Second-Biggest Diamond Ever Will Become Louis Vuitton Jewelry

Second-Biggest Diamond Ever Will Become Louis Vuitton Jewelry

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa): The second-biggest diamond in history will be cut, polished and turned into a collection of Louis Vuitton jewelry. Lucara Diamond Corp., which found the 1,758-carat Sewelo diamond at its Botswana mine last year, said it’s struck a deal with the luxury brand and Antwerp diamond manufacturer HB Company. It’s unclear how valuable the polished diamonds will be though, as Lucara previously said the Sewelo wasn’t a type of diamond that yields top…

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Bloody Mutiny in Sudan Casts Shadow Over Drive for Democracy

Bloody Mutiny in Sudan Casts Shadow Over Drive for Democracy

SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – When disgruntled Sudanese spies took up arms and gunfire rang out across Khartoum, even members of the most powerful pro-government militia were startled. As mutiny rocked three security buildings in the capital on Tuesday afternoon, fighters from the notorious Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group rushed to respond. By the next morning, five people — two of them soldiers — were dead, and the transitional government said the bloodshed sparked…

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Ecobank Partners USAID, Rabobank to Increase Loans to Farmers

Ecobank Partners USAID, Rabobank to Increase Loans to Farmers

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ecobank Transnational Inc. is partnering with the United States Agency for International Development and Rabobank to double the amount of credit it provides to the agricultural industry over the next two years. USAID will guarantee as much as 50% of loans provided by Ecobank to Nigerian farmers and processors, Mojisola Oguntoyinbo, the head of agricultural business at Ecobank’s Nigerian unit, said by phone from Lagos. Separately, Netherlands-based Rabobank will help provide cheaper lines of…

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Under Fire, Angola’s Dos Santos Says She May Run For President

Under Fire, Angola’s Dos Santos Says She May Run For President

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman and the daughter of former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, said she may consider running for president, even as she stands accused of causing the government of the oil-producing nation to lose more than $1 billion. “It’s possible,” Dos Santos said in an interview with Portuguese television channel RTP when asked if she would be interested in the role of president. The 46-year-old…

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White House Broke Law in Withholding Aid to Ukraine, Agency Says

White House Broke Law in Withholding Aid to Ukraine, Agency Says

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The White House budget office violated federal law when it withheld about $214 million appropriated by Congress to the Defense Department for security aid to Ukraine, an independent congressional watchdog agency concluded. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday. The Office of Management…

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Tariffs Become New Normal as Trump Moves to Next China Demands

Tariffs Become New Normal as Trump Moves to Next China Demands

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – As he signed an initial trade deal with China on Wednesday, President Donald Trump promised further negotiations to tackle some of U.S. companies’ most long-standing complaints would begin “very, very shortly” and that tariffs on some $360 billion in imports from China would remain in place as leverage. What he didn’t say is that almost no one thinks those negotiations aimed at getting China to rein in its vast web of…

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Rush of Bets on Imminent BOE Cut Leaves Analysts Urging Caution

Rush of Bets on Imminent BOE Cut Leaves Analysts Urging Caution

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Pound traders piling into bets on an interest-rate cut this month are getting a warning from strategists preaching the virtue of patience. Bank of New York Mellon and Nomura International are calling for calm after the market became the most aggressive on an imminent rate cut from the Bank of England since 2016, pricing in a more than 60% chance. They recommend waiting for more evidence of the economic…

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