The Editorial Team |

Och-Ziff Unit Said to Plan to Plead Guilty Over Bribes

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Och-Ziff Capital Management LP, the largest publicly traded hedge fund firm in the U.S., has agreed to enter into a deferred-prosecution agreement and have a subsidiary plead guilty in a federal probe into millions of dollars of bribes funneled to African officials, according to a person familiar with the matter. The admission of guilt is part of a settlement with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission after a complex five-year…

Congo Raises Key Rate to 7% to Check Inflation, Defend Franc

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo raised its key interest rate by 5 percentage points to 7 percent because of accelerating inflation and “tensions” in the foreign-exchange market. The increase marks the first change in the base rate in almost three years and comes after the government’s foreign-exchange reserves dropped below $1 billion for the first time since 2008. Reserves have fallen by a third since the start of the year as a sustained…

Infrastructure | Kenya Says Railway Through Wildlife Park Is Least-Worst Route

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Routing a new Kenyan railway line through the capital’s national wildlife reserve is the least-worst option for a congested city and compromises in its design will leave animals enough space to roam, a government official said. The government said earlier this month that its new $3.2 billion Standard Gauge Railway linking East Africa’s biggest port at Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, would be routed through Nairobi National Park. The decision sparked…

Ivory Coast Raises Cocoa Price for Farmers 10% From 2015

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ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, will boost the minimum price paid to farmers for their beans 10 percent from last year. Growers will get a minimum 1,100 CFA francs ($1.86) a kilogram (2.2 pounds) for beans for the main crop starting in October, according to Abdourahmane Cisse, the country’s budget minister. That’s up from 1,000 CFA francs last season. The main crop runs from October to March. “My own view…

African economic growth to dip to 1.6 pct this year: World Bank

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) —Growth in sub-Saharan African countries will stall to just 1.6% this year, the lowest in over two decades, a report said Thursday, as one of the world’s once fastest-growing frontiers continues to lose steam because of overdependence on oil and commodity exports, and poor policies. The disappointing rate of economic expansion is well below the global average of 2.3%, the World Bank said in its twice-annual “Africa’s Pulse” report. Just…

S&P Says Political Tension in South Africa ‘Must Be Watched’

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Political tension in South Africa is making economic reforms more challenging and must be watched, according to S&P Global Ratings. “We clearly stated that there is a concern that political tension stifles the reform effort, so that must be watched,” S&P Managing Director for sub-Saharan Africa Konrad Reuss said in an interview in Johannesburg on Thursday. “In the current climate of political tension and turmoil it’s certainly more challenging now to achieve all…

Kenya car industry urges more incentives to attract investment

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s removal of excise duty on locally assembled cars will boost the industry, but the government must make power supplies cheaper and address other concerns to draw more investment, the automobile industry association chief said on Thursday. With little growth in mature markets, automakers are looking to tap into emerging African markets, but there is plenty of competition on the continent for where they might invest. Kenya’s East African…

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