The Editorial Team |

Trump Edges Toward Taking Shutdown-Averting Border Deal

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump is eyeing a path to avoid another government shutdown where he would reluctantly accept the congressional border-security deal and attempt to tap other funds for his wall. Trump is likely to grudgingly sign the legislation and then immediately use his executive authority to fund additional border measures, said a person who talked to the president Tuesday and asked not to be identified to discuss private conversations. Late Tuesday,…

Tesla Rushes Model 3s to China Before Trade-War Truce Expires

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – At least three ships roughly the length of two football fields are slated to arrive at ports in China by the end of this month, each carrying precious cargo from Elon Musk. Tesla Inc. is loading as many Model 3 sedans as it can onto vessels destined for the People’s Republic ahead of March 1, when a trade-war truce between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping is scheduled to expire. Musk fears the two countries…

Blackouts Cripple South Africa Again as Eskom Stumbles

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa grappled with traffic gridlock and shuttered businesses after the struggling state power utility cut supply for a third day to prevent a total collapse of the grid. The return to blackouts compounds worries about Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s precarious position and the threat it poses to the economy. It’s also an embarrassment for the ruling African National Congress just three months ahead of national elections. The rand tumbled Monday and…

Nigeria Regulator Eases Capital Pressure on Struggling Banks

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank has given the country’s lenders some much-needed relief by extending the time they will have to implement stricter accounting rules for bad loans. Lenders in the West African country now have four years to absorb impairments arising from the implementation of IFRS 9 accounting standards last year, thereby easing fears that an immediate transition would have severe repercussions for banks’ capital adequacy ratios. IFRS 9 requires them to…

Ghana Central Bank Sees Scope for Further Interest-Rate Cuts

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s central bank has room for another interest-rate cut as early as next month, according to a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Following an unexpected reduction in the key rate in January, further loosening in March “could be a possibility” if inflation trends downward, said Philip Abradu-Otoo, who is also the head of research at the Bank of Ghana. The central bank is “fairly confident that inflation will…

Nigerian GDP Growth Picks Up Momentum as Buhari Seeks New Term

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari seeks re-election this week, economic growth is finally getting back to where it was when he took power four years ago. Gross domestic product in Africa’s largest oil producer expanded 1.9 percent last year, the most since 2015, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said on its website on Tuesday. The economy grew 2.4 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, the…

South Africa’s Mminele Says CPI Expectations Off `Near-6% Perch’

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) South African inflation expectations have begun to subside and have moved toward the 4.5 percent point the central bank prefers to target, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said. But policy makers remain concerned about the risk of higher administered prices, including from electricity and water tariffs, he said in a speech in Johannesburg. “The SARB’s quarterly projection model shows a continued convergence of inflation expectations, which are already off their near-6…

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