*GHANA - Deadline for bondholders to agree to a domestic bond exchange program worth about $10.5 billion.
*Rwanda's statistics office is due to release its consumer inflation data for January.
GLOBAL MARKETS Asia-Pacific stocks fell on Friday, slumping toward a second weekly loss as investors fretted about the potential for further Federal Reserve tightening and the effect on the U.S. economy. WORLD OIL PRICES Oil prices fell in early trade on Friday but were still set for a weekly gain with the market continuing to seesaw between fears of a recession hitting the United States and hopes for strong fuel demand recovery in China, the world's top oil importer. EMERGING MARKETS For the top emerging markets news, double click on AFRICA STOCKS For the latest news on African stocks, click on SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS South Africa's rand firmed on Thursday as investors awaited President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address, which could offer some solution to ease a worsening power crisis. AFRICA CURRENCIES Kenya's shilling is forecast to weaken against the dollar in the week to Thursday, while Uganda's and Ghana's currencies will firm, and Zambia's, Tanzania's and Nigeria's hold steady, traders said. NIGERIA POLITICS Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday signed an executive order setting up a council to facilitate transition to a new president who will emerge after a Feb. 25 election. KENYA MARKETS Kenya's shilling was little changed on Thursday, but it was expected to soon lose ground again on dollar demand from general goods importers and oil-retailing companies at a time of limited supply, traders said. KENYA ELECTRICITY Africa-focused power firm Globeleq, owned by British and Norwegian development finance institutions, has awarded Japan's Toyota Tsusho a contract to build a 35 megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant in Kenya, the two companies said on Thursday. UGANDA BONDS Uganda asking holders of a local bond maturing in April to swap it for longer-tenured instruments is not a distressed exchange event, but "suggests heightened medium-term fiscal and monetary risks associated with rising debt servicing costs," the rating agency S&P Global said on Thursday. For the latest precious metals report click on For the latest base metals report click on For the latest crude oil report click on (Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom)
