Kenya’s inflation rate is likely to remain low in the near future as the performance of east Africa’s biggest economy improves, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said on Friday. In a statement expounding upon the MPC’s decision to keep its key central bank rate (CBR) at seven percent on Tuesday, Central Bank of…
White House adviser Paul Volcker will urge Congress to curb the risks taken by large banks to help prevent them from being treated as “too big to fail,” according to a testimony. Detailing a recent proposal known as “the Volcker rule,” the former Federal Reserve Chairman will tell lawmakers that commercial banks’ proprietary and speculative…
Lawmakers challenged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s credibility recently after he said he was not involved in a decision by bailed-out insurer AIG to withhold details about $62bn paid to banks. Geithner held his ground at a hearing, however, insisting the government-funded rescue which cost more than $180bn had been necessary to avert economic collapse. Big…
London-based oil explorer Tullow Oil launched a placing of 80.4 million shares on Wednesday, equivalent to 10 percent of its outstanding shares, to pay for development of assets in Uganda. Based on Tuesday’s closing price of 1,216 pence, the sale would raise almost £1bn. Tullow said the money will be needed to meet higher capital…
The Bank of Japan may sound less pessimistic about the economy on Tuesday but it will likely keep its bias skewed towards further monetary easing, with the finance minister pressuring it again to do its utmost to fight deflation. But it remains ready to ease monetary conditions in the future, such as by buying more…
Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, has said the US economy could take years to recover from recession and predicted taxes will have to rise to bring the federal budget into balance. Speaking on ABC’s Good Morning America, Gates also warned against too much government intervention and urged President Obama to focus policy on long-term…
Ahmadinejad, who faces opposition protests seven months after his re-election, also said Iran “will have good news over production of 20 percent enriched fuel in February”. “This news will make the Iranian nation and other independent nations happy,” he told reporters in parliament after presenting the budget to parliament. Critics accuse Ahmadinejad of squandering the…
Chinese inflation remains tame, but prices have been creeping up in the past few months and policymakers may not only have to step up their rhetoric but also the pace of monetary tightening to prevent Wang’s fears from becoming a reality. “I really worry that prices may rise more quickly in the future, especially for…
President Obama threatened to fight Wall Street banks on Thursday with new proposals to limit financial risk taking, sending stocks and the dollar tumbling. “If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” he told reporters at the White House, flanked by his top economic advisers and lawmakers. “We should no…
Continental projected a drop in its unit revenue for January, surprising investors who expected revenue per available seat mile (RASM) numbers to improve as it has been doing in the last few months. The projections were driven by a slow recovery of business traffic and stronger-than-expected leisure demand in December, executives said. “We are seeing…
