The Editorial Team |

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

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…

Nigeria SE Falls 2.8% to 43,131.24; Dangote Cement Leads Decline

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigerian Stock Exchange Main-Board Index fell for the third day, dropping 2.8 percent, or 1,258.61 to 43,131.24. The move was the biggest since falling 4.3 percent on May 31, 2016. The MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index advanced 0.4 percent. Dangote Cement Plc contributed the most to the decline, falling 3.3 percent. Fcmb Group Plc decreased 9.7 percent, the biggest loss. MAY & Baker Nigeria Plc rose 4.9 percent,…

UBS Chairman Weber Sees `Massive’ Potential Drop in Bitcoin

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said the Swiss bank won’t trade Bitcoin or offer it to retail clients as increased regulation could lead to a “massive” drop in value. “This is something where the price is really unclear,” Weber said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We fear that in the future if these investments implode and the market corrects, then…

Nigeria May Cut Interest Rates Before July, Emefiele Says

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank could start cutting interest rates in the first half of the year as inflation eases, Governor Godwin Emefiele said. Once inflation gets to low double digits “and high single digit happens, then it should be easy for MPC to begin to look at easing,” Emefiele said Wednesday in an interview at his office in Abuja, the capital. “I want to think that between the end of the first…

Morocco Seeks to Defeat U.S. With Fifth Soccer World Cup Bid

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CASABLANCA (Capital Markets in Africa) – It has campaigned unsuccessfully four times before and is the sole challenger to a formidable joint bid by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Yet Morocco still believes it has a shot at hosting the 2026 soccer World Cup. At the campaign’s launch in Casablanca on Tuesday, Moroccan officials argued the country was located in a more convenient time zone for the majority of fans, while pledging not to exploit…

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