The Editorial Team |

Bolton, Trump Administration Set for Court Battle Over Book

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s pending memoir is living up to its publisher’s hype as “the book President Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read.” Trump’s Justice Department is heading to court Friday in a last-ditch attempt to block the publication of “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” due to be released June 23, even as excerpts that have already appeared in the media…

Orange Senegal Unit Taps Local Market To Grow Amid Digital Boom

Posted on by The Editorial Team

DAKAR (Capital Markets in Africa) — An Orange SA West African subsidiary is issuing debt on the regional market for the first time to take advantage of higher demand for digital services amid the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns has made a plan by Dakar-based Sonatel’s to raise 100 billion CFA ($171 million) particularly timely, Chief Executive Officer Sekou Drame said in an interview. The bond sale is the largest in the history…

Nigerian Bond Sales Head for Blockbuster Year as Yields Drop

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian companies are poised to raise a record amount of local short-term debt, joining one of the biggest global junk-bond rallies in two months as businesses take advantage of a drop in borrowing costs. Companies including Dangote Cement Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and MTN Group Ltd. have tapped the domestic market this year to refinance existing debt or boost working capital. It comes as firms from casino operators and retailers to lenders…

Zimbabwe Scraps Currency Peg Three Months After Introduction

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) — Zimbabwe’s central bank abandoned a currency peg it introduced in March and said it would allow the rate to be set by an auction system. The announcement represents a setback for Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya, who unilaterally imposed the peg of 25 to the U.S. dollar against the advice of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, according to people familiar with the situation. The introduction of the…

Africa Seen Getting More Debt Relief From China Than Bondholders

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — African countries may get debt relief from China more easily than private creditors amid a global push to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on poor nations, a Johns Hopkins University study shows. China has written off $3.4 billion and restructured or refinanced about $15 billion of debt in Africa over the past decade without slapping penalties or seizing assets from borrowers, it said. The study was…

Mboweni Warns of Debt Crisis Unless South Africa Budget Is Cut

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa must cut spending to avoid a sovereign debt crisis within the next four years, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said. Mboweni is preparing to deliver a revised budget on June 24 that will reflect the devastation wrought on the economy by the coronavirus pandemic, he told lawmakers Thursday in Cape Town. The Treasury plans to make “very serious and unusual changes” to its expenditure plans, he said. “We…

Kganyago Says QE Would Hurt, Not Help South Africa’s Finances

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — The South African Reserve Bank will resist calls to finance the government’s growing budget deficit with aggressive quantitative easing because that could add even more strain on the National Treasury, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. If the central bank were to buy 500 billion rand ($29 billion) of government bonds and then mop up the excess liquidity by issuing bonds at the current repurchase rate of 3.75%, it would be…

« 1 … 165 166 167 168 169 … 1,077 »