South Africa can avoid credit downgrades , Finance Minister says

South Africa can avoid credit downgrades , Finance Minister says

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa is making progress towards avoiding rating downgrades despite the economy not growing fast enough, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told a trade union gathering on Wednesday a week before reading his mid-term budget speech. Ratings agencies have warned they could cut the country’s credit rating to “junk” by year-end if the country does not lift growth to at least 1 percent annually. “As a country we have to understand…

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Nigeria needs more time to negotiate rail project with GE

Nigeria needs more time to negotiate rail project with GE

ABUJA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria needs more time to negotiate a railway concession project with U.S. company General Electric, the country’s transport minister said on Wednesday. Both sides have confirmed talks on GE being granted a railway concession in Nigeria worth around $2 billion but no details have emerged yet. “GE is proposing a two-year rehabilitation of the rail tracks to be carried out by them and to have a concession period of 25…

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Gabon: ICD and DCF of Gabon sign an MoU

Gabon: ICD and DCF of Gabon sign an MoU

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mr. Khaled Al-Aboodi, the CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a member of Islamic Development Bank Group, and Mr. Alain Ditona Moussavou CEO of Deposit and Consignments Fund (DCF), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch an investment fund to support the financing of SMEs in Gabon and Central Africa. The two institutions are determined to bring a solution to the…

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African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) officially open for business in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) officially open for business in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 19, 2016/ — At a press conference, the CEO of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), George Otieno, along with H.E. Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian Ambassador and Gabriel Negatu, Regional Director, African Development Bank announced today that it is ready to begin covering transactions in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. After a year-long process that was supported with funds from the African Development Bank, both countries are now members. The announcement will give investors…

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Uganda central bank cuts main rate to 13 pct, more easing seen

Uganda central bank cuts main rate to 13 pct, more easing seen

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s central bank cut its main interest rate on Tuesday to 13 percent from 14 percent to boost growth, and analysts said there was room for another reduction this year. Policymakers in the East African nation began cutting the benchmark rate in April, bringing it back down from the peak of 17 percent reached as the bank battled a surge in prices. Core inflation dipped to 4.8 percent last month…

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Kenya Credit Rating upgrade to stable from negative by Standard and Poors

Kenya Credit Rating upgrade to stable from negative by Standard and Poors

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded Kenya’s credit outlook to stable from negative, citing sustained economic growth, reduced political tension and stabilising public debt. S&P’s move to upgrade the credit outlook bodes well for the government when it moves to borrow from the international market to plug the gaping budget deficit of Sh689 billion in the current fiscal year. In its previous sovereign update on Kenya…

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Orange Egypt signs 4G licence deal worth $484 mln

Orange Egypt signs 4G licence deal worth $484 mln

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Orange Egypt signed a licence deal on Thursday, paying $484 million to operate fourth-generation mobile phone services in the country of 90 million after the government agreed to offer it additional spectrum. Egypt is selling four 4G licences as part of a long-awaited plan to reform the telecoms sector and to raise money for stretched government finances. The country’s three existing mobile phone operators – Orange, Vodafone and Etisalat –…

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