APA life assurance negative outlook
Diaspora remittance
Kenya moves 12 positions in the global ease of doing business
News Analysis
APA life assurance negative outlook
By Jack odhiambo odhiambo @ thinkbusiness . co . ke
Global Credit Rating ( GCR ) downgraded APA Life Assurance financial strength rating to BBB ( KE ) from BBB +( KE ). The rationale behind the downgrade comes in the wake of APA Life ’ s reduced capitalization from KSh . 455 million in 2015 to KSh 373 million in 2016 . The drop widely deviates from the expectations of an improvement to about KSh . 700 million . The reduction in capital was due to low capital generation from operations accompanied with large transfers from statutory reserves , cumulatively amounting to KSh . 274 million over the past two years . This has reduced the bonus stabilization and statutory reserve , and fully utilized a capital injection of KSh . 200 million made in 2015 . APA Life ’ s aggregate operating margins are likely to remain constrained over the rating horizon despite considerable progress in curtailing attritional losses . The rating is valid until September 2018 .
Apollo Investment Limited has pledged to inject capital into the downgraded subsidiary . Apollo Group Chief Executive Ashok Shah said APA Life ’ s credit rating will not have significant impact on the group performance . APA Insurance was accorded a stable outlook of A ( KE ).
“ The market is aware of our seriousness to continue to grow our market share . We have plans to bolster the significance of our life business . It is important to note APA Life is part of Apollo Group , which has a strong capital base and the downgrade is unlikely to have any lasting impact on the group ” said Mr . Shah TB
Diaspora remittance
By Jack odhiambo odhiambo @ thinkbusiness . co . ke
September foreign inflow increased by 22.9 % to US $ 176.098 million in 2017 from US $ 143.188 million in 2016 , according to the Central Bank of Kenya . This is the second month in a row that the remittance touched a record high after hitting US $ 166.412 million in August , which had broken the May record of $ 161.501 . The cumulative inflows throughout the year 2017 till September were US $ 1.382 billion , 8.24 % higher than those received in 2016 over the same period that stood at US $ 1.277 billion .
The Central Bank of Kenya monitors monthly diaspora remittance through formal channels such as the commercial banks and other authorized international remittance service providers in Kenya .
57 % of the remittance in September came from North America , 31 % from Europe and 12 % from the rest of the world . This figures consolidates foreign remittance as the country ’ s top foreign exchange earner ahead of exports and tourist receipts .
According to CBK governor , Dr . Patrick Njoroge , the September inflows have played a major role in supporting the Kenyan shilling which has been relatively stable and marginally depreciating by 1.14 % against the US dollar this year . “ The remittance have been resilient . They have just been climbing , climbing , climbing . There is a balanced ( foreign exchange ) market on the whole ” said Dr . Njoroge TB
Kenya moves 12 positions in the global ease of doing business
By Nelius Kanyingi nelly @ thinkbusiness . co . ke
Kenya was ranked 80 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business , according to the latest World Bank annual ratings . The country improved to 80 in 2017 from 92 in 2016 . The country was ranked the third position in the continent behind Mauritius and Rwanda . However commendable , the worst performance areas include registration of property where the country was ranked 125th position , 124th dealing in construction permits and 106 trading across the borders .
According to the report , Kenya improved the reliability of electricity by investing in its distribution lines and transformers and by setting up a specialized squad to restore power when outages occur .
Kenya also improved access to credit information by starting to distribute data from two utility companies .
Other notable improvements include making construction permits less expensive by eliminating fees for clearances from the National Environment Management Authority ( NEMA ) and the National Construction Authority as well as merging procedures required to start-up and formally operate a business .
Kenya made paying taxes easier by implementing an online platform , iTax , for filing and paying corporate income tax and the standards levy . Kenya also reduced the time for import documentary compliance by utilizing its single window system , which allows for electronic submission of customs entries TB
8 | THINK BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 2017