Currencies

News : Currencies

A FIRM rand had had a negative effect on profit for the six months to September, agricultural products group Crookes Brothers said yesterday. (AllAfrica)

Commercial banks in East Africa are losing billions of shillings annually through rogue dealers who are engaging in private foreign currency trading online, taking advantage of improved Internet connections and the 24-hour nature of the business. (AllAfrica)

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono on Friday said the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar is still a long way off, ending speculation the battered currency is on its way back. Over the past weeks, speculation has intensified that some sections of the inclusive government were preparing for the return of the reviled currency after President Robert Mugabe recently told villagers in Zhombe that the dollar would be revived. (AllAfrica)

The global currency trading market is a multi-trillion-dollar business where world currencies are exchanged back and forth on a daily basis. (AllAfrica)

DEBT problems in Dubai struck financial markets hard yesterday, sinking global stocks, lifting safe- haven bonds and driving the dollar higher. (AllAfrica)

THE rand was the strongest emerging-market currency yesterday, gaining as much as 1,75% to R7,46/ after it benefited from a weaker dollar and a gold price that reached new highs. (AllAfrica)

The images of past and current Kenyan heads of state could soon fade from local currency if the newly unveiled draft constitution sails through. (AllAfrica)

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Nigeria chapter has expressed concern over the declining fortunes of the Naira in recent times. (AllAfrica)

Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus has nailed her colours firmly to the mast of non intervention in the currency market and refraining from support to keep the rand at a particular level . (AllAfrica)

WILL a weak currency improve SA's competitiveness and be positive for growth and job creation, or be just a short-term solution, outweighed by longer-term damage? (AllAfrica)

My slow paced stroll at the Gaborone bus rank, which is always a bustle, is greeted by a quick motion of the hands by one of the white-clad women as she rubs two fingers of her left hand together. A double take and she confirms my suspicions with a question of whether I need to change any foreign currency. (AllAfrica)

FIGURES for September manufacturing and mining production - up 2,6% and 1,8% - show we're emerging from the recession, but SA is taking a lot longer to do so than its trading partners in Asia and Europe. (AllAfrica)

THE strong rand was firmly in the sights of the African National Congress (ANC)-led tripartite alliance, party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday. (AllAfrica)

ATTEMPTS to weaken the rand may backfire, given the clout of global markets and the potential cost to the economy, analysts say. (AllAfrica)

The government will seek out the views of organised business, companies and labour on the damaging effect of rand strength on the economy over the next two weeks in talks that could result in measures to weaken the currency. (AllAfrica)

Government would like to engage in an open debate with trade unions and private-sector economists on how to make the Rand more competitive, says Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel. (AllAfrica)

SA's net gold and foreign exchange reserves jumped 2,3% to 38,8bn last month, more than expected, as gold prices and the value of the Reserve Bank's foreign currency holdings climbed. (AllAfrica)

Dollarisation has brought many dynamics to the property market with analysts saying it will not be as easy as it has been for many players who built huge property portfolios ton the back of rising inflation. (AllAfrica)

THE relaxation of foreign exchange controls announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the stronger rand offer an opportunity for investors to diversify more of their funds offshore, say analysts. (AllAfrica)

THE Treasury unexpectedly announced sweeping new measures to relax exchange controls yesterday in a bid to weaken the rand to a more "competitive" level and cut red tape for investors. (AllAfrica)

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said the apex bank aims to keep the naira exchange rate at "around N150" per dollar and avoid fluctuations of more than 3 per cent. (AllAfrica)

'Nairisation' of crude (crude oil, condensate and gas) describes how our oil receipts can be adapted as effective and cost efficient tool in the strategy to make Nigeria one of the world's top 20 economies by the year 2020. (AllAfrica)

Importers are making merry over the current strength of the Shilling, saying it will boost their purchasing power. But the situation is leaving exporters in a tight corner as they anticipate lower demand for their exports. (AllAfrica)

The Uganda Shilling has this week continued its latest remarkable rise against the US Dollar. (AllAfrica)

VASTI Cedeno, a graduate student from the US, travelled to Uganda this year to visit friends and do research for her master's degree. To avoid high bank charges, she brought the money she planned to use in cash. However, to her misfortune, she carried her money in $20 and $50 bills. (AllAfrica)

Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon that cuts across every race and tribe; it is not an indigenous property of Nigeria. (AllAfrica)

In last week's article, "Dollar Reserves: Who Owns What?" we endeavoured to lift the shroud over the amorphous concept of Nigeria's foreign reserves. Incidentally, the Senate has lately in consonance with our position, also frowned at the illegality of the component of the reserves defined as excess crude account! (See Daily Independent headline of 23/10/2009, "Sharing of $2bn Excess Crude Fund Illegal - Senate"). (AllAfrica)

One of the most unpredictable factors in international transactions in the past few years has been the strength of the US dollar. (AllAfrica)

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of UBA Ghana, Mr. Gabriel Edgal has decried the use of foreign currency in facilitating trade across four sister countries in the West African sub-region. (AllAfrica)

During the month of September, there has been a further decline in international reserves due to the appreciation of the Namibia dollar against major currencies and various Government foreign payments. (AllAfrica)

At the peak of the crude oil price boom in 2007, this commodity sold for as high as $150/barrel on the international market and Nigeria fortuitously garnered her highest ever external reserves of over $60bn. This figure would have exceeded $72bn, but for the 'illegal' withdrawal of about $13bn to exit the controversial Paris and London Club debts just over three years ago! (AllAfrica)