UGANDA
Inflationary pressure feared
Uganda’s central bank held its benchmark lending rate at 11 percent yesterday, citing renewed inflationary pressure. Policymakers said the bank expected annual core inflation would rise slightly over the next two or three months, before falling back towards its medium-term target of 5 percent. The rate was at 5.5 percent last month. Central bank governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile said the bank had raised its economic growth forecast for the 2013/14 fiscal year to 6 percent from an initial forecast of 5.1 percent. “The adverse weather conditions being experienced in most parts of the country could push up prices in the near term and this poses an upward risk to the inflation forecast,” he said. – Reuters
TOGO
Ecobank goes on hiring drive
Ecobank Transnational, Africa’s most geographically diverse lender, is seeking a new investment banking chief as it hires people across the continent to tap growth. Ecobank is based in Lomé, Togo. Its corporate and investment banking arm had almost 600 staff in 33 African countries as well as in Paris and London, said Albert Essien, the bank’s deputy group chief executive. “We’ve been building the team and we’re now a commercial bank with an investment arm, like Standard Bank,” Essien said. “We’re also building a transaction services team.” Ecobank merged its corporate and investment banking businesses last year to compete with larger rivals. – Bloomberg