The Editorial Team |

South Africa Current-Account Gap Narrows as Rand Boosts Exports

Johannesburg, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s current-account deficit narrowed to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product in the second quarter after the nation’s exports received a boost from the lagged effect of last year’s rand weakness. The gap on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, narrowed from a revised 5.3 percent in the first three months after the nation recorded its first quarterly trade surplus in a year, the Reserve Bank…

Ghana’s Eurobond Loosens IMF Straitjacket Ahead of Elections

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ACCRA, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana will have more fiscal room to maneuver ahead of elections as a fifth Eurobond gives the nation funds to pay debt and implement projects amid spending restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund. West Africa’s second-largest economy raised $750 million at a yield of 9.25 percent last week in an auction that was more than four times oversubscribed. About $400 million of the bond proceeds will be used to refinance the nation’s…

Kenyan Central Bank Sets CBR as the Base Rate for Loan Charges

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NAIROBI, Capital Market in Africa: Kenya’s central bank said lenders should peg their loans to its Central Bank Rate, or CBR, in line with a new law capping costs and as the International Monetary Fund warned that legislation limiting how much lenders charge for credit risks impeding access to loans. East Africa’s biggest economy has introduced restrictions on borrowing costs that set commercial rates at 400 basis points above a central bank base rate. Most…

Zambian President Lungu Faces Challenge to Repair Economy

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LUSAKA, Capital Markets in Africa: Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who was inaugurated Tuesday after his narrow re-election last month, faces two immediate challenges: boosting an economy that’s expanding at the slowest pace in 17 years and reining in a ballooning budget shortfall. “We will remain focused on facilitating a conducive business and investment environment,” Lungu, 59, said in his inauguration speech in front of an audience that packed the 60,000-seat National Heroes stadium in Lusaka, the capital…

Kenya Treasury Secretary to Meet Prospective Eurobond Buyers

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NAIROBI, Capital Market in Africa: Kenyan Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said he’s likely to meet potential investors in the East African nation’s next Eurobond while visiting the U.S. next month. The government has also factored a possible U.S. Federal Reserve interest-rate hike later this year into its plans for selling more debt offshore, he said in an interview Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi. Rotich will be attending the International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington scheduled to take place…

Visa Introduces Mobile-Money Product to Rival Safaricom’s M-Pesa

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Johannesburg, Capital Markets in Africa: Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments network, introduced a mobile-phone application to enable cashless transactions in Kenya, where the majority of wireless payments are being done through the nation’s biggest telecommunications company, Safaricom Limited. The mVisa app will initially facilitate transactions for people with accounts in four banks, including KCB Group Ltd. and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd., according to Visa Emerging Markets Senior Vice President Uttam Nayak. The company estimates 84 million of Africa’s mobile-phone…

South Africa’s Jonas Worried State Firms Being Used Politically

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Johannesburg, Capital Markets in Africa: South African Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas is “worried” about the impact of a perception that state institutions are being used to advance political agendas, saying the issue is a distraction to efforts to expand the economy. “Political behavior does sometimes impact negatively on certainty” and “times are tough, we should be focused on growing the economy,” he said in an interview on Johannesburg-based Talk Radio 702 on Tuesday. The National Treasury has…

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