*Today’s News Highlights* ▪ *IFC expands Kenya portfolio by Sh51bn* The International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested an additional $400.56 million (Sh51.76 billion) in Kenyan companies in the form of loans, guarantees and equity stakes in the year ended June 2024, entrenching the institution’s portfolio in the local market. Disclosures for the financial year to June 2024 shows that IFC’s investments to the local private sector rose to $5.4 billion (Sh 697.82 billion at current exchange rates) in the review period compared to the previous year’s $4.99 billion (Sh633.4 billion at prevailing exchange rates). ▪ *Boon for coffee farmers as CMA now caps auction service fee at 1.8 percent* The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has capped the service fees on the gross value of crops traded on the Nairobi Coffee Exchange(NCE) at a lower 1.8 percent, marking savings for growers who market their produce through the weekly action. Kenya’s coffee is marketed either through the sale at the NCE or sold directly to buyers abroad. The changes under the newly gazetted Capital Markets (Coffee Exchange) (Fees)Regulation,2024 mean that service provider fees fall from the previous cap of 2.1 percent of the gross value of the traded crop. ▪ *Top banks step up interest rate cuts amid CBK pressure* Top banks are scrambling to cut lending rates days after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) warned of daily fines as a punishment for failure to lower the cost of loans for individuals and businesses. Equity Bank of Kenya, KCB Bank Kenya and Co-operative Bank of Kenya have publicly announced cuts on their lending rates by between one and three percentage points, signalling a thawing of the standoff between them and the regulator. ▪ *Motorists face new vehicle insurance, congestion taxes* Motorists face higher costs of operating their vehicles as the government plans to reintroduce controversial taxes on insurance premiums and carbon emissions to shore up revenues for road construction and maintenance. The Ministry of Transport has disclosed the plan to reintroduce car insurance premium tax and congestion levy in a National Tolling Policy published on Tuesday this week—marking a return of the revenue-raising measures that were shelved last year amid youth-led street protests against the Finance Bill, 2024. ▪ *Kenya’s food import bill drops 12 percent* Kenya’s food import bill has fallen for the first time in four years, reflecting improved local output of crops such as maize and sugarcane on the State input subsidy programme amid relatively favourable weather. Expenditure on food from abroad dipped by a double-digit rate to an estimated $2.065 billion (about Sh266.39 billion) in the year ended last December, provisional data from the Kenya Revenue Authority and Central Bank of Kenya shows. _Courtesy: Business Daily_ https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaBcBIRAzNbtD1l1eA1k