South Africa $7.5 Billion Pensions Bid `Untrue,’ Gigaba Says

South Africa $7.5 Billion Pensions Bid `Untrue,’ Gigaba Says

JOHANNESBUGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Bloomberg News report that South Africa’s National Treasury is seeking as much as 100 billion rand ($7.5 billion) from the government workers’ pension fund to finance struggling state companies is untrue, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said. The Public Investment Corp., which manages the fund and has about 1.86 trillion rand in assets, has been asked by the Treasury to buy its entire 12 billion-rand stake in Telkom SA SOC Ltd. to pay…

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Risky Roads a Boon for Airlines in War-Ravaged South Sudan

Risky Roads a Boon for Airlines in War-Ravaged South Sudan

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ayaak Deng’s first-ever flight let her skip over a hundred miles of bloodily contested South Sudan and visit family she hadn’t seen in a year. It’s the kind of trip that’s revitalizing small airlines that initially struggled because of the almost four-year civil war. The airport in the capital, Juba, has recorded about 1,000 domestic passengers a day this month, more than five times the average in the first half…

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Mauritian Whistle-Blower Drops Claims Against Attorney General

Mauritian Whistle-Blower Drops Claims Against Attorney General

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Mauritian whistle-blower withdrew allegations of money laundering that forced Attorney General Ravi Yerrigadoo to step down this month. Husein Abdool Rahim, who made the allegations earlier in September, said he’d been pressured by Port Louis-based newspaper l’Express and former Financial Services Minister Roshi Badhain into making claims that Yerrigadoo helped set up a financial structure to enable the transfer of gambling winnings to bank accounts in Dubai…

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Trump’s Indefinite Travel Ban Opens New Stage in Legal Fight

Trump’s Indefinite Travel Ban Opens New Stage in Legal Fight

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump restricted or suspended travel to the U.S. from eight countries, adding North Korea and Venezuela, while subtracting Sudan, from his earlier ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority nations. “I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” Trump wrote in Sunday’s proclamation. The move came as the original order, which had been limited by court challenges, was set to expire. Speaking to…

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Ghana Bank Holds Key Rate at 2015 Low as Inflation Quickens

Ghana Bank Holds Key Rate at 2015 Low as Inflation Quickens

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s central bank kept its key lending rate at the lowest since 2015 after inflation accelerated for the first time in four months. The Bank of Ghana left the rate at 21 percent, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra. Two of seven economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted the hold, while the rest forecast cuts ranging from 50 to 100 basis points. The central bank of West Africa’s biggest…

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Kenya Opposition Plans Mass Protests to Force Out Vote Officials

Kenya Opposition Plans Mass Protests to Force Out Vote Officials

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s main opposition alliance will begin mass protests this week to force out electoral officials it suspects of rigging last month’s annulled presidential vote. The National Super Alliance will begin its campaign on Tuesday and will continue until the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission officeholders resign, said Norman Magaya, chief executive officer of the opposition coalition. It may escalate the protests if lawmakers from the ruling Jubilee Party continue…

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Moody’s: Cameroon’s credit profile supported by diversified economy

Moody’s: Cameroon’s credit profile supported by diversified economy

YAOUNDE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service says that while Government of Cameroon’s (B2 stable) credit profile is supported by a diversified economy that has limited the impact of the oil price shock, the country still faces challenges from its weak institutional environment and rising public sector debt. The annual report, “Government of Cameroon — B2 Stable, Annual credit analysis”, is now available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this report via the…

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