China’s Digital Silk Road Is Looking More Like an Iron Curtain

China’s Digital Silk Road Is Looking More Like an Iron Curtain

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The first billboard that greets passengers arriving at the airport in Lusaka, before Pepsi’s “Welcome to Zambia,” is an advertisement for Bank of China. Nearby, a Chinese company is building a sleek terminal. On the road into the capital city, near the office of Chinese telecom company ZTE Corp., another billboard features surveillance cameras made by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. At the national data center built by Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese man…

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Egypt’s Inflation Stays on Target After Monthly Price Plunge

Egypt’s Inflation Stays on Target After Monthly Price Plunge

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) = Egypt’s inflation stayed within the central bank’s target range for a second month after the biggest monthly decline in at least over a decade. Consumer prices in urban parts of Egypt slipped 3.4 percent in December from November, according to data released Thursday by the state statistics agency, CAPMAS. The annual rate slowed to 12 percent in December, compared with 15.7 percent the previous month and below the ceiling of the central bank’s goal…

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Madagascar Court Declares Rajoelina Winner of Presidential Vote

Madagascar Court Declares Rajoelina Winner of Presidential Vote

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Madagascar’s Constitutional Court declared Andry Rajoelina the winner of last month’s runoff presidential election his rival says was rigged. Rajoelina, who previously served as president from 2009 to 2014, obtained 55.7 percent of the vote, compared with 44.3 percent for Marc Ravalomanana, Jean-Eric Rakotoarisoa, the president of the court, told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Antananarivo. Rajoelina will be sworn in later this month, he said. The announcement is based on results…

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Fracture in Kenyan Ruling Party May Revive Rift Valley Tensions

Fracture in Kenyan Ruling Party May Revive Rift Valley Tensions

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – An alliance that helped deliver Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta two terms in office is fracturing, reviving tensions in the country’s Rift Valley region that was wracked by widespread violence a decade ago. The deputy chairman of the ruling Jubilee Party stepped down on Sunday after saying Deputy President William Ruto shouldn’t be allowed to succeed Kenyatta. That undermines an arrangement in which Ruto delivered the backing of his Rift Valley constituents for Kenyatta’s…

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Nedbank Sees Short-Term Rally, Longer-Term Pain for Rand in 2019

Nedbank Sees Short-Term Rally, Longer-Term Pain for Rand in 2019

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rand’s wild ride isn’t over, according to Nedbank analysts Reezwana Sumad and Walter de Wet. A slowdown in global growth, an escalation in the trade war, an uncertain Brexit and higher global interest rates are just some of the risks the currency will face this year. Nedbank base case sees rand in range of 14-15 per dollar in 2019 From a technical perspective, the USDZAR could rally toward 13 in the…

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Deep in a Panama Rainforest, First Quantum Bondholders Spy Prize

Deep in a Panama Rainforest, First Quantum Bondholders Spy Prize

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – First Quantum Minerals Ltd. is poised to fire up a giant copper project in Panama, thousands of miles from its beleaguered minesin Zambia. For bondholders, that’s a welcome distance. The Canadian copper company is ramping up production at the Cobre Panama plant this year, even as a mining tax hike forces it to shed jobs and cut production at its Zambian facilities. With Panama slated to become a more prominent place of operations, bondholders should benefit…

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Congo Opposition Party Says Tshisekedi Is `Presumed’ Vote Winner

Congo Opposition Party Says Tshisekedi Is `Presumed’ Vote Winner

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest opposition party said its leader was the “presumed” winner of last week’s election and encouraged talks with the nation’s outgoing president to prepare a transition. Union for Democracy and Social Progress head Felix Tshisekedi is one of three candidates in with a chance of succeeding Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the world’s biggest cobalt producer since 2001. He’s competing against rival opposition leader Martin Fayulu and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary,…

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