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| Nico suppresses Masi |
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by
Ephraim Munthali, 30 September 2003
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09:59:27
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The Malawi Share Index (Masi) last week lost 0.4 points from 472.51 to 472.47 due to a slump in the share price of Nico Holdings from 65t to 60t, the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) said Friday.
The dip in Masi was on account of the decrease in the domestic share index from 208.61 to 472.47 points after the Nico fall, explained the bourse.
The Foreign Share Index, represented by Old Mutual, was steady at 195.19 points.
During the week, the market recorded trade activities in National Bank, Nico, Sugar Corporation of Malawi (Sucoma) and Old Mutual.
The trades, which saw a total of 128,439 shares changing hands, realised K302,000 from six deals.
Stock brokers forecast good performance from financial institutions in the first half of the year, followed by marketing while tourism is predicted to be the worst.
And in an apparent sign of worsening gross domestic borrowing, government will pay 44.08 percent more in interest on debts maturing after 182 days, up from 42.02 percent.
Interest on Treasury Bills (TBs) to be paid after 273 days is now up to 44.10 percent from 44.04 percent while tax payers will have to cough 44.06 worth of interest on the 91-day-debts.
The bourse said 63-day-RBM bills whose auction was held on September 23 slightly shot up to 39.90 percent from 39.87 percent while the 91-days tenor yield decreased from 42.36 percent.
The worsening domestic debt estimated at about K50 billion is blamed as the main catalyst to high interest rates and the rise in inflation.
Official figures indicate that seven percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on servicing debts when important sectors like health which get three percent of the GDP continue to suffer.
“What is sad is that most of these debts can be avoided if government curtails gross over expenditure,” said Perks Ligoya, Economic Association of Malawi (Ecama) spokesman.
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