Having overseen rapid economic growth in the past three years, Ghana’s finance minister insists his government will maintain fiscal discipline before December’s elections. However, he believes fuel subsidies should remain in place, at least for now.
Ghanaian banks are worried that rising interest rates and a depreciating currency could lead to a lot of volatility in the next few months. Nonetheless, they remain in good health and are likely to benefit in the coming years from the country’s rapid economic growth.
Ghana has been hurt by the weakness of its currency since late last year. Yet its economy, one of the fastest-growing in the world, is still in rude health, and investors are said to be increasingly bullish about the country, even if they are hindered by shallow capital markets.
Ghana has been a bastion of stability in a volatile west Africa for the past 20 years. It will have a chance to reassert its credentials in elections later this year and most analysts think it will succeed, despite political rhetoric becoming more heated in recent months.
Given the size of its economy and the rapid pace at which it is growing, Nigeria has a good chance of establishing an international financial centre to rival Johannesburg – Africa's only IFC. The west African country is already close to creating the legal framework necessary, but overcoming the negative perceptions of many international banks will prove a tricky obstacle to overcome.
Most African governments are keen to liberalise their financial sectors. Kenya’s would have sent a clear signal in the opposite direction had MPs passed proposals to cap interest rates earlier in 2012. For now, such a move seems off the table. But looming elections could change that.
Competition among Nigeria’s biggest banks will become even fiercer in the coming few years thanks to the creation of two new top-tier lenders in the wake of the country’s financial crisis. But the head of First Bank, the largest lender in Nigeria, is undaunted by the emergence of these rivals.
Angola’s vast oil reserves have helped it rebuild its shattered infrastructure and become one of the world’s fastest growing countries. But the country needs to develop the rest of its economy quickly to reduce its vulnerability to a fall in oil prices and tackle its high levels of poverty.
Angola’s banks are likely to grow faster than any others in Africa over the next decade, and they are also among the continent’s most profitable. But they will have to start innovating as increased competition and new regulations look set to make their presence felt.
Angola’s government has presided over 10 years of peace and booming economic growth, and neither looks likely to be disturbed in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, managing the expectations of Angolans over the next decade as the memory of civil war fades will become harder.
Rwanda’s monetary authorities stood out from their east African peers in 2011 for managing to withstand the severe inflationary pressures buffeting the region. Claver Gatete, governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, explains how this was done and what the country's government is doing to lure more foreign direct investment.
Nigeria’s capital markets have yet to recover fully after crashing in 2008. But thanks to extensive reforms by its regulators and a strengthening of investor sentiment amid rapid economic growth, the country's stock exchange is expected to take off in the next few years, and some bankers think its capitalisation can reach $1000bn by as soon as 2016.
Kenya’s banks have been quick to move into newly independent South Sudan. Although the country is one of the world’s poorest and its infrastructure dire, the opportunities for banking over the next decade are immense, many Kenyan bankers believe, and their efforts are already paying off.