I don’t know about you, but 2009 has been one tough year for me and I’m more than glad to see it turn the final corner. At the beginning of this year I set out to accomplish some personal targets. Of the five targets, only two have turned out successful, two are still work in progress [considerable progress I would say] and one didn’t even take off. Sigh. I hope to improve on these in 2010.
Consumers Insight
Anyway, looking around here, I would say the year was tough for many Kenyans. Despite government’s efforts to conceal the true inflation rate by changing the mode of calculation, nothing much has changed. Prices of most essential commodities have doubled from a year ago. Petroleum, which affects everything in this small Kenyan economy, is in fact set to raise a notch higher come next year. How come prices never adjust downwards when conditions are favorable?
Tragedy
The year opened on a rather sad note, with the Nakumatt downtown fire followed closely by the Sachangwan oil tanker tragedy. I lost a close friend in the Nakumatt fire (RIP Belinda. You’ll always be in our hearts). Then the predicted drought hit hard. I’m told the Maasai, who are largely nomadic pastoralists, lost over 90% of their herds. Consequently, with the lack of rain, KPLC instituted a power rationing programme, while the water companies started rationing the precious commodity. Ironically, the drought has been followed by El nino rains with the same effects being expected.
Divisive Politics
Politically, I won’t say there is much to celebrate. Our so called political ‘leaders’ seem to have forgotten what we went through post 2007 general elections. They are still at their old divisive politics. Is it KK or KKK now? I stopped watching and reading Kenyan news after I was constantly fed with these disgusting political circuses by local media sources. The last time I checked, guys in Rift Valley were rearming for 2012, Youth in the northern part were joining Alshabab in droves, Coast province was threatening to secede and politicians were still bickering about the stupid constitutional reforms (which I believe won’t change a thing). Oh, and there was the Migingo circus.
Markets
And there is a new bubble in our securities markets. Since the equities bubble deflated in tandem with the global financial crisis on set, attention has been shifted to the fixed interest securities market. Bonds have become the darling of investors, with oversubscriptions every other week. This year has seen several bonds hit the market: the government infrastructure bond; the KenGen PIBO; and the Safaricom corporate bond among other. This is expected to continue into next year.
The equities market is still struggling. The trade volumes are still low and prices quite subdued, if not undervalued. Recently it has shown some signs of recovery, with Safaricom rising momentarily above the Ksh.5.00 listing price. The funniest thing happened when stockbrokers released their published result. The reports were simply pathetic, poorly done and most of them in losses. I hope they improve on them next year. CMA tried to restore some investor confidence with new regulations but we are yet to see their effects.
Technology
The long anticipated Fiber Optic cables landed at our shores. So SEACOM and TEAMS are already here with their high speed internet and we are waiting for EASSY next year, but internet is still slow and expensive. Any techie willing to explain that to us?
Consumers Insight
Anyway, looking around here, I would say the year was tough for many Kenyans. Despite government’s efforts to conceal the true inflation rate by changing the mode of calculation, nothing much has changed. Prices of most essential commodities have doubled from a year ago. Petroleum, which affects everything in this small Kenyan economy, is in fact set to raise a notch higher come next year. How come prices never adjust downwards when conditions are favorable?
Tragedy
The year opened on a rather sad note, with the Nakumatt downtown fire followed closely by the Sachangwan oil tanker tragedy. I lost a close friend in the Nakumatt fire (RIP Belinda. You’ll always be in our hearts). Then the predicted drought hit hard. I’m told the Maasai, who are largely nomadic pastoralists, lost over 90% of their herds. Consequently, with the lack of rain, KPLC instituted a power rationing programme, while the water companies started rationing the precious commodity. Ironically, the drought has been followed by El nino rains with the same effects being expected.
Divisive Politics
Politically, I won’t say there is much to celebrate. Our so called political ‘leaders’ seem to have forgotten what we went through post 2007 general elections. They are still at their old divisive politics. Is it KK or KKK now? I stopped watching and reading Kenyan news after I was constantly fed with these disgusting political circuses by local media sources. The last time I checked, guys in Rift Valley were rearming for 2012, Youth in the northern part were joining Alshabab in droves, Coast province was threatening to secede and politicians were still bickering about the stupid constitutional reforms (which I believe won’t change a thing). Oh, and there was the Migingo circus.
Markets
And there is a new bubble in our securities markets. Since the equities bubble deflated in tandem with the global financial crisis on set, attention has been shifted to the fixed interest securities market. Bonds have become the darling of investors, with oversubscriptions every other week. This year has seen several bonds hit the market: the government infrastructure bond; the KenGen PIBO; and the Safaricom corporate bond among other. This is expected to continue into next year.
The equities market is still struggling. The trade volumes are still low and prices quite subdued, if not undervalued. Recently it has shown some signs of recovery, with Safaricom rising momentarily above the Ksh.5.00 listing price. The funniest thing happened when stockbrokers released their published result. The reports were simply pathetic, poorly done and most of them in losses. I hope they improve on them next year. CMA tried to restore some investor confidence with new regulations but we are yet to see their effects.
Technology
The long anticipated Fiber Optic cables landed at our shores. So SEACOM and TEAMS are already here with their high speed internet and we are waiting for EASSY next year, but internet is still slow and expensive. Any techie willing to explain that to us?
Adios 2009!!
