The International Monetary Fund's Africa head Abebe Aemro Selassie said the following at the end of last week in Washington.
''Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa this year is set to drop to its lowest level in more than 20 years. We are, at the moment, projecting close to the order of 1.4 percent as you will have seen, lower than last year's 3.5 percent and indeed, much below the five percent and more that the region was enjoying between 2010 and 2014''
''Wrapping up, I would like to stress that we view Sub-Saharan Africa as a region of immense economic potential, but in some cases, this potential has been stymied at the moment by elevated macroeconomic imbalances and rising policy uncertainty. Addressing these challenges promptly and forcefully will be important in the coming months''
Kenya is projecting to grow at 6 per cent in 2017.
Sterling is trying to find a footing after a precipitous fall last week to trade just above the 1.24 level versus the dollar.
New York crude oil pushed through the $50.00 a barrel level to trade at 50.52 last.
The Nairobi All Share eased a marginal 0.02 points to close at 138.15.
The Nairobi NSE20 edged -2.41 points lower to close at 3258.93.
Equity turnover was muscular and clocked Sh1.010 billion with Safaricom transacting 75% of that,
Safaricom saw heavy volume action and traded 37.949 million shares worth Sh777.246 million and closed unchanged at Sh20.25. The weighted average closing price was Sh20.48 signalling prices are biased higher. Safaricom has posted a 32.69% total return through 2016 and remains on a rock-solid growth trajectory.
Kenya Airways firmed 3.7% to close at a fresh three month high of Sh4.20. Kenya Airways traded 47,200 shares. Kenya Airways has rallied +20% over the last four weeks.
Deacons was marked down limit down to close -9.94% at Sh7.70 on light trading of 3,700 shares.
TPS Serena was up-ticked 4.419% to close at Sh18.90. Tourism remains a gently sloping upwards curve which is supportive for a share price that is egregiously priced.
Equity Group shaved off -0.833% to close at Sh29.75 but interestingly was trading session highs of Sh32.25, 7.25% at the closing Bell. Equity traded 4.414 million shares worth Sh132.040 million. Equity is -20.625% on a total return basis and has rebounded 16.66% off a 2016 low from last month.
KCB Group closed unchanged at Sh27.75 and traded 554,700 shares.
COOP Bank firmed 25cents to close at Sh12.65 and was lightly traded with just 33,100 shares changing hands.
EABL firmed 0.71% to close at Sh282.00 and traded 219,600 shares. Safaricom and EABL are ''must-haves'' for international investors, in particular.
KPLC firmed 2.777% to close at Sh9.25.
Trans-Century bounced a further 75 cents to close at Sh9.65