The Editorial Team |

More Seats Than Candidates as Madagascar Prepares for Elections

MADAGASCAR (Capital Markets in Africa) – Madagascar may not have enough candidates to compete in legislative elections scheduled for May 27. A day before registration closes, only 88 candidates have registered to take part in the vote for the Indian Ocean island nation’s 151-seat parliament. The previous ballot in 2013 attracted 2,069 candidates. The low turnout comes two months after the government increased the registration deposit that candidates must pay the electoral authority to 5…

Ramaphosa’s Economic Plans Blunted by Foes in South Africa’s ANC

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Factions in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress are seizing the policy initiative and undermining President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to revive the nation’s flagging economy, according to Robert Schrire, a political science professor at the University of Cape Town. Since Ramaphosa replaced Jacob Zuma as president a year ago, after winning the party leadership vote by the narrowest of margins, his opponents have retained some top ANC and state posts and advocated policies…

Ethiopian Airlines, With a Tradition of Training Pilots, Wants to Become Africa’s Leading Carrier

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ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – By the time he was 29, Yared Getachew was the youngest captain at Ethiopian Airlines. Despite his relative youth, he had spent a decade with the carrier, eventually piloting wide-body jets that crossed continents and oceans. Like so many of the airline’s pilots before him, Captain Getachew, who died on Sunday in the crash of Flight 302, was a graduate of the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy. The competitive school, which…

It’s Up to Central Banks to Rescue EM Carry Trade, Nedbank Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The emerging-market carry trade is running out of steam, and only central banks can resurrect it, according to Nedbank Group Ltd. Unless policy makers give markets a new liquidity injection, investors who borrow dollars to buy higher-yielding emerging-market assets may see a repeat of last year, when the wager resulted in the worst losses since 2015, Mehul Daya and Neels Heyneke, Johannesburg-based strategists at Nedbank, said in a client note. The next month will…

London Real Estate Market Stutters as Brexit Hits Dealmaking

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – London’s commerical property market has become the latest casualty of Brexit. Spending on U.K. offices, malls and warehouses plunged more than 40 percent in the first two months of the year to 4.3 billion pounds ($5.6 billion), according to research firm Property Data. With less than three weeks left before the U.K.’s scheduled withdrawal from the European Union, buyers are watching to see if the attempts to prevent a chaotic no-deal withdrawal…

Absa Drops on Profit Miss as South African Economy Struggles

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Absa Group Ltd., the South African lender once controlled by Barclays Plc, fell for the ninth straight day to head for its longest streak of losses in six years as full-year profit missed analyst estimates. Banks in Africa’s most industrialized economy are battling to overcome the challenges of tepid gross domestic product growth and a loss of consumer and business confidence, pressuring their ability to generate revenue. Tax increases, higher fuel…

Benin Said to Consider First Foray Into Foreign Bond Markets

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BENIN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bond investors may be about to welcome a new kid on the emerging-market block: Benin. The West African country — gross domestic product about $10 billion — is readying a series of meetings with would-be takers for a first ever sale of Eurobonds, according to a person familiar with the matter. Citigroup Inc., Natixis SA and Societe Generale SA have been hired to organize the meetings, which will take place…

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