By Rachel Savage JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Africa’s economic growth is set to edge upwards in 2023 and 2024 amid tighter global monetary policy and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but South Africa’s will plummet, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said. The continent’s GDP growth is projected to rise to 4% this year and 4.3%…
By Chijioke Ohuocha ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s annual economic growth rate slowed to 2.3% in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, hurt by a government plan to swap old banknotes for newly designed ones that disrupted trade and payments. The gross domestic product (GDP) data came hours before a central bank interest rate announcement…
By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand’s central bank on Wednesday signalled it was done tightening after raising rates by 25 basis points to the highest in more than 14 years at 5.5%, ending its most aggressive hiking cycle since 1999. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) indication the official cash rate (OCR) would…
By Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s president appointed a caretaker prime minister on Wednesday to form a government that will lead the country to a repeat election on June 25, after last weekend’s inconclusive vote. The conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stormed to victory polling 40.1% last Sunday, but fell…
By Fergal Smith TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index will rally less than previously expected in 2023 as higher borrowing costs cool the domestic economy and signs China’s recovery is slowing reduce prospects for its resource shares, a Reuters poll found. The median prediction of 22 portfolio managers and strategists in the May 10-23…
BEIJING (Reuters) – April sales of Chinese lottery tickets jumped to their highest in a decade, data showed on Wednesday, with economists saying young people in particular were keener to try their luck amid greater economic uncertainty in the wake of the pandemic. The world’s second-largest economy is recovering from three years of stringent COVID-19…
By Alexander Winning and Tannur Anders JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed more than expected in April to an 11-month low of 6.8% in annual terms, data showed on Wednesday, but analysts and markets still expect the central bank to hike interest rates on Thursday. Inflation had edged up for two consecutive months…
(Reuters) – Bank of Montreal’s second-quarter profit jumped as higher interest rates shored up the lender’s net interest income, the Canadian bank said on Wednesday. Net income excluding one-off items rose to C$2.22 billion ($1.65 billion), or C$2.93 per share, for the three months ended April 30, compared with C$2.19 billion, or C$3.23 a share,…
By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The slumping U.S. transportation sector could be bouncing off a bottom as retailers start preparing for the back-to-school season and winter holidays, but political brinkmanship in Washington and interest rate hikes could threaten long-term consumer demand, economists and supply chain executives said. Retailers like Walmart and Target have…
A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan World markets are finally bracing for accidents as the U.S. debt ceiling impasse threatens to empty U.S. government coffers as soon as next week, but a return of 6% policy interest rates to the risk radar is just as jarring. Fear…
