Here Is What a WHO Global Health Emergency Means: QuickTake

Here Is What a WHO Global Health Emergency Means: QuickTake

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee has declared the outbreak of coronavirus in China a “public health emergency of international concern.” The declaration is often referred to by its initials — PHEIC, pronounced “fake” — but it gives the WHO real capabilities to affect the course of an epidemic. Governments and companies around the globe are already scrambling to contain the illness, which has shown up in a smattering of cases beyond China. But the…

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Trump Acquittal Near With Senate Likely to Deny Witnesses

Trump Acquittal Near With Senate Likely to Deny Witnesses

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – The most consequential day in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins in the Senate on Friday, with Republican leaders likely to muster enough votes to block witnesses and rapidly move to acquit the president. The decision late Thursday by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who had been considered a potential supporter of testimony, to vote against new evidence largely dashed Democrats hopes of prevailing. His announcement is a victory…

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No Longer European, a Divided Britain Seeks a New Identity

No Longer European, a Divided Britain Seeks a New Identity

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Now, as some mourn and others celebrate, the U.K. must find itself again. At 10 a.m. inside Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a patisserie in the heart of London’s French quarter, the air is thick with the aroma of butter. Aicha Boubakri, 30, is arranging neat rows of pastel-colored cream pastries in front of the bakery’s only customer. “It’s a bit sad—the fact that the U.K. will no longer be…

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U.K. Financial Watchdog Examining Pound Jump Before BOE Call

U.K. Financial Watchdog Examining Pound Jump Before BOE Call

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa): The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority said it’s examining the spike in the British pound about 15 seconds before Thursday’s Bank of England’s interest-rate decision. Sterling shot up toward $1.31 just before BOE officials surprised markets by announcing that they had voted 7-2 for no change to the policy, even though many analysts and investors had expected a closer decision or a rate cut. The move prompted traders and analysts to…

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MTN Steps Up Asset-Sale Plan That May Raise Up To $4 Billion

MTN Steps Up Asset-Sale Plan That May Raise Up To $4 Billion

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. is looking to raise as much as 60 billion rand ($4 billion) from an extended asset-sale plan, with stakes in a major towers business and the carrier’s Nigerian unit among those earmarked for sale. Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company has generated about 14 billion rand since kicking off a strategy to offload non-essential businesses in March, and is ready to step up the process, MTN said in an…

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Investec Holders to See Cash Return After Asset Unit Spinoff

Investec Holders to See Cash Return After Asset Unit Spinoff

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The bank, which has offices in Johannesburg and London, is readying a spinoff of its asset-management business in March and also plans to sell some private-equity investments. The lender wants to reduce its 25 billion rand ($1.7 billion) of private-equity holdings to 15 billion, Richard Wainwright, the chief executive officer of Investec’s South African bank, said in an interview at the lender’s local headquarters. “If we are successful in releasing…

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Growth-Boosting Rate Cut in Ghana May Be Risky Ahead of Vote

Growth-Boosting Rate Cut in Ghana May Be Risky Ahead of Vote

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa): Ghana’s central bank is caught between cutting interest rates to boost the economy and running the risk of weakening the currency, which could drive up inflation and spook investors ahead of December’s elections. One the one hand, inflation ended the year slightly below the government’s projection and economic growth slowed in the third quarter, giving room for an interest rate cut. However, a repeat of the government missing its fiscal…

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