The Editorial Team |

Kenya to Double Debt Ceiling to Almost Match Economy’s Size

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s debt-ceiling review not only shifts the goalposts but also changes the rules on how goals are scored, and that could move the government closer to debt distress. Lawmakers last week approved the government’s plan to present the debt limit in absolute figures and not as a percentage of gross domestic product. The National Treasury proposed a ceiling of 9 trillion shillings ($86 billion), which allows it to increase…

Citigroup Calls for More Consistency in African Banking Policies

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citigroup Inc. is calling for greater consistency in implementing regulations for the banking industry in Africa and warned frequent changes will harm the sector. The bank’s business was one of 12 lenders Nigeria’s central bank penalized last month for failing to meet credit-provision targets. Citigroup was handed a 100.7 billion naira ($279 million) penalty out of a combined sanction of 500 billion that was transferred from the lenders’ cash reserves to the…

Botswana Sees Trade With U.K. Continuing Unhindered After Brexit

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GABORONE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Botswana, the world’s second-biggest diamond producer, expects its trade with the U.K. to continue unhindered after Brexit. The Southern African Customs Union, which comprises Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini, along with Mozambique last month agreed on a deal with the U.K. to govern trade should it leave the European Union at the end of the month. The deal mirrors the terms SACU currently has with the EU….

Ex-Credit Suisse Bankers Will Testify in Mozambique Bribery Case

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – At least two former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers will testify for the U.S. at a federal trial this week, describing their roles in what the Justice Department says was a $2 billion kickback scam in Mozambique. Andrew Pearse, who headed the global financing group in the bank’s London office, will be one of the government’s first witnesses at the trial of Jean Boustani, a former executive at the…

Mozambique Votes Against Backdrop of $50 Billion Gas Bonanza

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambicans voted Tuesday in elections that have the highest stakes in the southeast African nation’s history, after a campaign marked by violence, insurgent attacks and the fallout from a debt scandal. The winner will oversee more than $50 billion of investments in gas projects planned by companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA, and need to tackle an Islamic State-linked insurgency that threatens to disrupt them. The vote’s…

Pensioners Sleep Outside Zimbabwe Banks as Savings Vanish Again

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – As hundreds of pensioners line up outside a bank in central Harare in the hope of collecting their pensions, military veteran Elias Nyabunzi has a sense that he has seen this all before. If there is cash available, he will collect the equivalent of just $26, down from the $400 he was getting a few months back. A decade ago when he went to collect the lump sum he…

US Census Could Miss Millions, Even Without a Citizenship Question

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Community groups are working to convince Latinos that answering the decennial survey isn’t just important, it’s essential. Lizette Escobedo, director of the census program for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (Naleo) Educational Fund, oversees staff in six states. She runs a bilingual hotline. She produces brochures upon brochure. But overshadowing all her efforts is the reality that thousands of people are frightened just to answer…

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