Author: The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Guinness Nigeria Plc sees a tough economic environment in Africa’s most populous country and a volatile naira ahead of looming presidential elections in February. The unit of U.K. drinks giant Diageo Plc is monitoring the Nigerian currency to make sure there’s no significant hit to costs, Stanley Njoroge, head of finance and strategy at Guinness Nigeria, said on an investor call in Lagos on Thursday. The brewer sees disposable income under pressure for…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya should issue local-currency debt outside the country to check depreciation of the shilling, rather than managing the unit, its Capital Markets Authority said. The International Monetary Fund reclassified the shilling from “floating” to “other managed arrangement” in October to reflect the currency’s limited movement due to periodic central bank interventions, saying the unit was overvalued by about 17.5 percent. “There are opportunities for Kenya to consider adopting alternative…

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citi Research indicated that the Tunisian dinar (TND) has been under pressure since early 2018, as the exchange rate depreciated by 20% in 2018. It attributed the weakening of the dinar to the sustained fiscal and current account deficits, as well as to the very limited progress in economic reforms, even though the country has a financial agreement with the International Monetary Fund that is linked to achieving pre-set…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Trade Secretary Liam Fox said he’s confident the U.K. can agree a divorce deal with the European Union by the end of next month because the continent’s faltering economies will force the bloc to come to an “accommodation.” Citing Italy entering recession and weakness in the German and French economies, he said the EU 27 should be pushing for a deal.  “This is not a good time to introduce further unnecessary instability into…