Kenya

Kenya has finalised an agreement with oil explorer Tullow Oil and its partners Africa Oil and A.P. Moller-Maersk for the development of a crude oil pipeline, as it bids to become an oil exporter, the president’s office said.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday signed into law a bill which seeks to cap interest rates charged by commercial banks on loans and deposits.

Kenya's leading banks are better placed than their smaller competitors to manage the fall in profitability and rise in loan impairments likely to arise from proposed new rate caps, Fitch Ratings says.

In a statement by SBM Holdings during the release of their half year 2016 results, the Mauritius bank recorded a 20.7% increase in Group profit after tax for the second quarter to MUR 863 million ($24.49 million) compared to the first quarter of 2016 amounting to MUR 715 million ($ 20.29 million).