The Editorial Team |

Kenya Sees Strong 2021 GDP Growth After Dodging Contraction

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) — Kenya’s economy is expected to expand this year as activity resumes following Covid-19 lockdowns, boosting tax revenue and government spending. East Africa’s largest economy will probably expand 6.4% this year and growth will slow to 5.5% in 2022, with scheduled elections likely to dampen activity, Treasury said in a report on its website. The Treasury estimates that gross domestic product increased 0.6% in 2020, which would make it one…

South Africa’s Only Female Bank CEO Quits in Abrupt Change

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa’s only female banking boss, Basani Maluleke, quit unexpectedly as chief executive officer of African Bank Holdings Ltd. after only three years in the job. Maluleke, also the first Black woman to lead a major lender in South Africa, will leave on April 30 “to pursue other career opportunities,” the company said in a statement Monday. Chief Financial Officer Gustav Raubenheimer will take over as acting CEO. South Africa’s financial…

Zambia May Sell Majority Stake in Mine Bought From Glencore

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Zambia is sounding out new investors to buy a majority stake in Mopani Copper Mines Plc after last week agreeing to take over the operations from Glencore Plc. That deal will see the government control Mopani, an asset that has been unprofitable for years but still owe $1.5 billion of debt to Glencore. Selling a majority stake would help state-owned ZCCM Investments Holdings Plcraise about $300 million to further…

Trump Gave Israeli Billionaire Dan Gertler Sanctions Reprieve

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler can once again access the U.S. financial system after the Treasury Department approved authorization in the waning days of the Trump administration. The U.S. sanctioned Gertler and his companies in 2017 for allegedly corrupt mining and oil deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries. At the time, the Treasury said Gertler worked as a middleman between multinational companies…

South African Stocks Post Biggest Drop This Month on Tencent Effect

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa’s main stocks index declined 1% by 9:53 a.m. in Johannesburg, the biggest intraday decline in 2021, after a slump in Tencent Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong pulled benchmark giant Naspers Ltd. and its subsidiary, Prosus NV, lower. Tencent lost as much as 6.7% in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as traders took profit after Monday’s 11% surge, which was Tencent’s biggest in almost a decade. Investors were also…

Moderna Says Shot Works Against Variants, Developing Booster

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Moderna Inc. said its vaccine will protect against two known variants of the Covid-19 virus, but it plans to start human studies of a booster shot for a strain from South Africa that may cause immunity to wane more quickly. In laboratory tests, Moderna’s vaccine produced antibody protection against the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the U.K. at levels comparable with older forms of the virus. But against the…

Bitcoin Return to $40,000 in Doubt as Flows to Key Fund Slow

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Cryptocurrency enthusiasts counting on Bitcoin to bounce back above the $40,000 level face a challenge due to faltering demand for the biggest fund tracking the digital asset, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The pace of flows into the $20 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust “appears to have peaked” based on four-week rolling averages, JPMorgan strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note Friday. The fund slid 22% over the past two weeks…

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