The Editorial Team |

Bitcoin Steadies Near $56,000 After Weekend Rally Evaporates

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Bitcoin has given up all the gains made over the weekend when prices reached a record $61,000. Prices for the largest cryptocurrency shot up on Saturday, only to quickly retreat in the following days. The largest cryptocurrency sank almost 7% on Monday and was little changed on Tuesday, trading around $55,900 during the London morning. The volatility is due to investors taking some profit after Bitcoin’s recent run, said Vijay Ayyar, head…

Court Orders Maduro Financier Be Released by Cape Verde

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LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) — A West African court ordered Cape Verde’s government to free Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and halt plans to have him extradited to the U.S. The Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice found the authorities on the Atlantic Ocean island nation carried out Saab’s arrest before a so-called Red Notice had been issued by Interpol. “We found his arrest by the…

Kenyan Treasury Allays Fears of Losing Port Over China Rail Loan

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) — Kenya’s National Treasury moved to allay fears that the nation could lose ownership of its busiest seaport in case of failure to repay a loan from China to build a railway. “There is absolutely no risk of China or any other country taking over the Port of Mombasa,” Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani said in a statement Monday. The government “cannot and has not pledged public assets as security for…

Absa Breaks With South African Rivals on Dividends – For Now

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JOHANNESBURG (Bloomberg) — Absa Group Ltd. has opted to break with most of its South African rivals and keep preserving capital at the expense of paying dividends — but pledged to look at ways to make up for the pause when appropriate. South Africa’s third-largest bank expects to gradually resume dividends from the first half of 2021, unlike peers who have already resumed payouts. Should loan growth fail to take off as hoped, excess capital…

Lendable Plans as Much as $180 Million of Fresh Lending in 2021

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Lendable Ltd. is raising funds to enable fresh loans of $120 million and $180 million this year to customers in Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, according to co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Goldfarb. The London-based lender, whose financiers include New York investment firm Waterfall Asset Management LLC, is seeking $15 million to $25 million in combined debt and equity and separately expects “a larger transaction for a…

Nigeria Unemployment Rate Rises to Second Highest on Global List

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Unemployment in Africa’s largest economy surged to the second-highest on a global list of countries monitored by Bloomberg. The jobless rate in Nigeria rose to 33.3% in the three months through December, according to a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics on its website Monday. That’s up from 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020, the last period for which the agency released labor-force statistics. A third…

Covid Hit These Countries Hard. Now They Face Big Vaccine Bills

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Colombia has already paid a steep price in the pandemic with more than 61,000 deaths from Covid-19. Now the South American nation faces another cost: about $850 million to immunize its population. South Africa, Colombia and other middle-income countries hit hard by Covid have lined up behind richer ones to buy vaccines in hopes of averting more suffering. They’ve pursued cheaper doses from AstraZeneca Plc, as well as far more…

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