The Editorial Team |

Trump Seeks to Harness Supreme Court Losses in Making 2020 Case

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — President Donald Trump is seizing on a string of losses at the Supreme Court to galvanize his political base with calls to remake the judiciary with more conservative judges, a key issue that fueled his first presidential run. Trump has promised a new list of potential Supreme Court nominees this summer, repeating the gambit he used to calm doubts about him among some Republicans in 2016, and demanded…

Nigeria Plans 10-Year Fund for Infrastructure Investment

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria plans to introduce an infrastructure-focused fund that will be accessed by investors for as long as 10 years to boost growth after the pandemic, according to the state-owned Bank of Industry. The lender is seeking the approval of the government for the fund to start, “hopefully by early next year or towards the end of this year,” Chief Executive Officer Olukayode Pitan said at a virtual investor conference…

South African Regulator Rebukes Insurers Over Virus Claims

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — A South African regulator warned insurers to stop broadly rejecting claims from businesses seeking to cover losses because of a lockdown to curb the coronavirus. “The Financial Sector Conduct Authority is concerned about the behavior of some insurers who are deliberately avoiding paying business-interruption claims were no grounds exist to do so,” the Pretoria-based regulator said in an emailed statement. “The national lockdown cannot be used by any insurer…

CDC Invests $100 Million Into New African Fund Planned By Helios

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — The U.K.’s development-finance arm CDC Group committed $100 million to a $1.25 billion Africa-focused private-equity fund planned by Helios Investment Partners LLP. CDC will also look for co-investment opportunities with Helios, Clarisa De Franco, the head of the London-based firm’s African funds in an e-mail. The investment, which will come from $1.5 billion the CDC has set aside this year for Africa and Asia, could be a catalyst for commitments from…

Moody’s Sees Risk of S. Africa’s Debt Rising to More Than 100%

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South African government debt could rise by 40 percentage points over the next three years as strong, widespread fiscal pressures and persistently low economic growth weigh on the nation’s credit profile, according to Moody’s Investors Service. That would push government debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product well over 100% and much higher than the 87.4% peak the Treasury projects for 2023-24 under its active management scenario….

Nigeria Misses Revenue Target on Low Oil Prices and Output

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria could only collect about half of its budgeted revenues in the first five months of this year as low oil prices and output took a toll on government income. Total earnings by the government from January to May were 1.48 trillion naira ($3.8 billion), which was 56% of targeted revenue for the period, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said during a presentation to lawmakers on Thursday. Earnings from crude…

Another Donald Trump Foreign Policy Foray Goes Awry

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Donald Trump’s biggest foray into African affairs has not turned out well. The U.S. president’s bid to resolve a long-running dispute over a Nile dam has failed to make a breakthrough, joining his unsuccessful efforts in crises from North Korea to Kosovo. In the case of the Nile, he’s largely fallen afoul of the same intractable regional politics that have bedeviled African leaders for years in their own fruitless…

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