getting information from executives of private companies on what is happening in their businesses such as employment, output levels and new orders booked [...]

Reprieve for Safaricom as CAK refutes its dominant player tag

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has indicated that there is no evidence that Safaricom is abusing its dominant position in the market, offering reprieve to the telco, which has been under the spotlight of the communications regulator. CAK director -general Francis Wang’ombe on Wednesday said in an interview with NTV that while the authority has previously found Safaricom guilty of abuse of its dominant position in the mobile money market, the firm later agreed to open up its more than 85,000 M-Pesa agents to rivals Airtel and Orange [...]

Insurers slip back to losses as medical claims rise by 45pc

Medical claims paid out by insurance companies shot up by nearly 45 per cent last year, resulting in the class slipping back to underwriting losses. Data from IRA shows that Sh12.3 billion was paid out in claims for covers up from Sh9 billion in 2013 in what insiders said was due to fraud and high healthcare costs. The class recorded an underwriting loss of Sh437 million down from a profit of Sh282 million the previous year. Independent observers also said undercutting or lowering of premiums to increase business was another factor in the losses [...]

Tullow strikes oil in two new South Lokichar Basin wells

Tullow Oil said on Wednesday that it had found oil in two new wells in the South Lokichar Basin in Turkana. Tullow said it found the Ngamia-7 appraisal well having 132 metres of oil net of costs of extraction (also called net oil pay) while the Ekales-2 appraisal well found net oil pay of between 50 and 70 metres. Further drilling is set to be done in the Ngamia field and results from the exercise should give finer data on the area’s potential. Tullow, however, struck a dry well on its northern Turkana block, the first exploration work it was doing in the area [...]