The Editorial Team |

Rate-Cutting Race Among BRICS Outliers Pits Russia, Brazil

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The race to ease monetary policy in Russia and Brazil may come down to factors neither of the central banks can control. Even after months of rate cuts, the two economies continue to endure some of the world’s highest borrowing costs when adjusted for inflation. While both countries are still consumed by crises as they try to put two years of recession behind them, the political turmoil gripping Brazil leaves its central bank facing a tougher task ahead, according…

South Africa Must Have Inflation-Target Talk, Buthelezi Says

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JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa should have talks on the appropriateness of the central bank’s inflation target, Deputy Finance Minister Sfiso Buthelezi said, adding to concern that the institution’s mandate may be altered. “We set this 3 percent to 6 percent then, under different economic conditions,” Buthelezi said at a conference Monday in Johannesburg. “Is it still relevant now? Is it a policy for all seasons?” Buthelezi’s remarks come a week after Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended…

South African Miners Apply to Court to Block Government Charter

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JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – Johannesburg South Africa’s mining companies have applied to the High Court in Pretoria to block the government’s Mining Charter, arguing that the new rules would destroy the industry. The Chamber of Mines, which represents mining companies, has applied for an urgent interdict that would halt the implementation of the charter, published by the Department of Mineral Resources on June 15, it said in an emailed statement Monday. The group plans…

Kenyan President Pledges Investment Plan in Hunt for Votes

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party pledged to transform East Africa’s largest economy into a middle-income nation by 2022 by boosting investment in public infrastructure and technology and offering increased financing for small businesses. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party also said it will increase the number of poor and elderly on free health care and offer free education to some primary and secondary public school students. The number of elderly receiving state grants would…

Banks Balk at Risk of Funding South Africa Mining Charter Deals

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JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s plan to force mining companies to give the black majority a bigger stake in the nation’s mineral wealth faces a major obstacle: convincing banks to back billions of dollars of fresh deals in an industry in decline. Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on June 15 that local mines should be at least 30 percent owned by black people, up from the previous requirement of 26 percent. The mining companies need banks to…

Credit Suisse Disputes Fees Shown in Kroll Mozambique Audit

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Credit Suisse Group AG, which helped arrange the majority of the $2 billion in Mozambique state-backed loans that plunged the country’s economy into crisis, disputed that it received more than $160 million in fees for arranging the financing. The bank was responding to Kroll LLC’s audit report into the loans that said it and Russia’s VTB Bank PJSC were paid almost $200 million in arrangement and contractor fees. The investigation showed that Mozambican…

Zimbabwe Plans a Green-Energy Fund to Boost Generation

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe plans a green-energy fund to promote the use of renewables, with the initial aim of making up a 600 megawatt shortfall in electricity production. The southern African nation wants to generate at least 1,000 megawatts of power, or 16 percent of its total projected generation, through solar and other renewable energy systems by 2025, according to the energy ministry’s final draft of a policy document emailed to Bloomberg News. State-owned…

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