Ghana is the best performing market of this month adding 22% year-to-date. Ghana is closely followed by Nigeria and Morocco enjoying a good performance after the recent currency reform.
The JSE is the worst performer of this week and lost 4.77%. A couple of news on South African markets this week. Capitec dominated most talks as shares plunged following a baseless report on the bank’s financials from a short-seller firm. Following a South African opposition party, the country’s parliament has planned a motion of no-confidence against President Jacob Zuma for 22nd February. The clock is ticking for President Zuma as more and more bets are taken about when the President will leave office. Six top officials of the African National Congress are expected to meet soon with President Zuma to discuss his departure. This comes as President Zuma is due to deliver the state of the nation address next week. In parallel, this week provided a few comforting economic data for South Africa. The adjusted PMI index rose to 49.9 for January from 44.9 in December as new orders accelerated and business activity recovered. Consumer confidence index also showed improvement after a stronger-than-expected rebound in real GDP growth during the second and third quarters of 2017.
Rwandan Finance minister made an upbeat statement about the economy this week. Claver Gatete expects exports to support a growth around its long-term average of 8%. The IMF forecasts GDP growth to average 6-7% this year. The RSE lost 0.07%.
In Uganda, inflation lowered to 3% in January. The deceleration is mainly due to a drop in prices of food including sugar and cereals. Annual energy fuel and utilities inflation slowed to 9.8% from 12.5% in December due to lower charcoal prices. The USE gained 1.48%.
It has now been two weeks since Morocco launched its new flexible hard currency system. And although it is now too early to determine its impact, IMF declared this week that it should enable the country to attract investments back into the country. The move is expected to add 0.2% to the 2.8% GDP growth expected this year. The MASI added 2.08%.
In Kenya, political tensions rose a notch further this week as opposition leader Odinga declared himself the people’s president.
So far on point for the top picks, 11 months to go…
