Stocks in Economy With Best Growth Forecast Lead the World

Stocks in Economy With Best Growth Forecast Lead the World

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank’s optimism about prospects for Ghana’s economy has proved a tonic for Accra-traded stocks: the country’s benchmark index sits atop the world as January draws to a close. The Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index has gained 19 percent since the year began in dollar terms, the most among benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg. “We can’t discount the sentiment factor, the optimism in the market in terms of Ghana…

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Steinhoff Refers Ex-CEO to Police on Suspicion of Corruption

Steinhoff Refers Ex-CEO to Police on Suspicion of Corruption

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV reported former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste to South Africa’s anti-graft police, pinning the blame for an accounting scandal squarely on the man who built the retailer into a global force. The owner of Mattress Firm in the U.S. and Conforama in France referred Jooste to the unit known as the Hawks on Tuesday based on its investigation into financial irregularities, acting Chairman Heather Sonn told lawmakers in Cape…

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Kenyan Inflation Rate Rises for First Month in Five in January

Kenyan Inflation Rate Rises for First Month in Five in January

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan inflation accelerated for the first month in five in January as corn prices rose and crude costs increased. Consumer prices climbed 4.8 percent from a year earlier, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday in a statement emailed from the capital, Nairobi. Prices advanced 1.3 percent in the month. A government-imposed cap on commercial lending rates, a drought and two disputed elections have weighed on economic growth in…

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Africa’s Newest Gold Miner Starts Output and Sees Potential IPO

Africa’s Newest Gold Miner Starts Output and Sees Potential IPO

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Toro Gold Ltd. became Africa’s newest gold producer last week when it delivered its first batch of bullion, and the privately held firm is now weighing the possibility of selling shares this year. The company, which achieved the unusual feat of building a bullion mine without tapping public markets for funding, expects to produce about 135,000 ounces of the metal a year from the Mako project in Senegal. The mine…

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Egypt’s El-Sisi Gets Competition – And It’s From a Backer

Egypt’s El-Sisi Gets Competition – And It’s From a Backer

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has a last-minute challenger in March’s presidential race — a staunch backer. Al-Ghad party chairman Mousa Moustafa Mousa, who founded a group that endorsed El-Sisi’s re-election bid, filed candidacy papers with the electoral commission just minutes before the 2 p.m. deadline on Monday, state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Mousa entered the race after others either withdrew or were disqualified. But his challenge won’t allay critics who say…

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Foreigners Pile Into Nigerian Stocks, New York ETF as Oil Climbs

Foreigners Pile Into Nigerian Stocks, New York ETF as Oil Climbs

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s stocks have been among the world’s best-performers in the past four months, and foreign investors are a big reason for that. Net foreign inflows to Nigerian equities totalled 337 billion naira ($940 million) last year, the first time flows have been positive since at least 2013. December was the best month since Bloomberg started compiling data at the beginning of 2014, with net inflows of 140 billion naira,…

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Gas Flaring Law Error Cost Nigeria Billions of Dollars, Says Finance Minister

Gas Flaring Law Error Cost Nigeria Billions of Dollars, Says Finance Minister

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s top oil producer plans to make gas flaring more costly for companies that have escaped the payment of billions of dollars despite being fined, Nigerian Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said. In the “legal framework for the gas-flaring penalty, it was drafted as a charge. A charge is tax deductible,” Adeosun said in a January 23 interview. “So, what do the international oil companies do? They flare, they pay the charge…

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