Register and its all Free.

If you are tracking the NSE Do it via RICHLIVE and use Mozilla Firefox
as your Browser.
0930-1500 KENYA TIME
Normal Board - The Whole shebang
Prompt Board Next day settlement
Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.

The Latest Daily PodCast can be found here on the Front Page of the site
http://www.rich.co.ke

Macro Thoughts

Home Thoughts

"You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings. Learn to use them and fly." - Rumi

@Kanyewest says the same thing but another way.

I appreciate that Africa is in a much better place in this new more
multilateral world, which hands it an advantage. It has injected some
competition into the demand side of our equation. However, we need to
be cognisant of USA's hard power disequilibrium because it's intact
and set to stay so for quite a while. With respect to ourselves, I
sincerely wish we reset our relations.
The rhetoric has veiled the reality that North America bought 66 per
cent of our Eurobond issues and more than 50 per cent of our inward
remittances come from there. On the other hand, our exports to China
are less than $50 million.

This is a reality that needs to better inform our foreign policy, and urgently.

QUESTION: Secretary of State John Kerry, welcome to HARDtalk.

SECRETARY KERRY: Pleasure to be with you.

QUESTION: Scott Eisner from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said that
he and others have been pressing the Obama Administration for years to
hold this kind of summit. To quote, he says, "If you want CEOs to pay
attention, you're going to need the commander-in-chief to take
charge." What took President Obama so long?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, actually, this is something the President has
wanted to do for a long period of time, and I think we've been working
up to it. The President announced Power Africa early on in his
Administration to help provide electricity to all of Africa over the
next years. The President announced a major food security initiative,
Feed the Future. He's been working on that. The President has grown
our ability to be able to do what we've been doing in the health
sector. So he's been building up to this.

But I think there was a sense of ripeness that brought this moment
about, and I've been engaged in this for a long period of time. In
fact, I - the minute I became Secretary of State - appointed a special
envoy, the leading expert of the United States Senate, Russ Feingold,
to become our special envoy to go to the Great Lakes in order to try
to work with M23, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I personally went
to Sudan.

So I don't think we're late. I think what we're doing is -

QUESTION: It's just President Obama himself is the son of a Kenyan and
it took him quite a quite a while to really tour Africa, for instance,
and hold the summit.

SECRETARY KERRY: If you look - yeah, but I think if you look at what
the President first confronted when he became president, we had a
meltdown of our financial system. People have forgotten that. When he
came in, job number one was providing jobs for Americans and getting
our own economy moving. Now it's moving and we're growing, and I think
the President is looking outwards.

QUESTION: Okay. The Deputy National Security Advisor in the White
House Ben Rhodes has said as far as this Africa-U.S. Summit is
concerned, the U.S. brings something unique to the table. What is it
that the United States can offer in terms of African policy that other
nations cannot?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, first of all, I think there is no country that
is as entrepreneurial and that combines science and technology and
innovation in the way that we do. Our companies, I believe, are really
unique in that regard, and we have many of them already involved in
Africa. I mean, we have a company like General Electric for years
that's been doing business in Africa. We have Dow Chemical for years
has been doing in Africa. I mean, they have a huge number of projects
going. So we have experience and we don't come into a place, as some
countries do, with a simple deal and simple finance and bring our
workers in or something else.

QUESTION: Which countries - which country is that you're thinking in particular?

SECRETARY KERRY: You can play with all of that.

QUESTION: Is that China in brackets?

SECRETARY KERRY: No. What I'm saying is we come in, I think, with a
willingness to work in ways that train employees, build something. And
increasingly, people are looking at the downstream investment impacts
for the long term here. I mean look, these things evolve. Nothing
happens overnight. But over the course of time, I think the U.S.
brings a remarkable set of disciplines and of capacity and technology
for transfer that is critical to Africa at this point.

QUESTION: But you know critics like Jennifer Cooke, who heads the
Africa program at the Brookings Institution, says that there are other
global competitors. And of course, China, for instance - I'll just
state one statistic - has 150 commercial attaches across sub-Saharan
Africa. Do you know how many the United States has? Eight.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah. We're not - I think there's a difference in the
approaches between China and the United States. We're still the
biggest investor in Africa, and I am convinced that out of this
conference will come even more significant investment. We had a dinner
last night with four presidents of various - four heads of government,
presidents of various countries, all of whom were extremely excited by
what they heard about the kind of partnership that is offered by the
United States, where it is not just extractive and selling one
particular kind of deal, but it is really structured and built around
the needs of a particular country and has much greater ability to be
able to train workers, provide workers with ongoing skills and the
longer-term employment capacity, which is very different from what
other countries and other companies do.

QUESTION: You say that the United States, unlike other countries, does
not rely on natural resources like oil and salt to build up its
imports -

SECRETARY KERRY: No, we also do that. Of course we do.

QUESTION: -- because you do.

SECRETARY KERRY: No, we do that but we're not only -

QUESTION: Yeah, you do. You do. So what's the difference?

SECRETARY KERRY: No, no, no, we're looking much beyond that. Of course
we do. We also have extractive, and much of the relationship until
recently was defined by that. Our desire is to move it well beyond
that, and partly because -

QUESTION: And what are the reasons for that, Secretary of State?

SECRETARY KERRY: Because we've listened to people in Africa.

QUESTION: Is that the reason why, or is it -

SECRETARY KERRY: And because we hear from people in Africa that they
want more than just that. They don't want a relationship in which
they're simply exporting oil or gas or minerals of one kind or
another. They want to build their countries -

QUESTION: Is that the reason -

SECRETARY KERRY: -- and we respect that and understand that because it
is critical to building civil society, to respecting human rights, to
developing democracy, and ultimately to being able to provide
stability. And that's part of what we want to do.

QUESTION: May I venture that there's another reason why perhaps you're
changing tack is that because of the oil shale revolution in the
United States -

SECRETARY KERRY: No.

QUESTION: -- it means you no longer need Africa's oil. If you just look
at the figures, Secretary of State, 2008 $100 billion of oil imports
came from Africa into the United States.

SECRETARY KERRY: Sure.

QUESTION: If the current trend this year continues, it will be just 15 -

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, if your theory were correct, then we wouldn't
need to do anything. We could just sit back and say hey, terrific,
let's go do what we're doing. No, it doesn't work. If all we wanted
was the extraction and now we don't need it, then why aren't we
turning away and going somewhere else? Because we have long had an
engagement in Africa that is, in fact, different from other people. We
are the country that put together PEPFAR. We are the country that did
the -

QUESTION: That was George Bush's aid, sir.

SECRETARY KERRY: It actually came from the United States Senate from
legislation that I wrote with Bill Frist -

QUESTION: Sure, but it was signed -

SECRETARY KERRY: -- and President Bush took it, yes. And we're proud of
it and President Bush should be proud of it and we're all proud of it.
We also - the idea of Power Africa, that's an important effort that
will help change lives in Africa.

QUESTION: But if you look at -

SECRETARY KERRY: And I don't think any country has tried to do as much
as we do to help people build their own indigenous abilities to be
able to fight terrorism and to build their future.

QUESTION: I'll give you another example. The African Growth and
Opportunity Act signed by President Bill Clinton -

SECRETARY KERRY: Correct, absolutely.

QUESTION: -- and that allows -

SECRETARY KERRY: -- which I am proud that we helped write in the United
States Senate.

QUESTION: Sure. And it allows African goods to come into - duty-free
to come into the United States.

SECRETARY KERRY: Correct.

QUESTION: But you know what? Eighty six percent of those products that
are coming to the U.S. are petroleum products. So I just use it as an
example to say that actually the United States is not madly different
from other countries when you say -

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me give you an example. I don't want to
spend this valuable time having a debate with you about how different
we are. Let me give you an example. Ford Motor Company invested $300
million in South Africa and it can export those engines from skilled
workers in South Africa who now have jobs to other parts of the world.
And as a result, 800 jobs were also created, I think in Kansas where
they have a plant. So there's a symmetry in all of this that's not
just extractive. And increasingly - last night we had a health - a big
health care company, Merck, a pharmaceutical company that wants to be
able to bring lower-cost medicines and vaccines and other things to
Africa, which will improve the quality of life. That's not extractive.

QUESTION: Okay, for sure you do invest. You do invest.

SECRETARY KERRY: There are lots of things we do.

QUESTION: You do invest in Africa. Let me just tell you what Aly-Khan
Satchu, chief executive of Rich Management in Nairobi, that's been
approved by the Nairobi securities exchange as an advisory service -
he says, "Look at Kenya. America is already heavily invested. We
issued a euro bond in Kenya where we borrowed $2 billion. Sixty-six
percent of that was bought by North America." And just in that, you
see that North America is putting the capital down, as you say, that
Africa is then using to build infrastructure. The irony is that most
of this stuff is being built by Chinese contractors and not the
Americans. You're putting the investment in, but somebody else perhaps
is benefited?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, that's life. It also shows that we're not in it
just to have our own contractors come over. We are doing this because
we think it's the right thing for Africa. And indeed, other countries
and other companies will benefit. More power to them. Ultimately, this
is good for Africa and it's good for these countries to have the
stability and the capacity as they build. We will all benefit that -
from that on a global basis. There will be less Boko Harams, less
Al-Shabaabs. There will be less cause for people to have their minds
filled with extremist ideology, rather than to engage in the broader
benefits of society. And we're interested in that, and I'm glad we are
as a country.

QUESTION: Okay. Just looking at this infrastructure point. When you
say you're not just in it for construction projects and so on, and the
Chinese, of course, have been doing a great deal of that, because now,
of course, since 2009 they have overtaken the United States as the
biggest single country to trade in total with Africa. It's now $200
billion in total trade.

SECRETARY KERRY: Trade, but not invest.

QUESTION: Yes, not investment.

SECRETARY KERRY: We are the biggest investor.

QUESTION: I accept that, but in terms of trade, China's is way out there.

SECRETARY KERRY: What does that tell you? That tells you something, doesn't it?

QUESTION: Well, what does it tell you then? That the Chinese perhaps
are just interested - but infrastructure's important, Secretary of
State, for Africa. You have Don Kaberuka, president of the African
Development Bank -

SECRETARY KERRY: And how many of their own employees - and how many
Chinese come over to do the work?

QUESTION: They're beginning to understand that there has been a bit of
a backlash. But take one example: The Africa Union headquarters in
Addis Ababa, built to the tune of more than $200 million by the
Chinese as a gift to the Africans. It's not just constructive
diplomacy, it's construction diplomacy.

SECRETARY KERRY: And more, and terrific. And we welcome the rise of
China. I've said this a hundred thousand times. It's not a zero-sum
game. People need to understand that. There will be many countries
investing. Many people will be engaged in this, and that's the nature
of the competitive, globalized world that we live in today. The
important thing is to try to help make sure that Africa develops in
ways that don't make some of the mistakes that we did - and I'm
speaking specifically about energy and climate change and so forth.
There are things we can do to help, and other countries too, all of
which will benefit Africa, which is long overdue for these kinds of
benefits and inputs from the rest of the world. So it's to everybody's
benefit, frankly.

QUESTION: Okay. So you and also the U.S. Trade Representative Michael
Froman has also said you wish to emphasize production in Africa, as
you've just been saying. Obviously, there's a huge pool of young
people who could provide a labor force. Does the United States see
Africa as the kind of factory of the world for the future to replace
China?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, not at the expense of, quote, "cheap labor" and
lack of rights and lack of working conditions and other things that
are important that they raise the standards. But again, I think that
is something the United States has helped to drive in many parts of
the world. I mean, I've been to Vietnam, I've been to China, I've been
to places - into American plants in those places, and if you didn't
know you were in China or in Vietnam, you'd think you'd walked into a
plant in Michigan or somewhere else in America. It was clean, people
were working, there's a structure to it. I think those are the kinds
of benefits that flow out of this kind of investment initiative and
relationship. But I think it's to the benefit of the people who work
there.

QUESTION: So create jobs in Africa, and to the detriment of the United
States. President Obama says I'm President of the United States, not
of Africa. How's that going to go down with people here?

SECRETARY KERRY: We're not just creating - when Ford Motor Company
invests $300 million in South Africa and you have 800 employees in the
United States who get jobs because of that, because of the downstream
supply structure, that's to our benefit. We're living in a different
world today. No country can survive as an island. You can't just shut
yourself off and have your own production and sales routine to
yourself and believe that you're going to grow or get better or
provide higher income to your people. You can't do it. We need to move
to various parts of the world where people are desperately wanting
modernity, where they want electricity in their home, they want better
food, they want clothing, they want themselves to buy and share, they
want to become middle class, and then hopefully perhaps go on and make
a lot of money themselves. But that's what we're trying to engage in
here, is a global growth from which everybody benefits, and I think
what we're doing is, frankly, good diplomacy as well as good
economics.

QUESTION: The Malawi Ambassador to Washington Steve Matenje says this
Africa Summit with the U.S. gives Obama an opportunity at the end of
his term for people to see a clearly-defined legacy. What will that
be?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I think, look, the legacy clearly will be this
remarkable growth and development that takes place in Africa and that
begins to benefit the world, and begins to bring people together and
offers an alternative to some of the poverty and extremism that fills
the vacuum. That is one thing. But beyond that, the President's legacy
is not going to be defined by one specific initiative abroad or
elsewhere. This is the President who's passed health care for all
Americans, the President who saved the economy at a time that it was
in crisis, who has created - I mean, there are a whole series of
things in counterterrorism -

QUESTION: So not just Africa. Okay.

SECRETARY KERRY: -- and other things, not defined by one thing, but I
think it will add to that, sure. That's a powerful addition.

QUESTION: Inevitably - Secretary of State, inevitably our focus has
been on this Africa-U.S. Summit, but you've also committed a little
bit of time to talk about the situation in Gaza. If you look at the
situation there now, close on 2,000 Palestinians have been killed;
around 70 Israelis, just a handful of them civilians but most of them
soldiers. You've got 8,000 injured people, houses reduced to rubble -
40,000 homes reduced to rubble, damage of about $6 billion. There's a
great deal of outrage amongst political and international public
opinion. Your own State Department has described one attack as
appalling and disgraceful.

The question is this: Does Washington fully support Israel in its
offensive in Gaza? Fully support?

SECRETARY KERRY: We fully support Israel's right to defend itself and
the fact that it was under attack by rockets, by tunnels, and it had
to take action against Hamas. Hamas has behaved in the most
unbelievably shocking manner of engaging in this activity. And yes,
there has been horrible collateral damage as a result of that, which
is why the United States worked very, very hard with our partners in
the region, with Israel, with Egyptians, with the Palestinian
Authority, with President Abbas, to try to move towards a ceasefire.

Finally now, that ceasefire is hopefully in place in a way that can
allow parties to come to the table and be able to not only deal with
the question of how do you do a sustainable ceasefire, but the more
critical, underlying, longer-term issues of how are we going to make
peace? How are we going to eliminate these rockets? How are we going
to demilitarize, move toward a different future? And that's really our
goal. And this is an important beginning with the ceasefire, and
hopefully the talks to get there.

QUESTION: You say demilitarize Gaza, which is the Israeli demand. But
also the Palestinians - all of them, not just Hamas but Mahmoud Abbas,
the president of the Palestinian Authority, says also you've got to
lift the blockade, the siege that's -

SECRETARY KERRY: Clearly -

QUESTION: -- been on Gaza. Do you back that request?

SECRETARY KERRY: We clearly back, as part of an overall solution,
there has to be a giving on both sides with respect to these issues.
Obviously, you have to begin to make life better for the Palestinians.
We made that very, very clear in the ceasefire announcement that we
had a few days ago. It didn't hold unfortunately. Now we hope this can
hold. Perhaps because Israel is drawing down and pulling people out
and it's finished its tunnel work, there will be a greater space here.

QUESTION: So you do back it?

SECRETARY KERRY: What we want to do is support the Palestinians and
their desire to improve their lives and to be able to open crossings
and get food in and reconstruct and have greater freedom. But that has
to come with a greater responsibility towards Israel, which means
giving up rockets, moving into a different plane*.

Now, where will that finally come together? It'll finally come
together when you have a bigger, broader approach to the solution of
the underlying issues of two states, of people who will be able to
have rights protected because they will be respected in the context of
those two states, which have security for Israel, guarantees for a
better life and for greater freedoms for the Palestinians. That's the
formula.

QUESTION: But you must see the outrage internationally. You know
obviously the United States -

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I understand that -

QUESTION: -- provides Israel with $3 billion annually in military
expenditure. Iron Dome is also funded by the United States. And there
are critics who say, look, this is the United States somehow
facilitating the collateral damage that you mentioned, i.e. *there may
be 2,000 civilians dead.*

SECRETARY KERRY: The United States stands behind Israel's right to
defend itself, and we do not believe that it is appropriate for any
group, particularly in the circumstances that we've seen in this
terrorist group, Hamas, to be flying rockets against civilians
randomly into the country, tunnels coming underneath the kibbutz, with
people that we've seen discovered with handcuffs and tranquilizer
drugs ready to capture people in the midst of their daily lives. No
country can live with that condition, and the United States stands
squarely behind Israel's right to defend itself in those
circumstances, period.

QUESTION: Are you disappointed that there hasn't been, after so many
years, any kind of real settlement?

SECRETARY KERRY: We're going to keep working at it. I believe in the
possibilities of that, and I even believe that this situation now that
has evolved perhaps will concentrate people's minds on the need to get
back to the broader negotiations and try to resolve the issues of the
two states. And the United States remains deeply committed to helping
to make that happen. It has to happen. But it's not going to happen
through terrorism. It's going to happen through negotiation. It's
going to happen through the appropriate leadership of President Abbas
and through the willingness of others to sit at the table and
negotiate it.

QUESTION: Secretary of State John Kerry, thank you very much indeed.

SECRETARY KERRY: Appreciate it.

@elittlefield  @JohnKerry #AfricaSummit "Power used to be defined in
hierarchies and now it is defined in networks"@opicgov #africa

Southern Xinjiang will "implement family planning policy equally on
all ethnic groups, to lower and stabilize an appropriate birth rate,"
Zhang Chunxian wrote in the August edition of Qiushi, an official
magazine of the party.

Zhang's remarks may indicate a shift in rules that let Uighurs have as
many as three children in the countryside, while Han Chinese can have
two. Even though about 92 percent of China's 1.3 billion population is
Han, more than 45 percent of Xinjiang's 22 million people are Uighurs,
a Muslim people from eastern and central Asia.

Xinjiang might well morph into China's Afghanistan 02-DEC-2013
http://www.rich.co.ke/media/docs/038NSX0212.pdf

@RupertMurdoch during his News of the World takeover bid in the
1960s. Photograph: Ted Blackbrow/Daily Mail/Rex Features
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/7/7/1310072869622/Rupert-Murdoch-during-his-007.jpg

Euro 1.3366
Dollar Index 81.55
Japan Yen 102.54
Swiss Franc 0.9095
Pound 1.6872
Aussie 0.9302
India Rupee 61.19
South Korea Won 1033.34
Brazil Real 2.2814
Egypt Pound 7.1504
South Africa Rand 10.7542

Dollar Index 3 Month Chart INO 81.55 [Feels as if its all set to
make a meaningful Move]
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=NYBOT_DX&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1

The dollar index .DXY was last at 81.550, not far from Tuesday's peak of 81.626

Helping to support the dollar, data on Tuesday showed U.S. services
sector activity hit an 8-1/2 year high last month and factory orders
surged in June, bolstering expectations of solid economic growth in
the third quarter.

Euro versus the Dollar 3 Month Chart 1.3366
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_EURUSD&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1

Euro zone retail sales rose at their fastest rate in seven years in
June and business activity expanded at the second-fastest pace in
three years in July.

Gold 6 month Chart INO 1289.505 [1250 Objective]
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_XAUUSDO&t=c&a=50&w=1&v=d6

Crude Oil 6 Month Chart INO 97.59 [looks a Trading Buy]
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=NYMEX_CL.U14.E&v=d6&t=c&a=50&w=1

Emerging Markets

Frontier Markets

"I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I
see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world -
partners with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our
children. That partnership must be grounded in mutual responsibility
and mutual respect."

The theme of the Summit is "Investing in the Next Generation."

President Obama

The Sahel-Sahara is the 'new frontier' in global counter-terrorism
operations, new report finds.

A new report finds that the Sahel-Sahara is the 'new frontier' in
global counter-terrorism operations, prompting major transitions in US
and French military positioning.  Launched today, the report coincides
with the 2014 US-Africa Leaders Summit.

Commissioned by the Remote Control Project, Oxford Research Group's
report, From New Frontier to New Normal: Counter -terrorism operations
in the Sahel-Sahara finds that 2014 is a critical year for
militarisation of the Sahel-Sahara and the entrenchment of foreign
powers there.

Recurrent security crises since the 2011 Arab uprisings and
NATO-assisted overthrow of Libya's Gaddafi regime have radically
changed international perceptions of northwest Africa as a focal area
of activities by jihadist groups.  It is now a priority area for
French and US external counter-terrorism operations.

The report reveals that both countries are implementing a "pivot to
Africa", which has seen French land, air and special forces move to a
permanent posture at a string of bases across five or more Sahel
states.  The US is increasing its presence and rolling out a crisis
response concept known as the "New Normal" which could see US Marines
establish bases across the continent with the capacity to deploy
within hours anywhere where US citizens and interests are perceived to
be threatened.

The report also finds that these operations are increasingly using
"remote-control" methods, with a heavy reliance on special forces,
drones and private military and security companies.

China US and Africa Trade via Wall Street Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/frontiers/2014/08/05/us-and-africa-aim-to-boost-trade/

@StanbicIBTC #Infographic on the USA's key export markets in
Africa. Up to $6.5bn worth of exports to #Nigeria #USAfricaSummit
pic.twitter.com/46YDoe0kqU

Secretary of State John Kerry, right, is joined President of the
Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila, as they speak to media at
the State Department, in Washington, Monday, Aug. 4,
http://media.sunherald.com/smedia/2014/08/04/14/19/lWijZ.AuSt.77.jpeg

Ewanga called Kabila a "thief" and a "killer," at the rally, Mende
said. He "was arrested for an offense against the chief of state, in
other words, for insulting the president in public. It's fine to
criticize the president and his politics, but not to personally insult
him."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-05/congo-opposition-lawmaker-arrested-as-president-meets-with-kerry.html

"It is the new kid on the block in Africa, and they are finding their
feet. They are getting their workers kidnapped and they are learning
that it is not just some nice forest you can come in and cut down, or
you can go in and pick up some good iron ore," Ibrahim said.

With 50 heads of state attending, Obama is not scheduled to have
one-on-one talks with any president in particular, with no "singling
out individuals at the expense of the other leaders; so that way
[President Obama] can commit his time to broad engagement." It's
expected to be largely a loose, informal meeting doused in liberal
doses of camaraderie, in keeping with Obama's famous dress-down
approach to governance.

But even as some leaders are miffed at not having face time with
Obama, the facts on the ground show that the vast majority of African
countries, truth be told, are merely "escorting" others to the
meeting--the bulk of US trade with Africa is confined to just a handful
of countries. Here are some startling facts about US-Africa trade, and
comparisons:

1. South Africa and Nigeria are the top recipients of US foreign
direction investment (FDI) flows in the region. Nigeria (37%),
followed by South Africa (17%) and Mauritius (16%).

2. 30% of US exports to sub-Saharan Africa went to South Africa in
2013; the top U.S. export markets in sub-Saharan Africa for 2013 were
South Africa ($7.3 billion), Nigeria ($6.5 billion), Angola ($1.5
billion), Ghana ($1.1 billion), and Togo ($956 million).

3. For imports, 30% of U.S. imports from sub-Saharan Africa were from
Nigeria and 22% from Angola, mostly crude oil. Nigeria's clout on the
continent is clear--one of the side events of the summit is a grand
banquet in honour of its president Goodluck Jonathan.

4. Even so, it seems that US demand for African oil is drying up--since
2010, the US has cut the amount of oil it imports from Africa by a
drastic 90%, from about two million barrels a day to just 170,000, as
it increasingly exploits its shale oil reserves. But intriguingly, oil
and commodities aren't the only things the US is buying from Africa.
South Africa exports vehicles the US worth $2.3 billion--the US' third
biggest import from Africa after oil and precious stones.

5. Still, Africa trade is still a very tiny blip on the US radar;
sub-Saharan Africa makes up just 1.7% of total US imports and 1.5% of
total exports.

6. If Nigeria is excluded, the GDP of the rest of sub- Saharan Africa,
at $1.07 trillion, does not even measure up to the GDP of just New
York City, which was $1.3 trillion in 2013.

7. Amadou Sy, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Africa
Growth Initiative, contrasts it even sharper, noting that the gross
domestic product (GDP) for all of Kenya - the largest economy in the
East African Community (EAC) - is smaller than the size of the economy
in Madison, Wisconsin--a city of just 240,000, while the amount of
electricity used on game night at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium is equal
to that consumed nationwide in Liberia.

51,349.11 +109.55 +0.21%

Dollar versus Rand 6 Month Chart INO 10.7538
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_USDZAR&v=d6&t=c&a=50&w=1

The rand was down 0.91 percent at 10.7500 per dollar by 1518 GMT, just
shy of a two-week low of 10.7700.

July PMI slipped to 46.4 percent from 49.5, suggesting deteriorating
confidence in a the manufacturing sector. A figure below 50.0 suggests
a contraction.The rand touched a session low of 10.7615 before pulling
back to recoup some of its losses.

Egypt Pound versus The Dollar 3 Month Chart INO 7.1508
http://quotes.ino.com/charting/index.html?s=FOREX_USDEGP&v=d3&t=c&a=50&w=1

Egypt EGX30 Bloomberg +32.851% [First time above 9,000 in more than 5 years]
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CASE:IND

9,010.31 +92.31 1.04%

Nigeria All Share Bloomberg +2.33% 2014
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NGSEINDX:IND

42,292.95 +491.37 +1.18%

Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index Bloomberg +6.526% 2014
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GGSECI:IND

2,285.51 -0.39 -0.02%

Thank Goodness @JDMahama dialled up Madam @Lagarde of the @IMFnews as
I said he should on the BBC on Friday Night

I had said to Madam Lagarde that Hannah wants to tell you that she
wants to be just like you

Carlyle Group LP Co-Chief Executive officer David Rubenstein said the
private-equity industry "will take off" in Africa as his company and
Blackstone Group LP (BX) backed energy partnerships with the
continent's richest person.

Helping private equity gain a bigger foothold in Africa will spur
deals that make the continent's companies and economies more
productive, Rubenstein said in a panel discussion today at the
U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington.

"Opportunities there are far greater than people thought years ago and
the great explosion in private equity, if it's going to occur anywhere
around the world in the next couple of years, is probably going to be
in Africa," he said.

Africa accounts for about 1 percent of private-equity investment
worldwide, according to Rubenstein.

Dangote committed to invest a combined $5 billion by 2019 with New
York-based Blackstone in power projects in sub-Saharan Africa and
formed a joint venture with Carlyle to invest an unspecified amount in
Nigerian oil and gas ventures and other sub-Saharan projects.

Africa's power generation shortfall is "enormous," Dangote said today
in a Bloomberg Television interview. The $5 billion Blackstone deal
will focus on sub-Saharan African countries and invest in power
generation, transmission, distribution and infrastructure, he said.

"The total need for power in Africa is $300 billion," Blackstone
Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman said today in an interview with
Bloomberg Television's Hans Nichols at the forum. The deals announced
today represent "a number that starts to make a dent in the problem."

"Everything is pointing toward a surge in the African economy," Jim
Benintende, Ford's head of operations in the Middle East and Africa,
said in an interview yesterday on the eve of the U.S. Africa-Business
Forum in Washington.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-04/ford-looks-to-build-new-factories-in-fast-growing-africa.html

Ford is looking to expand its manufacturing plants in Africa, as it
introduces new models like the Mustang sports car and forecasts
industrywide auto sales will grow 40 percent by 2020. GE yesterday
announced plans to invest $2 billion in the region by 2018 and double
its workforce on the continent.

"Africa is one of the most important growth areas, purely from an
economic standpoint," GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said
at a media event for the start of the U.S.- Africa Leaders Summit in
Washington being hosted by President Barack Obama. "It's in very early
days for Africa, so there's still a lot yet to be done and the notion
of having the summit here says that it's important."

GE won about $8.3 billion in orders in Africa over the last year as it
accelerates operations in a continent where Immelt said sales were
"almost zero" in 2000. Revenue there last year was $5.2 billion,
according to GE, which estimates that Africa's basic infrastructure
needs could generate $90 billion in investment opportunities.

Africa's vehicle market is accelerating rapidly. Ford, the
second-largest U.S. automaker, projects that industrywide sales will
grow to 2.1 million vehicles over the next six years, from 1.5 million
in 2013. Africa's driving-age population is projected to soar 55
percent to 840 million people by 2023, from 540 million last year,
Ford has said.

Benintende, a Ford veteran appointed to run the regional operation
this year, is formulating an Africa growth strategy for Mark Fields,
who took over as chief executive officer July 1 after Alan Mulally
retired. The plan is to increase Ford's factories in Africa beyond its
two plants in South Africa, with Nigeria being considered as an
option, Benintende said.

"Mark is the one leading the charge, saying, 'Tell me what I need to
do for you to make this all work,'" Benintende said. "He's fully
engaged."

The Africa spending planned by GE will go to develop facilities,
improve supply chains and train workers, according to a statement from
the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company. GE's Africa business
includes supplying locomotives for Nigeria and aircraft engines for
Kenya Airways Ltd.

The local payroll will swell to 4,000 people during the next few years
compared with about 2,000 now as the company expands into the
continent's eastern nations, according to Jay Ireland, GE's Africa
CEO.

"We've doubled it in the last three years and we'll probably double it
again," Ireland said in an interview in Washington. "All those
investments need people, so we'll be adding."

"We need to put Ford people on the ground, close to our customers,"
Benintende said. "We can't operate from an ivory tower."

Last year, GE announced one of its largest-ever power-plant orders
when it signed gas-turbine deals totaling $2.7 billion from a unit of
Sonelgaz, Algeria's national electricity and gas company. Algeria is
one of the biggest countries in Africa for GE investment, Immelt said.

Angola's government announced plans in June to buy $1 billion of
trains and power generators from GE. The deal was part of the U.S.'s
Power Africa initiative, a privately funded plan announced last year
by Obama to increase access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.

In March, GE was one of four winners of a 50 billion rand ($4.7
billion) train-engine contract to supply locomotives to Transnet,
South Africa's state-owned ports and rail operator.

"The last few years oil and gas dominated our order flow," Ireland
said. "This year transportation, which is our locomotive business, is
going to be one of the bigger ones."

GE's Middle East and Africa region is one of just two, with the
Pacific Basin, to have increased sales over the past five years,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In the Middle East and Africa, Ford reported a pretax profit of $77
million for the first half of the year, up 28 percent from a year
earlier. The region accounted for about 2.5 percent of the company's
worldwide automotive pretax profit of $3.09 billion in the period.

Ford has said it created the Middle East and Africa business unit this
year to increase focus on an "important growth region." It expects the
business to break even this year.

"They have everything A-to-Z now" in power equipment, said Nicholas
Heymann, a New York-based analyst at William Blair & Co. who rates the
shares as market perform. "They're really clicking on that front."

Jay Ireland of GE #Africa
http://www.twitpic.com/ckiouf

In their latest trading update covering last year, Nakumatt has
reported gross sales of over $600 million (about Sh52 billion),
compared to $650 million (Sh56.5 billion) a year earlier, a drop of
7.7 per cent.

Nakumatt attributes the larger drop in sales to a slow economy as well
as fears among shoppers of Westgate-style assaults on other malls.

Before the attack, the Westgate branch had a turnover of about Sh450
million a month, so its loss meant that Nakumatt had to forego at
least Sh2.7 billion in sales.

Nakumatt attributes the larger drop in sales to a slow economy as well
as fears among shoppers of Westgate-style assaults on other malls.

"Top-line, we have managed to cross the $600 million gross sales
mark," said Nakumatt Holdings managing director Atul Shah in an
interview with the Business Daily.

"It is true to note that the loss of Westgate significantly slowed
growth, alongside (the) obvious economic downside."

In the trading update, Mr Shah said: "Retail outlets have been one of
the hardest hit business fronts due to security concerns."

Nairobi All Share Bloomberg +13.713% 2014
http://www.BLOOMBERG.COM/quote/NSEASI:IND

155.39 +1.77 +1.15%

Nairobi ^NSE20 Bloomberg +1.5631% 2014 [crossed 5,000 for the 1st time
since 29th January 2014]
http://j.mp/ajuMHJ

5,003.36 +48.85 +0.99%

Par Value:                  1/-
Closing Price:           58.50
Total Shares Issued:          2984137017.00
Market Capitalization:        174,572,015,495
EPS:             4.82
PE:                 12.137

First Half Earnings through 30th June 2014
Loans and Advances Net to Customers 244.014013b versus 227.721781b
H1 Total Assets 439.700996b versus 370.911015b
H1 Profit before Tax 11.674049b versus 10.096422b +16%

Par Value:                  0.50/-
Closing Price:           49.25
Total Shares Issued:          665441775.00
Market Capitalization:        32,773,007,419
EPS:             4.54
PE:                 10.848

Par Value:                  2/-
Closing Price:           307.00
Total Shares Issued:          790774976.00
Market Capitalization:        242,767,917,632
EPS:             8.83
PE:                 34.768

Full Year Earnings release Friday.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan shares jumped to a six-month high on
Tuesday on expectations that domestic interest rates will come down
after the government said it would cut borrowing by close to half.

The benchmark NSE-20 share index rose nearly 1 percent to close at
5,003.36 points, exceeding the 5,000 level for the first time since
late January.

Market participants cited a statement by the presidency that the
Treasury planned to slash domestic borrowing this financial year from
190 billion shillings ($2.2 billion) to about 100 billion.

"The reduction in the local borrowing is an outrageously bullish
signal," said Aly Khan Satchu, an independent trader and analyst.

"It means local interest rates are coming lower. It means dividend
stocks in particular at the stock exchange will look really
attractive."

Par Value:                  10/-
Closing Price:           695.00
Total Shares Issued:          100000000.00
Market Capitalization:        69,500,000,000
EPS:             37.24
PE:                 18.663

@Safaricomltd is within 4.812% of a record high set in April this
year share data here
http://www.rich.co.ke/rcdata/company.php?i=NTU%3D


Par Value:                  0.05/-
Closing Price:           12.60
Total Shares Issued:          40044601000.00
Market Capitalization:        504,561,972,600
EPS:             0.57
PE:                 22.105

Always a Pleasure speaking with Dr. Naikuni CEO @KenyaAirways
http://www.twitpic.com/e6w3am

The managers who ran down Mumias Sugar Company should be arrested and
prosecuted, Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has said.

He said only sacking the managers is not enough punishment as farmers
are suffering.

"Mumias Sugar is in deep trouble and this started with past managers
at the firm and it is known. They must be made to take responsibility
for their actions," Oparanya told the Star in his office on Friday.

At least 5,000 foreign workers will be shipped into the country to
undertake the construction of the 609km standard gauge railway from
Mombasa to Nairobi, officials said Tuesday.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/5000-Chinese-workers-set-for-railway-project---/-/539546/2409994/-/4kq0l9/-/index.html

The foreign workers, mainly Chinese, will supplement the 30,000 local
workers who will be recruited for the Sh327 billion project that
commences in October.

Photographs from the White House yesterday showing President Kenyatta
being graciously received by President Obama and Michelle Obama and is
an important Signal in the noise and signals a resetting of relations,
which is a positive thing given that North America bought 66% of $2b
worth of our Eurobonds and is the source of 50% of our inward
Remittances. Therefore, the Political Signal in that Photograph is an
important and a constructive one.

The President in an interview with Bloomberg announced that the
Treasury planned to slash domestic borrowing this financial year from
190 billion shillings ($2.2 billion) to about 100 billion.

I said to Duncan Miriri of Reuters

"The reduction in the local borrowing is an outrageously bullish
signal" said Aly Khan Satchu,

"It means local interest rates are coming lower. It means dividend
stocks in particular at the stock exchange will look really
attractive."

The Nairobi All Share rallied 0.8355% to close at a Record Closing
High [for the 2nd consecutive Session] of 156.68.
The All Share is +14.657% this year and has accelerated sharply since
the middle of last week.
The Nairobi NSE20 Index regained the 5,000 Level for the first time
yesterday since January 29th this year pushed on 19.01 points to close
at 5022.36.
Equity Turnover was 588.004m as Supply thinned out in a number of counters.
Nairobi is running with the Bulls again as is most of SSA, in fact.

Safaricom surged 2.777% to close at 12.95 and was the most actively
traded share at the Securities Exchange trading 11.486m shares worth
148.711m and 25.300% of the total turnover at the Securities Exchange
today. Safaricom has rallied 8.368% since closing at a more than 3
month low on 22nd July. The Violence of the Rally is signalling that
Safaricom will threaten its all time closing High of 13.15 set in
April which is once again within striking distance and in short order.

ScanGroup eased 0.53% to close at 46.75 and ahead of its Earnings
Release on Friday.

Marshalls E.A was the 2nd biggest percentage gainer at the Exchange
and rallied +8.89% to close at 9.80 on 200 shares traded.

Kenya Commercial Bank which has been on a Roll of late setting a
Sequence of All Time Closing Highs through this morning finally met a
light bout of profit taking and shaved 0.85% off a record high to
close at 58.00 and traded 2nd at the Exchange with 1.484m shares worth
86.151m trading. Kenya Commercial Bank has rallied +22.75% through
2014.

Centum closed unchanged at a record of 49.25 but was trading at an All
Time High Price Print of 50.00 +1.52% at the Finish Line. Centum
traded 236,400 shares. Centum has rallied 49.24% this year and that
follows a triple digit percentage gain in 2013.

CIC Insurance rallied +4.2944% to close at 8.50 and was trading at
8.90 +9.2% session highs at the Finish Line. CIC Insurance traded
483,800 shares. CIC Insurance is +42.85% in 2014 and a part of what
has been a broad based Insurance Rally which began in Q4 2013.
BRITAM EA firmed 2.105% to close at 24.25 and set a Fresh Record
Closing High. BRITAM EA traded 501,800 shares and is +60.06% this year
but on a Trailing PE of 17.32 a lot if not most of the good news is
now baked into the price.

EABL rallied 1.95% to set a Fresh 2014 High for the second consecutive
session. EABL will report Full Year Earnings after the market closes
tomorrow and Investors have run up the price ahead of this results
release. EABL traded 137,100 shares and Buyers outpaced sellers by a
Factor of 3 versus 1 at the finish Line, signalling the price is
poised to run higher. EABL traded shares as high as 317.00 +3.26%
during the session.

KenolKobil firmed 0.609% to close at 8.25 but closed the session
trading at 8.60 +4.88% session highs. KenolKobil traded 5.269m shares
worth 43.666m. KenolKobil is -18.361% in 2014.

Kenya Power KPLC rallied +3.717% to close at 13.95 and traded 2.917m
shares worth 40.686m. KPLC has retreated 1.433% through 2014.
KenGen closed unchanged at 9.80 and has underperformed KPLC in 2014
having retreated 27.67% as Investors turned defensive ahead of an
expected and super sized equity Call.

Sameer retreated 3.448% to close at 7.00 and has been on a losing run
since issuing a Full Year Profits Warning.