its a bear alright, and i actually hope it holds for a little longer...

@Hisah you are right...Banking executives must be sweating like hell...the weak Sh and double digit inflation is messing them up bad..interest rates will keep rising...i see a huge spike in NPL's...banks exposed to the low segment of the market and those not into regions will come off worse...the economy wont grow not a recession Mr Hisah

@Guru this Hisah guy is a genious..the devaluation of the Shilling can force East Africa into a recession...i love history Asian financial crisis of 97 were precipitated by weak currencies..uhmm Kenya needs guys like him at CBK...@Hisah do you have a linkedin profile?

I feel some of you guys are contradicting yourselves; we all agree that the economic problems u aptly capture "are deep" and double digit, and it's not a blip, and no workable solution is on the table yet. With the same mouth, we talk of a recovery in 2012. Yes months!

How so fast when there is no anti-dote on the table? Consider that we haven't even reached the bottom of the food shortage yet, let alone the currency and inflation issue. Plus that inflation increases significantly every election year thanks to increased money in circulation. 2012 may be worse or sustained, especially if the short rains fail too. Is months too optimistic or am I too pessimistic?

Diamond trust is a bank that has been focusing on the SME sector more than any other bank and is backed by the IFC for growth and it is all currently paying off tremendously
TPS is definitely on the right path as you have already mentioned..

The funny thing is that JUBILEE HOLDINGS owns a substantial part and has a seat on the board of directors of both the above mentioned companies.
So why not buy jubilee to get exposure to both firms plus much more it has to offer??

Btw..i am enjoying the drizzles. This should see kitchen recurrents like veggies, potato, tomato, milk ease. I think there will be lower food inflation in H2. And also the ease in diesel & kerosene prices c/o fiscal intervention should contribute further somewhat.

If the concern is about foreigners pulling out of the NSE then I am listening. But then again..they will not have learnt that they are better off here as it were in 08/09 where as much as the NSE tanked..our banks still posted double digit growth in earnings. Me I am Kenyan with Pan-african interests, hapa ndo nakulia.

i second, third,forth,fifth,sixth that !!!!!!!!!!!

Lets look at this hypothetically. After listening to Ndung'u yesterday, i started thinking.
1.If the greek PM fails the no confidence vote today it means they can't pass any austerity measures within the 12 days remaining & most definately will default & go broke leaving most European & American banks with an exposure of about $2 trillion in Greece, Portugal & Spain.
2. With the above scenario everybody is dropping Euro dominated assets for the 'weakening' dollar & going to any market as long as its not European. Now if Kenya's currency is taken as weaker to the dollar & investors are looking for economies to park their cash at, Kenya becomes a destination only if political noise goes down & the shilling stabilizes at around 95.
3. Looking at this situation you'll realize that most of these 'investors' right now don't want to park their cash in Emerging & Frontier markets with strong currencies that can be easily affected by Greece's insolvency but in markets that they can easily control the dynamics within.
As Kenya if this is played right & with most of international multinational financial institutions within fully exposed in Europe, they might or are seriously looking at Africa & who says it can't be Kenya. Stanchart has opened its regional hq here which speaks volumes & as Ndung'u said yesterday we control inflation the rest of the chips will fall in place.