NAIROBI, June 14 (Reuters) – The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell on Friday as investors pondered the outlook for U.S. rates after the Federal Reserve tempered its rate-cut views even as inflation came in softer than expected, while the yen was shaky before the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting.

WORLD OIL PRICES

Oil prices eased on Friday as markets evaluated the impact of U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer than anticipated, but crude benchmarks headed for their best week in more than two months after solid projections for crude and fuel demand.

SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS

The South African rand edged lower on Thursday as talks to try to form a government of national unity continued.

AFRICA CURRENCIES

The Kenyan shilling is forecast to firm against the dollar over the next week to Thursday while Ghana’s cedi is expected to weaken and Zambia’s kwacha to hold steady, traders said.

NIGERIA WORLD BANK

The World Bank has approved a total of $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to help stabilise its economy following reforms and scale up support for the poor, it said in a statement on Thursday.

NIGERIA DANGOTE REFINERY

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote says his petroleum refinery on the outskirts of Lagos owes $2.7 billion in loans taken out to help build the 650,000 barrels per day plant.

KENYA MARKETS

Kenya’s shilling was steady on Thursday and was expected to gain ground, helped by dollar inflows from the agriculture and tourism sectors, traders said.

KENYA BUDGET

Kenya’s 2024/25 budget aims to tackle the country’s debt while protecting its fragile economic recovery, with growth estimated at 5.5% in 2024 and 2025, Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u said on Thursday.

UGANDA BUDGET

Uganda hopes to limit rising debt by focusing on concessional borrowing and curbing commercial loans next fiscal year, its finance minister said on Thursday, after a credit rating downgrade last month.

TANZANIA BUDGET

Tanzania’s budget will rise 11.2% to 49.35 trillion Tanzanian shillings ($18.90 billion) in the 2024/25 financial year starting in July, largely aimed to help the government service its debts, the finance minister said on Thursday.

BURUNDI BUDGET

Burundi’s budget will rise 15.9% to 4.4 trillion Burundi francs ($1.5 billion) in the 2024/25 financial year starting in July, largely because of the unfreezing of civil servants’ salary bonuses, Finance Minister Audace Niyonzima said on Thursday.

RWANDA POLITICS

Rwanda has named statistics official Yusuf Murangwa as its new finance minister, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente said, while the foreign minister will be Olivier Nduhungirehe, its ambassador to the Netherlands.

GHANA DEBT

Ghana and its bondholders will restart talks next week to hash out a debt restructuring deal on $13 billion of international bonds, four sources told Reuters, on the heels of a deal finalised with official creditors earlier this week.

IVORY COAST COCOA

Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator has suspended purchase and export of cocoa beans for the month of June, sources said on Thursday, in a bid to retain sufficient stock for local grinders to keep their factories running.

((Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom))