The Editorial Team |

A Red Line Crossed: South Africa Seeks Aid From the IMF

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — The economic calamity of the coronavirus broke South Africa’s resistance to borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. And now some allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress worry that the $4.2 billion loan his government is negotiating with the Washington-based agency marks the first step toward a slippery slope of submission. “This is a precursor because Cyril’s government doesn’t have the resources,” said Lumkile Mondi, an economics…

EU Looks to Johnson to Stop No-Deal Brexit With Talks at Impasse

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — The European Union will try to convince Boris Johnson to forge a compromise later this month in an attempt to stop the U.K. from breaking away from the bloc without a trade deal. With the negotiations deadlocked, and the latest talks set to end Friday without a breakthrough, the EU is pinning its hopes on a dramatic intervention by the British prime minister when he speaks to European Commission…

Trump’s Show of Force Fizzles in Backlash Over Protest Crackdown

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NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Donald Trump faced a dwindling set of options to address nationwide unrest, after a backlash erupted over the government’s violent dispersal of peaceful protests outside the White House, plunging the president into more election-year turmoil. For Trump and his conservative backers, his photo op late Monday in front of historic St. John’s Episcopal Church with Bible in hand was a show of strength — a symbolic move meant…

New Ebola Outbreak in Congo, Already Hit by Measles and Coronavirus

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CONGO (Capital Markets in Africa) — Five people have died in Mbandaka, a western city more than 750 miles away from another Ebola outbreak in the country. It is unclear how the disease emerged in the city during the lockdown. DAKAR, Senegal — A fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has flared up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that was already contending with the world’s largest measles epidemic, as well as…

Nigeria Offers Marginal Oil Field Permits to Local Investors

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Nigerian government launched a bidding round for domestic companies aimed at bringing marginal oil fields to production. Africa’s largest crude producer is offering 57 onshore and shallow offshore permits, the Department of Petroleum Resources said on its website on Monday. Inviting bids from “indigenous companies and investors,” the statement didn’t specify when the fields will be allocated. The bidding round faces opposition from companies that had their permits…

Virus Wipes 20% Off Income of South African Bank’s Customers

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — The average income of customers at South Africa’s First National Bank plummeted by about 20% during the nation’s lockdown as people took pay cuts or had less work to do. FirstRand Ltd.’s retail banking unit also experienced a “major drop off” in transactional activity and credit-card spending as businesses closed and people stayed home, FNB’s retail banking head Raj Makanjee said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. Credit growth suffered as South…

Weary Sudan Sees Fresh IMF Program as Path to Economic Salvation

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SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — Sudan is seeking its first staff-monitored International Monetary Fund program since 2014 as the one-time pariah works toward reintegrating with the global economy. Agreeing to the non-financial initiative in June talks and persuading the U.S. to drop its long-standing listing of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism are key planks of the transitional government’s plan, Finance Minister Ibrahim El-Badawi said in emailed comments. A new IMF advisory program…

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