The Editorial Team |

Bharti Airtel’s Kenyan Unit Adds Market Share for Sixth Quarter

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Kenyan unit increased its share of mobile-phone subscriptions for a sixth consecutive quarter after adding customers in the first three months of the year, according to data from the industry regulator. Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd. had 26.1% of subscribers, up from 23.4% in the final quarter of 2018, the Communications Authority said in its latest report. Safaricom Plc, Kenya’s biggest company by market value, lost market…

What to Watch in Commodities: Trade Truce, OPEC, Crops, Palm

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s the end of a turbulent six months for commoditymarkets that have been buffeted by powerful and conflicting forces since the start of the year. While supply disruptions have fed a bullish narrative that’s driven oil, iron ore and corn to multi-year highs, concern over the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on economic growth has supported a bear case for raw materials, especially industrial metals. The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index eked out a…

Moody’s Sees Wave of M&A Deals Among Ghana Insurers on New Rules

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service is predicting Ghana’s insurance industry will see a wave of mergers and acquisitions after the West African nation’s regulator more than tripled minimum capital requirements. The move to higher capital requirements is credit positive for the industry, Brandan Holmes, a vice president at Moody’s, said in emailed response to questions. Smaller insurers will either need to raise additional cash or be absorbed by their larger rivals, he…

Nigeria Sees $48 Billion Energy Investment Flow Through 2025

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria sees itself securing oil and gas investments worth $48 billion between 2018 and 2025, which is 25% of a $194 billion surge of capital anticipated to flow into Africa during the eight-year period, according to the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. “The nation’s energy outlook appears very positive even amidst the difficult operating and economic headwinds across the continent,” Maikanti Baru, the outgoing group managing director of the company…

TUNISIA: Sovereign ratings affirmed, outlook ‘negative’

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TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fitch Ratings affirmed at ‘B+’ Tunisia’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings, with a ‘negative’ outlook. It indicated that the ratings are constrained by fiscal and current account deficits, elevated public and external debt levels, a challenging political environment and subdued economic growth. The agency expected economic activity in the 2019-21 period to be supported by higher investments and exports, strong tourism activity, as well as robust…

MOROCCO: Economic growth outlook faces downside risks

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RABAT (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Institute of International Finance projected Morocco’s real GDP growth rate to decelerate from 3% in 2018 to 2.3% in 2019, mainly due to a 2% contraction in the agricultural sector’s activity. In parallel, it forecast non-agricultural growth to accelerate from 2.9% in 2018 to 3.1% in 2019. It considered that downside risks to the growth outlook include volatile weather conditions, as well as lower economic growth in Europe,…

AFRICA: Rising public debt level increasing risk of distress

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fitch Ratings indicated that the public debt level in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries has significantly increased, as the median debt level of the 19 Fitch-rated SSA sovereigns doubled from 27% of GDP at the end of 2012 to an estimated 56% of GDP at end-2018. It noted that SSA sovereigns have used some of the fiscal space that was afforded by the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative to boost…

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