THE LOCAL

The Brexit: What implications for Africa? Investors in African markets panicked because many economies (such as Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia) were already reeling from low commodity prices exacerbated by a sluggish global demand. In these countries, Brexit added salt to the wounds of injured economies.  On what happens next, experts are uncertain, and African governments may need to redefine their trade and diplomatic relations with a post-Brexit Britain and Europe.  Trade and investment will be affected most by Brexit. Most of the trade arrangements the UK has with African countries were negotiated through the EU. This means the agreements will cease to apply or will have to be renegotiated when the UK finally leaves the EU, a process that will take two years from the time it officially informs the EU of its intention to pull out.  It will be a difficult time for Africa, as the UK will no longer shape and lead some of the most important initia...

When choosing a name for your new company, keep these tips in mind to help you find one that will work now--and in the future. Naming a business is a lot like laying the cornerstone of a building. Once it's in place, the entire foundation and structure is aligned to that original stone. If it's off, even just a bit, the rest of the building is off, and the misalignment becomes amplified. So if you have that gnawing sense that choosing a name for your new business is vitally important, you're right. Mistake #1: Getting the "committee" involved in your decision.  We live in a democratic society, and it seems like the right thing to do--to involve everyone (your friends, family, employees and clients) in an important decision. This approach, however, presents a few problems. The first and most obvious fact is that you'll end up choosing only one name, so you risk alienating the very people you're trying to involve. Second, you often end up with a con...

Share on Twitter   Share on Facebook   More options The EUR/USD pair extends its gradual retreat from multi-month tops of 1.1583 reached a day before, as broad based US dollar recovery gathers steam in tandem with the Treasury yields rebound. EUR/USD looks to test daily pivot at 1.1534 The corrective slide in the EUR/USD pair gained traction in the Asian trades, as the US dollar extended its recovery-mode from eleven-month troughs of 94.27 levels reached against its main competitor.  As the rejection of Trump’s Healthcare bill by the Senate Republicans re-ignited concerns over the Trump administration and its capability to deliver on the promised tax reforms. Adding to the greenback weakness yesterday, mixed US macro news aggravated concerns over dwindling US economic recovery, which could very well keep the Fed away from raising rates this year. On the other hand, markets are widely expecting the ECB to make a hawkish ann...

For companies, being able to meet short-term financial obligations is an integral part of maintaining operations and growing in the future. After all, if it's not able to meet today's debts, a company might not live to see another day! That's why it's essential for investors to know how to evaluate a company's short-term financial health. Here we take you through a few of the ratios that are the foremost tools for doing so. The Basics of Liquidity Among the many factors that determine a company's health such as its dividends, but a major indicator of its short-term financial health is liquidity, the definition of which depends on context. In stock trading, liquidity is the degree to which the market is willing to buy a particular stock. As a characteristic of an asset, liquidity refers to the ease with which an asset can be converted into cash. This is the definition of liquidity we are interested in. Let's compare two different kinds of assets: a buil...

ANALYSIS By Jomo Kwame  Kuala Lumpur — When we fail to act on lessons from a crisis, we risk exposing ourselves to another one. The 1997-1998 East Asian crises provided major lessons for international financial reform. Two decades later, we appear not to have done much about them. The way the West first responded to the 2008 global financial crisis should have reminded us to do more. But besides accumulating more reserves, Southeast Asia has not done much else. Crisis prevention and management First, existing mechanisms and institutions for preventing financial crises remain grossly inadequate. Financial liberalization continues despite the crises engendered. Too little has been done by national authorities and foreign advisers to check short-term capital flows while unwarranted reliance has been put on international adherence to codes and standards. There is also little in place to address the typically exaggerated effects of movements among major international currenci...