Ghana Sees Debt Levels Slowing as Growth Outpaces Borrowings

Ghana Sees Debt Levels Slowing as Growth Outpaces Borrowings

GHANA, Capital Markets in Africa: Growth in Ghanaian government debt will slow in 2016 as economic expansion outpaces borrowing, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said. The West Africa nation’s debt, which measured 71 percent of gross domestic product in 2015, “will improve on account of positive growth,” Terkper told journalists Monday in the capital, Accra. The economy of the world’s second-biggest cocoa grower expanded by 4.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 4.1…

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De Beers Sells $560 Million of Diamonds, Least Since January

SOUTH AFRICA, Capital Markets in Africa: De Beers reduced diamond sales at its fifth offering this year to the least since January. The value of the Anglo American Plc unit’s sales was $560 million compared with $636 million at the previous offering, the London-based company said in statement Tuesday. “Sales in the fifth cycle of the year were somewhat lower than in the fourth cycle, in line with our expectations and typical seasonal demand patterns,” outgoing De Beers…

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AngloGold Plans to Buy Back $475 Million of High-Yield Bonds

AngloGold Plans to Buy Back $475 Million of High-Yield Bonds

GHANA, Capital Markets in Africa: AngloGold Ashanti Limited, the world’s third-largest miner of the metal, said it plans to redeem about $475 million outstanding on a $1.25 billion high-yield bond that was issued in 2013. AngloGold will pay $1,063.75 for every $1,000 of bonds, exercising the notes’ call option, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Tuesday. The coupon on the debt is 8.5 percent and the sum outstanding attracts an interest charge of $40 million a year, spokesman Stewart…

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Kenya Finance Minister Sees Next Eurobond at Affordable Rate

Kenya Finance Minister Sees Next Eurobond at Affordable Rate

KENYA, Capital Markets in Africa: Kenya can issue Eurobonds at yields lower than other African economies that rely on oil exports and where growth has been stunted by weak global prices, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said. East Africa’s biggest economy will issue its second-ever Eurobond in the financial year starting July 1 to help plug a projected budget gap of 9.3 percent of gross domestic product, Rotich said in an interview on June 24 in the capital, Nairobi….

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Mozambique Yields at Record as IMF Warns of Debt Distress

Mozambique Yields at Record as IMF Warns of Debt Distress

Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa: Mozambique government bond yields jumped to a record 18.94 percent after the International Monetary Fund warned the south eastern African nation’s public debt was at a high risk of distress. The Washington-based lender said Friday Mozambique’s public debt stock had jumped to 86 percent of gross domestic product after the government revealed it had guaranteed $1.4 billion in loans to state-owned companies. “According to our technical assessment, public debt is now likely…

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South Africa Inflation Near Top of Target Limits Policy Options

South Africa Inflation Near Top of Target Limits Policy Options

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s Monetary Policy Committee has little room to delay acting while inflation and price-growth expectations are hovering near the ceiling of its target range, according to the Reserve Bank. The contribution of monetary policy “is to prevent the temporary increase in specific prices from becoming a permanent acceleration in overall inflation,” the central bank said in its annual report for the year through March 2016, released on its website…

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African Assets Slump as Brexit Vote Triggers Commodity Decline

African Assets Slump as Brexit Vote Triggers Commodity Decline

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Currencies, stocks and bonds plunged across Africa after the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union triggered a slump in oil and other commodities and sent investors scurrying for safe assets. South Africa’s benchmark share index fell the most since December 2008 on a closing basis, led by stocks with listings in London and by diversified mining companies. The rand dropped to a record against the yen and by the most…

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