The Editorial Team |

Day of Reckoning for South Africa’s Zuma as ANC Top Brass Meets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Time appears to be running out for South African President Jacob Zuma. Six weeks after his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, replaced him as leader of the ruling African National Congress, the party’s top brass is due to meet in Cape Town on Wednesday to decide whether to force him from office. The crunch meeting of the National Executive Committee comes a day before Zuma was due to deliver the annual state-of-the-nation…

Mining Companies Are Suddenly Positive on South Africa Again

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JOHANNESBBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cyril Ramaphosa isn’t even president yet and mining companies are already changing their tune on South Africa. A former mine union leader and now one of the wealthiest black South Africans, the new leader of the ruling African National Congress is seen as more willing to negotiate investor-friendly policy, according to executives attending the African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town this week. That’s partly after he told reporters in…

Congo Seeks More Cobalt Control as Batteries Drive Boom

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo will seek greater control of the global cobalt market by engaging directly with car and battery manufacturers, according to its largest state-owned mining company. “I find it scandalous that when cobalt is discussed, and the explosion of electric vehicles, only the traders and consumers are referenced and Congo and Gecamines are not cited,” Gecamines Chairman Albert Yuma said in an interview in Cape Town. The market…

Bitcoin Miners Face Shakeout as Only Strongest Survive at $6,000

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin miners face a reckoning as the cryptocurrency’s tumble wipes out profits for all but the industry’s most efficient operators, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Only miners with access to “very cheap” electricity of about 6 cents per kilowatt hour or less can stay profitable after Bitcoin slumped to $6,000 on Tuesday, said Sophie Lu, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Beijing. If Bitcoin stays this low…

Bitcoin and Stocks Have More in Common Than You Think: Gadfly

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin has been a plaything for risk-hungry traders and punters rather than a widely held investment or real-world currency. It’s been shunned by banks and banned by governments. Yet it’s still possible that its slide on Monday made the broader market selloff worse, as investors sold assets to compensate for crypto-losses. Marginal as this may be, and you can’t be certain of correlation with something as unstable as digital…

Cryptocurrencies Under Pressure After Bitcoin Dips Below $6,000

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rout in cryptocurrencies rolled on, sending Bitcoin to its lowest level since October, as worries over tighter regulation by U.S. authorities and central bankers elsewhere gave traders fresh reasons to exit after a brutal start to 2018. The selloff has now knocked about half a trillion dollars from digital coins since early January. That’s shaken a nascent market whose core attraction — anonymity and decentralization — is being challenged as never before…

Egypt Economy: Four Tailwinds for Economic Growth in 2018

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s economy took a battering after the revolution of 2011, with annual growth declining to 3.1% in 2011-16 from an average of 6.2% in 2005-10. But the economy should recover in 2018, helped by four tailwinds: declining inflation, lower interest rates, recovering tourism and gas production from a new field. Egypt’s macroeconomic conditions were dire in 2016. Foreign currency was in short supply, resulting in the emergence of a…

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