The Editorial Team |

Kenya Holds Key Rate at Three-Year Low as Inflation Seen Steady

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank held its benchmark rate at a three-year low as inflation is expected to remain in its target range. The Monetary Policy Committee, which was fully constituted with nine members for the first time in five years, kept the rate at 9 percent, central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said in a statement emailed Tuesday from the capital, Nairobi. That was in line with all 11 projections in a Bloomberg survey. “Overall…

Nigeria Sees `Happy’ Resolution to $8.1 Billion Dispute With MTN

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – After coming out all guns blazing, Nigeria’s central bank surrendered some ground in its tussle with MTN Group Ltd., pledging that a dispute over the repatriation of $8.1 billion in dividends from the country will soon be resolved. Examiners from the central bank are reviewing documents provided by Johannesburg-based MTN and four banks accused of moving money out of the continent’s biggest oil producer without the regulator’s final authorization, Governor…

Tunisia’s Economy Takes Second Place as Its Top Leaders Fight

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TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tunisia’s economic reforms are at risk of being sidelined by a feud between top leaders. President Beji Caid Essebsi has for weeks been calling on the nation’s prime minister, Youssef Chahed, to either improve his handling of the struggling economy or quit. The turmoil within the governing coalition escalated late Monday when in a televised speech Essebsi said a key Islamist party had openly sided with the embattled premier. The Ennahda…

Barrick’s Randgold Acquisition May Spur More Gold Mining Deals

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gold miners earned the ire of investors including billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson for entering into bad deals that destroyed shareholder value in the past. Shareholders of the two companies announcing a merger Monday signalled they think this time may be different. Barrick Gold Corp. Executive Chairman John Thornton said his company isn’t paying a premium under its agreement to buy Randgold Resources Ltd. The decision came after the company has been criticized for its “undisciplined…

Egypt Seeks New Debt Investors With Euroclear, Asian Foray

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt is in talks with Belgium-based Euroclear to settle its domestic debt transactions and will embark on a non-deal bond roadshow through Asia this year, part of a drive to attract more overseas investors and reduce borrowing costs. “We are in continuous talks with Euroclear and we are trying to finalize this issue as soon as possible,” Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in an interview. “This step is very…

Standard Chartered to Stop Financing New Coal Power Plants

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Plc said it will stop financing new coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world as part of its commitment to supporting the Paris Agreement on climate change. The move follows “detailed consultation with a range of stakeholders,” according to a statement Tuesday from the London-based bank. Standard Chartered said its existing commitments were excluded from its new policy on coal energy. It currently has 14 project financing facilities in seven…

Barrick’s Thornton Puts Shine Back in Gold With Randgold Bid

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – As more than 1,100 gold mining executives, metals analysts and investors made their annual retreat to the mountains of Colorado, all anyone seemed to want to talk about was the deal that was announced just hours earlier. Mark Bristow, the outspoken chief executive officer of Randgold Resources Ltd. who helped arrange the merger with Barrick Gold Corp., didn’t seem surprised. “I have been agitating for this industry to rearrange itself,” Bristow said in…

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