IFC Bolsters Financing for African Health-Care Businesses

IFC Bolsters Financing for African Health-Care Businesses

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — The International Finance Corp. has started a $300 million fund for small and medium-sized health-care businesses in Africa to enable them to access essential medical equipment and boost their ability to deal with the coronavirus and other health challenges. Most smaller health-care operators can’t secure bank loans due to their perceived high investment risks, even as they serve more than half of the continent’s population, the IFC said in…

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Why Insurgency Places Mozambique’s Gas Riches at Risk: QuickTake

Why Insurgency Places Mozambique’s Gas Riches at Risk: QuickTake

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) — One of the world’s poorest countries could be transformed by Africa’s biggest-ever private investment splurge, but there’s a problem. Increasingly brazen attacks by Islamist insurgents are threatening plans to tap huge natural gas deposits found off Mozambique’s northern coast a decade ago. More than 2,600 people have died and over 700,000 have been displaced since the violence began in 2017. The country’s export ambitions are linked to giant projects…

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South Africa Accuses Johnson-Johnson of Unreasonable Vaccine Demands

South Africa Accuses Johnson-Johnson of Unreasonable Vaccine Demands

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa is facing delays to coronavirus-vaccine supplies because of “unreasonable terms” being demanded by manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson in return for delivering millions of much-needed doses, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said. The government has been notified by J&J that the company won’t sign off on the order agreed last month until it receives greater assurance of support from the state, Mkhize told lawmakers Wednesday, without being more…

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Are traditional investment portfolio allocations still relevant?

Are traditional investment portfolio allocations still relevant?

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – There has been much debate around whether there is still a place for traditional portfolios made up of 60% equities and 40% bonds. We believe that asset allocators have already in recent years moved considerably away from the traditional 60/40 portfolio and this trend looks set to continue. Bond allocations There is no doubt that bonds no longer provide the protection they used to. Bond yields are so low…

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Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label

Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will decline to name China as a currency manipulator in her first semiannual foreign-exchange report, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that allows the U.S. to sidestep a fresh clash with Beijing. The report, which is not yet finalized, is due on Thursday, although it is unclear when the department will release it. During the Trump era, the Treasury Department was…

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Corruption on the rise in Africa, 75 million Africans pay a bribe …

Corruption on the rise in Africa, 75 million Africans pay a bribe …

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — A majority of Africans say corruption has risen in the past 12 months and most governments are seen as failing in their duty to stop the abuse of power, bribery, and secret deals, according to a new opinion poll from Transparency International. In the report People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015, part of the Global Corruption Barometer, Transparency International partnered with Afrobarometer, which spoke to 43,143 respondents across…

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Fact from History: Is the party begins for Nigeria’s Equity Investors?

Fact from History: Is the party begins for Nigeria’s Equity Investors?

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The Nigeria’s Central Bank reduced its Monetary Policy Rates (MPR) by 200 basis points to 11.00 percent against market expectations and the country  macroeconomic fundamental outlook. The question is how will Nigerian equity markets reacts to this development? Many investors believe that when rates fall, the party begins for stock prices and rate hike is the party is over for stock prices. Is the party begins for Nigerian…

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