Jan 19, 2021
FUND PERFORMANCE FUND MANAGERS REPORT AND OUTLOOK Fund Objective The Cytonn Money Market Fund is a low-risk fund that seeks to obtain a high level of current income while protecting investor’s capital and liquidity. Portfolio Strategy The portfolio objective will be to outperform the income yield available on money market call accounts and fixed deposit accounts by investing in interest-bearing securities and other short-term money market instruments. These securities are usually available to the wholesale or institutional clients. The Fund will also be managed conservatively with active management of duration, credit and liquidity risks. Economic Report and Outlook According to Kenya National Bureau...The Role of Kenya’s Capital Markets on Economic Growth
Jan 10, 2021
Business owners can fund their business through various means but they fall mainly into two main brackets i.e. equities or debt. There is occasional structuring that is done to get some in between the two forms of capital sources to enhance the attractiveness to potential investors. Globally, capital markets play a key role in ensuring that businesses get the requisite funding and that owners of Capital are well protected and get the return that is required. Most of the investments in the Capital Markets are long term in nature and it is therefore important that all the players actually understand the products that are offered in the markets before either issuing them to raise funds and also before buying into them. For instance, with the pandemic, there was a lot of volatility in most markets with the Kenyan equities market for example declining by 8.6% last year. Despite the volatility, it is important to note that capital markets continue to play a key role in econo...Jan 3, 2021
Economic Growth: During the first half of the year the economy contracted by 0.4% due to the 5.7% contraction in Q2’2020 down from a growth of 5.3% recorded in a similar period in 2019. The contraction was largely driven by the 83.3% decline in the accommodation and food sector following the closure of most facilities and also the reduction in tourist arrivals into the country. Some of the other sectors like agriculture helped cushion the economy from further decline. This is the first contraction since the third quarter of 2001 when the country recorded a 2.5% contraction. Considering the recent easing of some of the restrictions and reopening of some of the sectors we expect the economy to slightly rebound and this is already reflected by the improvement in PMI where we’ve seen readings as high as 59.1 in October 2020, pointing to an improvement in the Kenya private sector outlook. The IMF October Report: A long and difficult a...Sub-Saharan Africa Region Review
Jan 3, 2021
Economic Growth According to the World Bank’s latest African Pulse Issue, economic activity in the region is projected to have contracted by 3.3% in 2020, while the IMF, in their Regional economic outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa publication project a 3.0% contraction, from the 2.3% growth recorded in 2019. The contraction represents the first recession in Sub-Saharan Africa in 27 years, when the regional economy contracted by 0.9% in 1993 according to World Bank data. A combination of containment measures to curb the spread of the pandemic coupled with contraction in key sectors such as global trade, tourism and diaspora remittances contributed to subdued economic activity and the subsequent contraction in economic growth. The World B...Jan 3, 2021
Global Economic Growth Global growth is projected to have contracted by 4.4%, according to IMF, World Economic Outlook (October 2020) led by the significant contraction of 5.5% and 3.3% for the developed and developing economies respectively. The decline was largely due to the impact of COVID-19 more specifically: Worsening economic conditions as a result of COVID-19 infections leading to large disruptions in business activity than expected, Decline in consumption of goods and services as people had to rely on their savings due to loss of jobs and inactive business environment as well as effects from adhering to social distancing and movement restrictions set in place to reduce the Virus spread, Depressed mobility as both domestic and international travel, and, A contraction in global trade due to the measures put in place to control COVID-19 such as restricted movemen...