Higher Uganda Budget Gap to Dent 2018-19 Fiscal Plan, IMF Says

Higher Uganda Budget Gap to Dent 2018-19 Fiscal Plan, IMF Says

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s policy of keeping debt at “safe levels” will be “challenging” in the coming fiscal year because of a higher-than-envisaged budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund said. East Africa’s third-biggest economy will need to “scrutinize very carefully new borrowing initiatives” in the 12 months through June next year in the wake of an expanded deficit, Clara Mira, the IMF resident representative in Uganda, said in a text message. Prudent borrowing will help…

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Legae Buys Peregrine Securities to Add Prime Broking Edge

Legae Buys Peregrine Securities to Add Prime Broking Edge

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Legae Securities Pty Ltd., South Africa’s first black-owned and managed securities firm, agreed to buy the stockbroking unit of Peregrine Holdings Ltd., giving it access to one of the country’s largest prime-broking businesses. A consortium of investors including Johannesburg-based Legae, some management from Peregrine Securities and a group of black investors, agreed to pay 760 million rand ($57 million) for Peregrine’s 65 percent stake in the brokerage, the companies…

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Namibia Holds Key Rate at 2016 Low as Prices Stay in Check

Namibia Holds Key Rate at 2016 Low as Prices Stay in Check

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank left its benchmark rate unchanged for a fifth consecutive meeting as it seeks to safeguard the country’s reserves and maintain its currency’s peg with the South African rand. The southwest African nation’s Monetary Policy Committee maintained its key interest rate at 6.75 percent Wednesday, Governor Ipumbu Shiimi told reporters in the capital, Windhoek. That’s the lowest since February 2016. Last month, its counterpart in South Africa kept its key gauge…

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Congo Premier Rules Out Kabila Candidacy in Vote for President

Congo Premier Rules Out Kabila Candidacy in Vote for President

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila isn’t planning to seek another term in an election scheduled for December as his opponents have speculated, the country’s prime minister said. While the constitution bars Kabila from seeking a third term, he’s refused publicly to rule himself out as a candidate in a vote scheduled for Dec. 23. Attempting to extend his 17-year rule would outrage his opponents and risk destabilizing Africa’s biggest…

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IMF Sees `Prominent’ Downside Risks to South Africa’s Outlook

IMF Sees `Prominent’ Downside Risks to South Africa’s Outlook

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Downside risks to South Africa’s economic outlook are “prominent,” with spending pressures and a higher public-wage bill potentially raising financing costs and damping growth, the International Monetary Fund said. “Fiscal consolidation is needed to strengthen public finances,” the Washington-based lender said in an emailed statement Tuesday after concluding a visit to the nation with the continent’s most-industrialized economy. While steps announced in the February budget are a move in the right…

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OPEC Resistance to Saudi Supply Plan Grows as Iraq Objects

OPEC Resistance to Saudi Supply Plan Grows as Iraq Objects

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Iraq said OPEC should resist pressure to increase oil supplies, strengthening opposition to plans by Saudi Arabia as the group prepares to meet next week. OPEC’s second-biggest producer said supply curbs by the cartel haven’t yet achieved their purpose, with oil prices still below the desired level. Its defiance follows similar resistance from Iran and Venezuela, meaning three of the five countries that founded OPEC now oppose the Saudi plan. The…

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Uganda Keeps Key Rate at Record Low But Sees Prices Rising

Uganda Keeps Key Rate at Record Low But Sees Prices Rising

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s central bank maintained its key interest rate at a record low but warned that inflation is set to accelerate from a 3 1/2-year low. The Monetary Policy Committee kept the benchmark rate at 9 percent, GovernorEmmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told reporters Monday in the capital, Kampala. Growth in consumer prices slowed to 1.7 percent in May, the weakest level since 2014, and the risks to the inflation outlook in Africa’s biggest coffee exporter…

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