Biggest Congo Coltan Miner Resumes Buying After Output Halt

Biggest Congo Coltan Miner Resumes Buying After Output Halt

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Societe Miniere de Bisunzu Sarl, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest coltan miner, resumed purchases of the ore after a three-month shutdown at one of the country’s largest deposits. Output restarted at SMB’s mining permit, comprising seven sites at Rubaya in east Congo, on Aug. 14 and the company began buying the minerals extracted by artisanal diggers on Tuesday, Freddy Nzonga, the company’s director of traceability, said by phone….

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Kenya Plans to Court Ryanair, easyJet to Boost Beach Tourism

Kenya Plans to Court Ryanair, easyJet to Boost Beach Tourism

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya plans discussions with low-cost airlines such as Ryanair Holdings Plc and easyJet Plc to begin flying to the East African nation famous for its beaches and safaris, its tourism minister said. Tourism is one of the country’s biggest generators of foreign exchange after remittances and agricultural exports, and earned the nation 119.9 billion shillings ($1.2 billion) last year, according to the Kenya Tourism Board. “We are developing a strategy to encourage low-cost…

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African Oil Hunt Returns as Majors Seek to Unlock Vast Reserves

African Oil Hunt Returns as Majors Seek to Unlock Vast Reserves

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources. The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is on track to double drilling in African waters this year. Rising natural gas demand is adding…

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Recession Reignites South Africa Credit-Rating Downgrade Concern

Recession Reignites South Africa Credit-Rating Downgrade Concern

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s unexpected slump into a second recession in almost a decade has boosted fears of another round of credit-rating downgrades that could see a sell-off in local-currency bonds. The cost of insuring the country’s debt against default for five years using credit-default swaps spiked to the highest since November 2016 while yields on the government’s benchmark local-currency bonds due in December 2026 rose to a nine-month high. The rand weakened the most against the…

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South African Rand Gets Cornered in a One-Way Bet as Rate Hike Seen Unlikely

South African Rand Gets Cornered in a One-Way Bet as Rate Hike Seen Unlikely

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – One of the biggest differences between central banks in South Africa and Turkey is credibility, according to S&P Global Ratings. But as the rand tumbles to a two-year low amid a broad emerging-market sell-off, that strength is becoming a problem for the currency. The South African Reserve Bank’s policy of targeting inflation and leaving the rand to the markets is making it something of a one-way bet at a time…

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South Africa Says U.S. Doesn’t Link AGOA Access to Land Plan

South Africa Says U.S. Doesn’t Link AGOA Access to Land Plan

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.S. officials have made no link between South Africa’s plan to expropriate land without compensation and the country’s access to trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said. One of the conditions for being eligible for AGOA, which favours 39 African nations by eliminating import levies on more than 7,000 products, is the protection of private property rights. Trade union Solidarity has warned…

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China, Kenya Sign Infrastructure Accords During Beijing Meeting

China, Kenya Sign Infrastructure Accords During Beijing Meeting

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Chinese companies will construct three main roads in Kenya through public-private partnerships under the East African nation government’s roads-annuity program. The unidentified companies will build a 30-kilometer (18-mile) expressway from the nation’s biggest airport in the capital, Nairobi, to the city’s Westlands suburb, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said Tuesday in an emailed statement. Other projects include two roads in the north-eastern Kenya that will cost 15 billion shillings ($149…

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