The country ranks after South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria. However, it has outperformed Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and Angola.

The decline in business activities coincided with the renewed drop in new business intakes.

Selling charges also rose at a subdued pace, despite some reports of price discounting.

They emphasised that while banks can have discretion over interest rate changes within mutually agreed contracts, this discretion is neither absolute...