Global oil prices have hiked weeks after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) reduced prices in its December 2024- January 2025 review, a report by the Central Bank of Kenya has revealed.
In its weekly Bulletin released on Friday, December 27, CBK said international oil prices increased during the week ending December 24, reflecting a high demand for global oil.
According to the bulletin, the rise of global oil prices was mainly driven by optimism that China’s economic stimulus efforts will lead to a recovery in demand.
“International oil prices increased during the week ending December 24. The price of Murban oil increased to USD 74.19 on December 24, 2024, from USD 73.06 on December 19, supported by optimism that China’s economic stimulus efforts will lead to a recovery in demand,” CBK stated.
The announcement by CBK that global oil prices have risen comes after EPRA in its monthly review report released on Saturday, December 14, reduced prices of Super Petrol, Diesel, and Kerosene by Ksh4.37, 3.00 and 3.00 respectively.
At the same time, the Central Bank announced that the Kenya Shilling remained stable against major international and regional currencies during the week ending December 24.
It exchanged at Ksh129.30 to the US dollar on December 24, compared to Ksh129.29 per US dollar on December 19.
Inflation rates in the major economies, on the other hand, was volatile amid monetary policy easing.
Japan’s core inflation increased to 2.7 percent in November from 2.3 percent in October supporting expectations that the Bank of Japan would gradually raise rates.
The US dollar index weakened by 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies during the week ending December 24.
The usable foreign exchange reserves remained adequate at USD 9,201 million (4.7 months of import cover) as of December 24.
“This meets the CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least 4 months of import cover,” the bulletin adds.
Internationally, The United Arab Emirates has emerged as Africa's leading investor, committing $110 billion to new business projects between 2019 and 2023, with $72 billion allocated to renewable energy initiatives.
The investment surge, outpacing traditional investors like the UK, France, and China, includes major infrastructure developments through Dubai-based DP World's management of six African ports and Abu Dhabi Ports' expansion into Guinea, Egypt, Congo, and Angola.
The mining sector has seen notable activity with International Resource Holdings' $1.1 billion acquisition of a 51% stake in Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines.
The Dubai port operations extend across 20 African countries, while Emirati companies have diversified into agriculture, telecoms, and carbon credit markets across Zimbabwe, Liberia, Zambia, and Tanzania.
The implementation of announced projects faces various challenges, including delays in Masdar's $2 billion solar power investment in Zambia due to financial constraints at the state utility ZESCO, and concerns about gold trading practices, with Swissaid reporting $115.3 billion in unaccounted exports to Dubai between 2012 and 2022.
Elsewhere, Access Bank Plc, Nigeria's leading financial institution, has secured N351bn ($228m) through a rights offer, strengthening its capital base to N600bn - 20% above Nigeria's new regulatory requirements for international banks.
The fully approved capital raise by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Securities Exchange Commission allows Access Bank to accelerate its global expansion into Morocco, Egypt, and the US markets, while supporting its goal to double non-Nigerian assets by 2027.
The successful rights offering of 17.7 billion shares at N19.75 each represents the first phase of Access Bank's broader $1.5bn capital raising strategy, responding to Nigeria's central bank directive for major commercial banks to increase capital to N500bn by March 2026.
This move follows Access Bank's recent agreement to acquire South Africa's Bidvest Bank for R2.8bn ($158m).
Across the Boarder, Western Union and PostBank Uganda Ltd have partnered to launch international money transfer services through the Wendi Mobile Wallet, enabling Ugandans to send and receive funds across Western Union's network of over 200 countries.
The co-branded digital service integrates with PostBank's Wendi wallet, which offers users the ability to manage funds via smartphones and feature phones, with the added benefits of 10% annual interest on daily savings, bill payments, and access to micro-financial services.
Through Wendi, users can now receive international transfers directly to their wallets, send money to global bank accounts and mobile wallets, access cash at Wendi kiosks nationwide, and utilize various financial services.
Finally, The South African Reserve Bank has fined Capitec Bank R56.25 million for breaching anti-money laundering rules, with R10.5 million suspended for three years from July 2024.
The penalties follow regulatory inspections in 2021 and 2022 that revealed gaps in customer verification, transaction tracking and reporting protocols between 2017 and 2022.
The violations include, poor client identity checks, inadequate ownership verification and delayed reporting of suspicious activities.
The bank has accepted these compliance failures across its retail and business divisions, pledging to implement necessary fixes.
The Prudential Authority's review uncovered multiple Financial Intelligence Centre Act breaches, leading to formal warnings and targeted fines.