The Weekly Brief, by The Kenyan Wall Street, is a newsletter that goes out to 20k+ subscribers every Monday morning at 9 am (EAT).

It’s Valentine’s Week, It’s Fuel Week. So we’ll keep it short.

In this week’s issue, Egypt’s biggest private bank is making a big play in the region and it begins in Kenya, and CBK survey has some optimistic exceptions from Kenyan money makers.

Egypt’s Biggest Private Bank Bets Big On Kenya

Egypt’s largest private-sector listed bank, the Commercial International Bank (CIB), is gearing up to bolster trade relations with East Africa, with Kenya serving as its launch pad into the Sub-Saharan region.

• In January 2023, CIB Group finalized the acquisition of Mayfair CIB Bank Limited in Kenya, obtaining full ownership after regulatory approval.

• Since then, CIB has strengthened the Kenya unit, turning it profitable and expanding its branch network.

• Trade data reveals a steady increase in trade volume between Egypt and Kenya, reaching $663.6 million in 2022.

Key imports from Kenya to Egypt include coffee and tea, while Egypt exports paper, plastics, and sugar products to Kenya. Egypt is the second largest importer of Kenyan tea valued at US$243.38 Million during 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. 

“Politically, there has been alot more integration with Africa. East Africa makes perfect sense because of its proximity and Kenya is the gateway to East Africa,” Hussein Abaza​, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of CIB, said in an interview with The Kenyan Wall Street in Cairo.

CIB Group, with total assets valued at more than $26.8 billion, aims to leverage its robust financial position and banking expertise to facilitate trade between the two countries. The bank plans to enhance its presence in Kenya by establishing smaller branches in Nairobi and Mombasa while leveraging digital channels to offer banking services.

Common Dollar Crisis

Both Egypt and Kenya are grappling with a shortage of US dollars, which has heightened inflationary pressures and strained their economies. To mitigate these challenges, both countries are exploring alternative trade arrangements, such as barter systems, to sustain vital trade relationships.

“Egypt is a big market. With the number of bilateral and multilateral agreements that we have, we should open our economy more to neighboring African markets,” says Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ibrahim Ashmawy, noting that the country is committed expanding trade with Kenya.

Headlines You Might Have Missed

• The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) is yet to receive Ksh241B of unclaimed assets from public agencies and private firms, making it difficult to reunite beneficiaries with the Funds.

• KRA, ICPAK plan to work together to target professional tax malpractices.

• Kenya’s National Cyber Security Centre detected over 1.2 billion cyber threat events between October to December last year, representing a staggering 943.01 per cent jump from the preceding period.

• SACCOs, especially those that engage in the deposit-taking business, have continued to rebrand to appeal to more members and beat stiff competition for deposits BUT their regulator ignored CBK’s warnings about KUSSCO’s own admission of its activities.

Some Food Prices Expected to Declined in February

Some food prices might drop this month, most respondents to a CBK survey expect.

• Analysis using Balance of Opinion (BOO) points to an expected general decline in prices of most food items in February 2024.

• This mainly reflects the continued impact of favourable weather conditions in January 2024.

• For cereals and grains, some respondents noted that the expected supplies from the lower Eastern region, where harvesting of beans, maize and green grams is ongoing, will lead to a decline in the prices of these commodities.

The expectation that rice prices will increase was informed by concerns about increasing import costs, driven by the value of the Kenya shilling and deteriorating supply chains.

The price of processed and unprocessed milk is expected to decline further, supported by increased pasture resulting from favourable rainfall. Price expectations for vegetable items including kales/sukuma wiki, cabbages, spinach, and traditional vegetables point to a less pronounced decline in February 2024.

The respondents expected a lesser price decline one-month ahead, which largely reflects seasonal factors. Price expectations of onions, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes point to a decline, consistent with subsiding rainfall as these crops do well in a limited rainfall environment.

• Harvesting of onions in prime growing areas of Kajiado, namely, Kimana, Selengei, Namanga, and Oloitoktok is expected to start towards the end of February 2024

• Domestic prices of onions are also largely dictated by the production and pricing of onions from Tanzania.

• Expectations about prices of edible oils point to a decline in February 2024 due to the recovery of global palm oil production.

Most farmers from the lower Eastern region and Southern Rift Valley emphasized the need for water conservation through construction of dams, water pans and boreholes to improve production in agriculture.

Other respondents suggested that measures be put in place to reduce or subsidize cost of inputs, and subsidizing the cost of hiring farm equipment such as tractors, particularly during land preparation.

Upcoming Events

• Digital Retail Africa 2024: Johannesburg, 31 Jan.

• 7th Annual CEOs Breakfast: Nairobi, 8 Feb.

• Africa Tech Summit Nairobi: Sarit Expo Center, 14-15 Feb.

• Africa Agri Expo: Nairobi, 19-20 Feb.

• Africa Media Festival: National Museum, 21-22 Feb.

• Global Black Impact Summit: Dubai, 27 Feb.

Interview of the Week

Interview with Nneka Eze, the General Partner and Managing Director at VestedWorld

Have a great week!