The Editorial Team |

Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Crypto Finance Meets Regular Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Yesterday I casually suggested that the ideal thing to turn into a smart contract on the blockchain is an interest-rate swap: It’s just a series of exchanges of money, with no need to do anything in the real world, so it is easy to encode in computer instructions. But one reader correctly objected that the real meat of an interest-rate swap as a contract is its credit terms. An interest-rate swap is an unfunded way to get interest-rate…

South Africa Can Make Case to Avoid Downgrade, Governor Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The attempts of the new leaders of South Africa’s ruling party to root out corruption and boost the ailing economy may mean the nation can avert another downgrade by rating companies, central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. “Without pre-empting what the ratings agencies would say, South Africa is in a much better space now than where it was when previous ratings actions took place,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg…

South Africa’s Rand Cracks 12 per Dollar First Time Since ’15 as Optimism Grows

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand traded below 12 per dollar on Wednesday for the first time since May 2015, extending a rally sparked by an improving domestic political environment and supported by global risk-on sentiment and the greenback’s retreat. The currency advanced as much as 0.9 percent to 11.9265 per dollar, and traded 0.7 percent stronger at 11.9462 by 11:52 a.m. in Johannesburg. That brings gains in the past three months to 15…

It Would Be a Pitch Like No Other as Zimbabwe Eyes Bond Sale

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s a sales pitch as tough as they come: the economy has halved since 2000, unemployment’s at 90 percent and bank withdrawals are capped at $40 a week. What’s more, the government is behind on World Bank loan payments and some officials have been sanctioned by the U.S. and Europe. Welcome to Zimbabwe, where new president Emmerson Mnangagwa wants tosell Eurobonds to revive one of the world’s weakest economies and end its…

Steinhoff Finds $1.1 Billion Under the Mattress. Is It Enough?

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV’s quest for cash has yielded about $1.1 billion from asset sales as the embattled retailer struggles to stay afloat. The question is whether the relatively small steps it’s taken can forestall more radical ones. Since revelations last month of accounting irregularities, Steinhoff sold the company jet, shed stakeholdings and sought to refinance debt to free up funds. It even ended its sponsorship of the rugby team at Stellenbosch University,…

South Africa Core Inflation Rate Drops to Six-Year Low

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank may return to the interest rate-cutting cycle it started last year as core inflation slowed to the lowest in six years and headline price growth stayed close to the mid-point of the target range in December. The inflation rate rose to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent the previous month, the Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said on its website Wednesday. That’s in line with the median of 20…

Russia’s No. 2 Bank Seeks Mozambique Debt Talks After Default

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The head of Russia’s second-biggest bank wants to meet with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and other officials soon to attempt to start negotiations over restructuring about $2 billion in debt, which haveyet to formally begin since the country defaulted a year ago. “We would like to convince them to start more negotiations with investors for restructuring the debt,” VTB Group Chief Executive Officer Andrey Kostin said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the World…

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