The Editorial Team |

Ivory Coast Seeks 1.5 Billion Euros in Bonds for Buyback

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast plans to sell as much as 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in bonds to refinance existing debt. The West African nation is planning to issue two tranches of debt with a weighted average life of 11 to 15 years and 30 years, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about it. It plans to…

OPEC Is Prepared to Make Deeper Cuts If Needed, Nigeria Says

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria and other members of OPEC are ready to cut crude supplies further if prices continue to tumble, according to the country’s oil minister. “Everybody agrees in OPEC that we need to stabilize the market. We cannot allow prices just to plummet,” Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva said in a Bloomberg TV interview Friday. The country is committed to complying fully with its new production quota of 1.774 million barrels a…

U.S. Slowing or Stalling Becomes the Question After Jobs Report

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NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Crawling or stalling? That’s the question hanging over the U.S. economy amid fresh evidence the once-hot labor market is losing steam. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 136,000 in September, according to a Labor Department report Friday that missed the median estimate of economists. That brought the average gain this year to 161,000, compared with 223,000 throughout 2018. On top of that, average hourly earnings rose 2.9% from a year earlier, the weakest…

For Billionaire Glenn Dubin, Rough Run Keeps Getting Rougher

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NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – These are uneasy times for hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin. His latest investment firm, the $1 billion Engineers Gate, has struggled to keep up with the market since its founding in 2014. Then in August, a bombshell hit: the money manager and his wife were very publicly drawn into the scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. Now, a toxic mix of lackluster investment returns, a restive key client and unwanted notoriety has…

Johnson’s Brexit Plan Faces Doubters in Brussels and Westminster

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The British prime minister is optimistic he’s finally got enough support from Tory hardliners to win the backing of lawmakers in Westminster. In Brussels, however, officials said Johnson’s proposals are still unacceptable and there’s little chance of a deal by Oct. 31 unless the U.K. makes significant additional concessions. The EU’s base case is now that Brexit has to be delayed again, even though Johnson has vowed not to…

Mobile Money Revolution in Africa Bypasses Most-Populous Nation

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is a laggard in a region that accounts for half of the world’s 866 million mobile banking and payment accounts. Every month, Ifeyinwa Abel, the secretary of a Pentecostal church in Lagos, spends as much as a quarter of her salary sending money to pay for diabetes drugs to her mother 430 miles away in Abia Ohafia, a small agricultural village. It isn’t easy. First Abel, 35, has…

Zambia’s $515 Million Mystery Revenue Raises Budget Questions

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambian Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu plans to obtain almost 10% of the southern African nation’s total income next year from undisclosed sources, raising concerns about the accuracy and sustainability of government spending plans for 2020. The budget, which Ng’andu presented to lawmakers on Sept. 27, contains 6.75 billion kwacha ($515 million) of “exceptional revenue” that could further stretch the finances of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer if it doesn’t materialize. Government debt has…

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