The Editorial Team |

Opinions on Removal of South Africa’s Finance Minister Gordhan

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Financiers, economists, labor leaders, lawmakers and officials from the ruling African National Congress are all having their say on how the decision by South African President Jacob Zuma to fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and other cabinet members will affect the economy, the country’s credit ratings, bonds and the local currency. Colin Coleman, head of sub-Saharan Africa at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, tells Bloomberg TV: The cabinet reshuffle “removes the belt and braces over…

Fitch: South Africa Cabinet Reshuffle Signals Policy Change

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African president Jacob Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle signals a change in policy direction and will raise political tensions within the ANC and its traditional allies, potentially weakening public finances and standards of governance, Fitch Ratings says. The president announced that the new cabinet, in which he has replaced finance minister Pravin Gordhan with Malusi Gigaba, will work towards “radical socio-economic transformation.” In his February State of the Nation speech,…

IMF Urges Nigeria to Start Belt Tightening, Cut Naira Curbs

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria should remove currency-trading restrictions and reduce its budget deficit and debt-service costs to “sustainable” levels, the International Monetary Fund said. “Stronger macroeconomic policies are urgently needed to rebuild confidence and foster an economic recovery,” the Washington-based lender said in a report Thursday after a team visited Nigeria. There’s a “need for a front-loaded, revenue-based fiscal consolidation starting in 2017, to reduce the federal government interest-payments-to-revenue ratio to sustainable levels.” The…

Zuma’s Night of Long Knives Risks ANC Split, Credit Rating

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Jacob Zuma fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and made sweeping changes to his administration in a high-stakes power play that may threaten his own presidency and place the nation’s investment-grade credit rating at risk. Zuma replaced Gordhan, with whom he feuded over state finances, with Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, who has no financial or business experience. He also named lawmaker Sfiso Buthelezi to take over from Mcebisi Jonas as deputy finance minister. The…

Kenyan Inflation Jumps to Five-Year High as Drought Bites

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) -Kenya’s annual inflation rate accelerated to its highest level in almost five years as an ongoing drought compounds price pressures. Consumer prices surged 10.3 percent in March from 9 percent in February, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement emailed from the capital, Nairobi, when they broke through the Central Bank of Kenya’s 7.5 percent ceiling. The rate is the highest since June 2012 when inflation registered at…

Budget Pain Abating for Ghana Prompts Longest Cedi Bond Sale

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana is selling its longest local-currency bonds as the stabilizing cedi and government steps to rein in a budget shortfall stoke appetite for the West African nation’s debt. The Finance Ministry gave final guidance of 19.75 percent for the 15-yearcallable bonds and is due to stop accepting bids at 3 p.m. in Accra. Yields on the government’s local debt have fallen in the past month, helping the ministry place 1.4 billion…

Moody’s: Egypt’s IMF program to support fiscal and external position, reform pace may slip

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – While Egypt’s IMF program will support gradual improvements to the country’s fiscal and external position, its social and economic costs risk slowing the pace of fiscal reform momentum, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report today. The report, “Government of Egypt – IMF Program Supports Gradual Fiscal, External Improvements”, is now available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this report via the link at the end of this press…

« 1 … 715 716 717 718 719 … 1,077 »