Ghana Increases 2016 GDP Growth Forecast After Earlier ‘Mistake’

Ghana Increases 2016 GDP Growth Forecast After Earlier ‘Mistake’

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana’s finance ministry increased its economic growth forecast for 2016 two weeks after projecting the slowest expansion in more than three decades due to a “mistake” in its calculations. West Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria will grow between 4.1 percent and 4.3 percent this year compared with 3.9 percent in 2015, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said in an interview in the capital, Accra, on Monday. The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee…

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Zimbabwe Says It’s on Course to Clear $1.8 Billion Loan Arrears

Zimbabwe Says It’s on Course to Clear $1.8 Billion Loan Arrears

HARARE, Capital Markets in Africa: Zimbabwe will clear the $1.8 billion of arrears it owes the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank once it has a new financing plan with the three multilateral lenders, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said. The southern African nation is continuing negotiations with the three on financing industries such as agriculture, Chinamasa said in an interview in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. A survey of how much money is required is being undertaken and once agreed,…

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Mozambique Hires Lazard, Legal Advisers to Assess External Debts

Mozambique Hires Lazard, Legal Advisers to Assess External Debts

MAPUTO, Capital Markets in Africa: Lazard Ltd. as a financial adviser to help assess its foreign debt as it struggles to service borrowings by state-owned companies. The ministry of economy and finance also appointed White & Case LLP as a legal adviser, it said in a statement e-mailed by Lazard’s London-based spokesman, Richard Creswell. The two will “assist the ministry with the assessment of Mozambique’s current external debt situation,” according to the statement. “The ministry has started to work…

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Nigeria Inflation 16.5% in June, Highest in Almost 11 Years

Nigeria Inflation 16.5% in June, Highest in Almost 11 Years

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigerian inflation accelerated to the highest rate in almost 11 years in June, complicating the task of the central bank in an economy which is at risk of contracting this year. The inflation rate in Africa’s largest economy increased to 16.5 percent from 15.6 in May, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. That’s the highest rate since October 2005, according to data on the Central Bank of…

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Private Equity | Ethos Capital’s JSE Listing to Fuel Private-Equity

Private Equity | Ethos Capital’s JSE Listing to Fuel Private-Equity

South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: EPE Capital Partners intends to raise as much as 2 billion rand ($140 million) in a stock placement and Johannesburg listing that will allow shareholders to invest in a portfolio run by sub-Saharan Africa’s largest private-equity firm. Ethos Capital, as the listing entity is known, will sell as many as 200 million shares on Aug. 5 to selected investors and institutions, including Coronation Asset Management (Pty) Ltd, Abax Investments (Pty)…

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Kenya | Shakeout Looms for Kenyan Insurers Squeezed by Capital Rules

Kenya | Shakeout Looms for Kenyan Insurers Squeezed by Capital Rules

NAIROBI, Capital Markets in Africa: A push by Kenyan regulators to clean up the East African country’s insurance industry is poised to trigger stake sales or exits by underwriters unable to meet the new capital requirements, according to an industry group. Most companies missed a June deadline to start building capital levels over the next three years, leaving many of them stuck with having to find investors to raise cash or to sell their companies completely, Association…

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Ghana May Hold Rate to Aid Economy Growing Slowest Since ’83

Ghana May Hold Rate to Aid Economy Growing Slowest Since ’83

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Slowing inflation could give Bank of Ghana Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku room to continue supporting an economy forecast to expand at the slowest pace since 1983. The Bank of Ghana will probably leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 26 percent for a fourth consecutive meeting on July 18, all four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said. The central bank raised the rate four times by a total of 500 basis points last year to prop…

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