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Macro Thoughts |
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And bund yields will keep falling too...using a regression channel, it would suggest that -1.6% is the objective...@RaoulGMI Africa |
So, the knock on effects are all lining up to push one bank after another of the Cliff of Death...and there ain't a thing the ECB can do about it, as they have only one mandate - inflation. They HAVE TO cut rates. And this is why Christine Lagarde has been brought in... The ECB is going to need to become political. It is going to have to rescue an EU-wide banking system and put the banks into state hands and buy the extra gov debt and they are going to need to force fiscal reforms and massive fiscal stimulus. They will use the situation to force through tighter EU fiscal consolidation, maybe even leaving some nations behind. Lagarde is perfect for this. It's what the IMF does. She is also a lawyer and a politician. The problem is, this stuff takes time. The ECB will buy any credit instrument to avoid capital markets seizing up but shareholders are going to sense an equity wipeout over the debt holders, so equities bear the brunt of it (and bunds go more negative). The dollar will get bid as the $ funding crisis can not easily be solved by the ECB and lending at the margin tightens And a strong dollar would destroy the banks and the global economy. It's all very circular and there are very few circuit breakers. Throw in heightened trade wars between EU/US (highly likely) and China/EU/US and you have a very big issue. And my problem with all of this It's that the probability is much much higher than I'd like. And that is the reason to own bonds, dollars, bitcoin and gold. The former two are the beneficiaries of current needs, and the latter two are the high-gamma options on this escalating into an extreme policy event.
Home Thoughts
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Eland at sunset, Chikwenya, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Africa |
Mana Pools is one of the world’s wildest and best preserved natural ecological areas. With 70% of the park only traversable on foot, it truly is an explorers’ paradise. It has always had exceptional wildlife and Zimbabwe’s safari guides are often cited as the best in Africa. Two safari companies now have three camps each in the Mana Pools area, leading to the question whether people could be tempted to stay for a week in this one area, as they do in the South Luangwa.
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Turkey fires central bank chief as policy differences deepen amid economic malaise @Reuters Emerging Markets |
Turkey on Saturday fired its central bank governor as policy differences between the government and the bank deepened in the face of an economic slump, volatility in the lira currency and high inflation. Murat Cetinkaya, who had been serving as the governor since April 2016, was removed from the role and was replaced by his deputy Murat Uysal, a presidential decree published on the official gazette showed. No official reason was given for the sacking, but markets have speculated over recent weeks that Cetinkaya may be pushed out by the government because of his reluctance to cut rates. The central bank has faced pressure in the past from President Tayyip Erdogan to lower interest rates to revive an economy which slipped into recession earlier this year. Cetinkaya had hiked the benchmark interest rate by a total of 750 basis points last year to support the ailing lira TRYTOM=D3, pushing it to 24 percent by September where it has since been left unchanged. Erdogan, whose son-in-law is the finance and treasury minister, repeatedly criticized the central bank for keeping rates high.
“The President and the finance minister demanded his resignation, but Cetinkaya reminded of the bank’s independence and declined to resign,” the other source said.
“Those who removed the central bank governor overnight have lost the right to demand confidence in the country’s economy. The central bank is a captive being kept in the palace,” said the main opposition party spokesman Fakir Ozark, referring to Brogan’s office.
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Tripoli, which has only held out as long as it has supposedly because of Turkish support. @AKorybko Africa |
The GNA is comprised of Muslim Brotherhood fighters and their offshoots who came to power after 2011, which is why Erdogan supports them so strongly and has a stake in their continued leadership of the country, something that Haftar is adamantly opposed to because he sees his countrymen’s collaboration with Turkey as treasonous. Should Turkey suffer highly publicized losses at the hands of Haftar’s forces, then it might embolden the country’s Cypriot, Greek, Kurdish separatist, and Syrian enemies in its immediate neighborhood if they interpret those developments as a sign of weakness proving that the Turkish military is just a “paper tiger” incapable of properly defending its interests and/or defeating its first conventional military adversary in decades. Erdogan is therefore in a classic dilemma since he’s damned if he retreats but equally damned if he doesn’t and ends up being humiliated by Haftar. It’ll remain to be seen what ultimately happens, but Turkey is in a very tricky position nowadays and needs to be careful that it doesn’t get trapped in the Libyan quagmire.
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African Trade Pact Starts Operations With 54 Signatories @economics #AfCFTA Africa |
The members meeting at an African Union summit in Niger’s capital Niamey agreed on mechanisms that will underpin the accord, including determining the rules of origin, a digital payment system, an online tool for listing products and tariffs and a monitoring system to deal with non-trade barriers. The African Free Trade Agreement commits the governments to greater economic integration, as the signatory states begin a multiyear process to remove trade barriers including tariffs on 90% of commodities. The duty-free movement of goods is expected to boost regional trade, while also helping countries move away from mainly exporting raw materials and build manufacturing capacity to attract foreign investment. The agreement now includes 54 signatories, after Benin and Nigeria joined the accord on Sunday during the summit. In total, 27 countries including Kenya, Ghana, Gambia and Gabon have ratified the pact that came into force in May 2019. Morocco said it would ratify within days.
“Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country,” Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou said in an interview from Niamey. “Without Nigeria, the free trade zone would’ve been handicapped.”
Ghana will be home for the secretariat, or permanent office, of the trade zone, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi -- chairman of the African Union -- said in his closing statement. His nation along with Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Senegal and Madagascar had bid to be the host nation.
Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said his country is ready to give $10 million to help set up the office.
Trading with the slashed tariffs will start in July 2020 to give member states time to adopt the framework and prepare their business communities for the “emerging market,” said Albert Muchanga, the African Union’s commissioner for trade and industry. “We haven’t yet agreed on rules of origin and tariff confessions, but the framework we have is enough to start trading on July 1, 2020.”
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Africa |
In particular, five trade measures could bring total gains worth 4.5 per cent of Africa’s GDP, or $134 billion a year – almost the amount of all official development aid in 2017. The first is elimination of all bilateral tariffs. Second, country-of-origin rules (needed to determine the source of a product) should be kept simple, flexible, and transparent. Third, all nontariff barriers on trade of goods and services should be removed on a most-favored-nation basis. Fourth, the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement should be implemented to reduce the time it takes to cross borders and the transaction costs associated with nontariff measures. Lastly, tariffs and nontariff barriers applied to trade with other developing countries should be reduced by half on a most-favored-nation basis.
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08-JUL-2019 :: In Memoriam Bob Collymore. @TheStarKenya Kenyan Economy |
Last week I attended My Eldest Daughter's Graduation in Durham, a University that I had attended as well but not with as much distinction as Aysha who graduated with First Class Honours and of whom I am so proud. As I sat in The more than 1000 year old Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, It felt a little hallucinogenic. I wished My departed Mother and my Father-in-Law both of whom had adored Aysha had been with me and as I sat my mind also was thinking of another Friend Robert Collymore Esquire; Bob's Mum always called him Robert. I had been with Bob and with the Boys Club twice the preceding week and on the second occasion on the Saturday afternoon he had turned to Bharat and said
''I want to be cremated, How do I go about it?''
And Bharat referenced the Upanishads and Bob said I have read the Upanishads and I knew he had because some years ago he had read every religious source document including the Koran and was in the habit of asking me pointed questions about the Koran about which I was singularly ill qualified to answer especially given that I was probably quaffing his best whisky at the same time, to his chagrin but about which he indulged me.
I said this to the Financial Times
“He was right on top of his business, finger on the pulse, but at the same time he had this unhurried ability to make you feel that he had all the time in the world to hear what you had to say,” Mr Satchu said. “He saw it was about empowering Kenyans to join the 21st century, about putting the ability to communicate, the ability to do business, into their back pocket.”
The moments I savoured most were when Bob came back from a week-end in Seattle with Bill Gates and I would say
''Bill Gates huh?''
And he would say ''Yes and they wanted to hear what I had to say.''
And for a moment it was like we were little Boys [him from Guyana and I from Mombasa] and my experience was of course vicarious but those moments were the best. And Do You know it all began many years ago and in those days it was always about how Bob was filling ''some big shoes'' And Bob would turn to Patrick and say what about that headline about shoes [it was practically an every day thing] and Patrick would say let me speak to the Mzungu. Under Bob Safaricom grew more than 6 fold in market capitalisation. It was a Golden Age for Shareholders and the returns he served up were amongst the top percentile world-wide. The markets emit the purest Signal. It was a privilege to watch the Captain [He was the Captain of the Boys Club] navigate this incredible Journey. [Today, Safaricom is valued at 3x Airtel Africa. There is a ''Bob Collymore'' premium in that valuation, that's a fact] And he did it with empathy, panache and a very droll wit and because of his posture it is easy to skip over the complexity around the navigation. The Regulatory framework was oftentimes a minefield. He managed Multiple Stakeholders and always kept his Foot on the Accelerator. If there ever was a Golden Goose that laid Golden Eggs. The Pivot to Financial Services was a big Deal.
However, most of all Bob believed in the Information Century and in connecting every Kenyan. to that Information Superhighway. He once said ''I spend my time think about my $1.00 a day Boda Boda offering''
I condole with Bob's Wife Wambui and his Family and in the spirit of his syncretism will conclude with Kabir
BETWEEN the poles of the conscious and the unconscious, there has the mind made a swing: Thereon hang all beings and all worlds, and that swing never ceases its sway. Millions of beings are there: the sun and the moon in their courses are there: Millions of ages pass, and the swing goes on. All swing!
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