The Editorial Team |

Nigerian Central Bank to Keep Tight Monetary Policy, Nnanna Says

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa)- Nigeria’s central bank will keep monetary policy tight as dollar shortages persist, Deputy Governor Joseph Nnanna said Now is not the time to ease policy, he said in an interview Thursday in the capital, Abuja. Inflation slowed for a third month in April, but at 17.2 percent remains almost double the upper limit of the bank’s 6 percent to 9 percent target. “We are battling with liquidity as it were, so tight monetary…

Norway Development Fund Bets Big on African Finance

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Norway’s state-run development fund, Norfund, is finding the fattest returns in Africa are in the financial industry. The $2 billion fund, which is more and more concentrating its investments in sub-Saharan Africa, placed more than half its new capital last year in financial institutions. That focus helped salvage returns last year. At the end of 2016, the fund had invested 16.8 billion kroner ($2 billion) in 124 companies, with renewable…

Zambia Took On More Than $3 Billion in External Debt in 2016

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia committed to $3.5 billion of new loans last year, 56 percent more than in 2015, the Finance Ministry said. Of the $3.1 billion in loans the government of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer contracted in 2016, as opposed to just committing to, $1.8 billion came from Chinese lenders, the ministry said in its annual economic report for last year. Despite the new loans, the government’s external debt position increased by…

Miners Ask Congo to Adjust Tax Repayments for Franc Slump

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DR CONGO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo asked the government to adjust pending value-added tax repayments for a slump in the franc that could cost them as much as $210 million collectively. Federation des Entreprises du Congo, the country’s largest business lobby group, sent the request in a letter to Finance Minister Henri Yav Mulang on May 5. John Nkono, the secretary-general of the FEC’s Chamber of…

Iron Risks Plunge to $40s as Marex Sounds Second-Half Alarm

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Iron ore prices that have steadied in recent weeks after a spectacular two-month rout may be set for another steep leg down in the second half, according to Marex Spectron, which forecasts that the commodity is at risk of sinking into the $40s as mine supply expands. “What we’re seeing six months from now are weaker demand and higher supply,” Georgi Slavov, head of research at the commodity broker, said in an…

South Africa Moves Firms to Mines Ministry for Accountability

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa will transfer the state-owned mining company and petroleum exploration-promotion agency, which report to a unit of the Energy Ministry, to the Department of Mineral Resources to improve accountability. Petroleum Agency of South Africa and African Exploration Mining & Finance Corp. will be moved to the department within the financial year ending Feb. 28, Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi told lawmakers in Cape Town Friday. They will be transferred from her department’s CEF…

Sub-Saharan Africa Needs Better Laws for $100 Billion Gap

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sub-Saharan Africa needs solid legal frameworks, increased private-sector involvement and better fiscal incentives to plug its annual infrastructure-funding gap of about $100 billion, Boston Consulting Group and Africa Finance Corp. said. The region’s governments have insufficient strategic foresight, political will and policy certainty and numbers of adequately skilled people to improve delivery, the organizations said in a report released Tuesday in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. Financial systems need upgrading to be sound…

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