Zimbabwe Plans $1 Billion Infrastructure Bond in 2019 for Roads

Zimbabwe Plans $1 Billion Infrastructure Bond in 2019 for Roads

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe plans to sell $1 billion of bonds next year to fund projects that include expanding the main road between the capital and the border with South Africa, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. The southern African nation wants to improve the highway linking Harare with the border town of Beit Bridge, he told business leaders in the capital Friday. Yesterday, Ncube unveiled his 2019 budget in which he cut…

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Protests Erupt in Zimbabwe After Ruling Party Wins Landslide

Protests Erupt in Zimbabwe After Ruling Party Wins Landslide

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sporadic violence erupted in Zimbabwe’s capital after the ruling party secured a landslide win in the first parliamentary election of the post-Robert Mugabe era that Western observer groups said was marred by abuses. The verdict by monitors from the European Union and the U.S. is likely to dent President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s drive to attract investors to rebuild the southern African nation, which is still reeling from two decades of misrule and…

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Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Mining Rush Leaves Big Producers Behind

Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Mining Rush Leaves Big Producers Behind

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – While Zimbabwe’s leadership change has sparked a race for the nation’s mineral riches among entrepreneurs and tiny explorers, big-name mining companies are taking a wait-and-see approach. New President Emmerson Mnangagwa has a lot to prove as he seeks to revive the economy and attract mining investment that shrivelled under his predecessor, Robert Mugabe. So far, Mnangagwa has pledged investor-friendly policy changes and partially rolled back a law requiring mining companies to be…

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Zimbabwe stock market hits new highs as currency, cash problems worsen

Zimbabwe stock market hits new highs as currency, cash problems worsen

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s stock market hit a record high on Monday, propelled by local investors seeking a safe haven in an economy suffering acute shortages of foreign exchange. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange’s (ZSE) main industrial index touched 301.03 points, the highest since it was rebased in 2009 when Zimbabwe dumped its hyperinflation-hit currency in favor of the US dollar. Market capitalization reached $8.5 billion. It has more than doubled since January…

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Zimbabwe Plans a Green-Energy Fund to Boost Generation

Zimbabwe Plans a Green-Energy Fund to Boost Generation

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe plans a green-energy fund to promote the use of renewables, with the initial aim of making up a 600 megawatt shortfall in electricity production. The southern African nation wants to generate at least 1,000 megawatts of power, or 16 percent of its total projected generation, through solar and other renewable energy systems by 2025, according to the energy ministry’s final draft of a policy document emailed to Bloomberg News. State-owned…

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Zimbabwe tax agency says local bank notes plan worsens liquidity

Zimbabwe tax agency says local bank notes plan worsens liquidity

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s tax agency on Friday said the planned introduction of local bank notes had brought uncertainty and worsened cash shortages as consumers hold onto their dollars. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said last month “bond notes” would be introduced at the end of this month, raising fears of a return to a domestic currency abandoned in 2009 as hyperinflation soared out of control, leaving Zimbabweans using the U.S. dollar. Central…

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