The Editorial Team |

Bitcoin and Copper in Lockstep Show Chinese Speculators’ Power

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Copper and bitcoin don’t obviously have much in common. One is an industrial metal, mined by giant trucks and used in everything from computer chips to plumbing tubes, the other a cryptocurrency that’s ’mined’ only in a virtual sense. Yet the two have been moving in near unison for the past two months. Bitcoin and copper both rallied strongly from mid-July to early September. Then when bitcoin tumbled as…

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

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

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

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

Mauritian Whistle-Blower Drops Claims Against Attorney General

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

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

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

Ghana Bank Holds Key Rate at 2015 Low as Inflation Quickens

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

Kenya Opposition Plans Mass Protests to Force Out Vote Officials

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

« 1 … 638 639 640 641 642 … 1,077 »