Topicals



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Recent Topicals

National Housing Development Fund (NHDF)

May 14, 2023

According to the World Bank, Kenya's urbanization rate stood at an average of 3.7% as of 2021, higher than the global average of 1.6%. Similarly, the annual population growth rate averaged 1.9% as of 2021, which is also higher than the global average of 0.9%. As a result, the demand for housing in Kenya is very high, far exceeding the available supply, with Centre for Affordable Housing Finance Africa (CAHF) estimating that there is an 80.0% annual housing deficit in Kenya. This is evidenced by the fact that only 50,000 new houses are delivered annually in the country, whereas the demand is estimated to be at about 250,000 units per year. This leaves a shortfall of about 200,000 houses per year, which is a significant gap to fill....

Nairobi Metropolitan Area Residential Report 2023

May 7, 2023

Last year, we published our Nairobi Metropolitan Area (NMA) Residential Report 2022, titled ‘Improved Property Prices to Shape Market Recovery,’ in which we examined the performance of 35 residential nodes. This week, we update our analysis with the Nairobi Metropolitan Area (NMA) Residential Report 2023 titled ‘Resilient Market with Steady Growth Potential’ by highlighting the residential sector's performance in the region in terms of price appreciation, rental yields, and market uptake, based on the coverage of 35 regions within the Nairobi Metropolis. We also shall also discuss factors influencing residential supply and demand, current developments affecting the industry, and conclude with a look at investment options as well as the sector's general outlook for the coming fiscal year. As such, we shall discuss the foll...

Unit Trust Funds Performance, FY'2022

May 1, 2023

Unit Trust Funds (UTFs) are Collective Investment Schemes that pool funds from different investors and are managed by professional fund managers. The fund managers invest the pooled funds in a portfolio of securities such as equity stocks, bonds or any authorized financial securities, with the aim of generating returns to meet the specific objectives of the fund. Following the release of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Quarterly Statistical Bulletin-Q1’2023, we analyze the performance of Unit Trust Funds for the period ending 31 December 2022, whose total Assets Under Management (AUM) have been steadily incr...

Kenya Listed Banks FY’2022 Report

Apr 23, 2023

Following the release of the FY’2022 results by Kenyan listed banks, the Cytonn Financial Services Research Team undertook an analysis on the financial performance of the listed banks and identified the key factors that shaped the performance of the sector. For the earnings notes of the various banks, click the links below: Equity Group FY’2022 Earnings Note; KCB Group FY’2022 Earnings Note; Standard Chartered Bank Kenya FY’2022 Earnings Note; ABSA Bank Kenya FY’2022 Earnings Note;

Kenya’s Public Debt Review 2023: Is Kenya’s Public Debt Level Sustainable?

Apr 16, 2023

Debt sustainability has been a critical issue in the Sub-Saharan Africa region as several countries are facing high risk of debt distress. We have seen countries such as Zambia and Ghana having to restructure their debt to avoid a complete default on their loans. Similarly, concerns remain high on Kenya’s debt sustainability as a result of the continued rise in country’s debt levels with institutions such as World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stressing on the need for Kenya to focus on fiscal consolidation. As of December 2022, total public debt stood at Kshs 9.1 tn translating to a debt to GDP ratio of 63.0%, 13.0% points above IMF’s recommended threshold of 50.0% for developing countries. Additionally, debt service to revenue ratio stood at 47.9%, 17.9% points above IMF’s recommended threshold of 30.0%, highlighting how much public debt servicing weighs on the country’s expenditure. Most of the external debt is denominated in USD at...