The Editorial Team |

Zuma Is Said to Allow Gupta Probe in Bid to Keep Job

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Jacob Zuma agreed to the appointment of a commission to probe allegations that his son’s business partners had exerted undue influence over state decisions, a move aimed at defusing calls for him to step down immediately, three ruling-party officials with knowledge of the matter said. The rand fell. Zuma, 75, announced the formation of the commission late Tuesday, two days after he agreed to the probe in a…

Activity Expands in African Economies as Stability Boosts Demand

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Business activity in some of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economies is expanding due to increased demand and the return of political stability. Purchasing Managers Indexes published on Thursday showed expansion in companies in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia in December. In South Africa, the continent’s most-industrialized economy, the index fell and remained below the neutral mark of 50 for the fifth straight month as the fiscal outlook remains challenging and…

Zuma Is Said to Face Ouster Bid at South African ANC Meeting

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Jacob Zuma will face a fresh bid to force him from office when the ruling African National Congress’s top leadership meets this week for the first time since he relinquished control of the party to his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa. A proposal to order Zuma to step down before his term ends in 2019 will be discussed at a Wednesday meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee in the southern…

Bitcoin Is Teaching Libertarians Everything They Don’t Know About Economics

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin changes prices too quickly to be a currency and processes transactions too slowly to be a payments system, but it is juuust right for teaching libertarians everything they don’t know about economics. Not that they’re paying attention. If you listen to bitcoin’s biggest backers, it’s supposed to be our gleaming future, one where we can make money just by holding it, move it anywhere in the world for…

Angola Is Said to Plan Currency Sale Tuesday as It Ends Peg

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LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s central bank will hold an auction on Tuesday to sell foreign currency to commercial banks, its first since saying it will abandon a dollar peg, according to three people familiar with knowledge of the matter. The kwanza will probably be allowed to depreciate at the auction as the central bank shifts to a trading band, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to…

Rand Falls as Cheer Gives Way to Hard Reality of Ramaphosa’s Job

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rand fell, after clocking up its longest weekly winning run since 2010, as analysts at Rabobank and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the currency has rallied too far. The rand weakened as much as 1.3 percent against the dollar, set for the biggest loss since Dec. 7. The selloff on Monday sent the 14-day relative strength index of dollar-rand pairing, which lingered in oversold territory for most of the past three weeks,…

Angolan Leader Denies Targeting Predecessor’s Family in Shake-Up

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LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angolan President Joao Lourenco denied he’s targeting the family of his predecessor, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, whose eldest daughter was among hundreds of officials fired after he took the helm of Africa’s second-biggest oil producer in September. “This isn’t about chasing people,” Lourenco told reporters Monday in the capital, Luanda. “It’s about fixing situations that proved to be harmful to the public interest.” Since replacing Dos Santos, Lourenco has removed his daughter,…

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