Rand climbs to two-week high

Rand climbs to two-week high South Africa's rand strengthened on Wednesday to a two-week high, supported by firming demand for commodities in global markets.

Kenya's shilling was steady on Wednesday but could come under pressure this week due to increased importer dollar demand, traders said, while the Ugandan shilling was weaker on Wednesday, undercut by a surge in demand by commercial banks moving to cover short dollar positions as the year moves to a close.

Rwanda's central bank on Wednesday lowered its repo rate to 6.25% from 6.5% to help stimulate credit growth, governor John Rwangombwa said.

Ghana's gross domestic product growth in the third quarter of 2016 GDP rose to 4% year-on-year, up from 3.6% a year ago due to increased oil production, the statistics office said on Wednesday.

Angola will achieve its inflation and exchange rate targets in 2017, the southern African nation's central bank governor said this week.

Ivory Coast announced plans to build two 350 megawatt charcoal power stations in the western cocoa town of San Pedro by 2021 to address growing national demand for electricity, the government said on Wednesday.

NAMPA/REUTERS