Tunisia | Moody’s recalibrates Tunisia’s national rating scale

Tunisia | Moody’s recalibrates Tunisia’s national rating scale

Tunis, Tunisia, Capital Markets in Africa: Moody’s Investors Service has repositioned the national scale ratings (NSRs) of four tranches in two Tunisian structured finance transactions in conjunction with the recalibration of the Tunisian national rating scale. NSRs, which provide a measure of relative creditworthiness within a single country, are derived from global scale ratings (GSRs) using country-specific maps. The adoption of a revised correspondence between Moody’s GSRs and the Tunisian national scale follows the publication…

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Ghana | More Delays in Store for Ghana’s Biggest IPO as Fund Seeks Stake

Ghana | More Delays in Store for Ghana’s Biggest IPO as Fund Seeks Stake

ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana’s state pension fund said it may seek a stake in Agricultural Development Bank of Ghana Ltd. more than a month after the nation’s biggest-ever initial public offering closed, a move that may further delay completion of the deal. Social Security and National Insurance Trust, the nation’s biggest investor, which oversees about $1.7 billion, is reviewing the IPO prospectus and will decide in about two weeks whether to apply for…

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Infrastructure | IMF’s Lipton Warns Africa Against Infrastructure Debt Traps

Infrastructure | IMF’s Lipton Warns Africa Against Infrastructure Debt Traps

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: African nations need to find the right balance when pursuing infrastructure projects to avoid falling into deeper debt traps, according to David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. “Infrastructure projects can be very successful in supporting growth if countries pick the right projects and carry them out in an efficient fashion,” Lipton said in a interview in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi on Tuesday. “Mistakes or inefficiencies…

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Zimbabwe Scraps Plan to Swap Dollar Earnings to Rand, Euros

Zimbabwe Scraps Plan to Swap Dollar Earnings to Rand, Euros

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa: Zimbabwe’s central bank abandoned a plan to convert half of its export earnings into South African rand and euros as it explores ways to ease a shortage of dollars. In a statement on Tuesday, the institution said it will now require 50 percent of export earnings to be transferred to a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe account. The central bank will then immediately credit the same amount, plus a 5 percent “export…

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Ivory Coast | BRVM Values Combined Cote d’Ivoire Telecom-Orange at $6 Billion

Ivory Coast | BRVM Values Combined Cote d’Ivoire Telecom-Orange at $6 Billion

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Capital Markets in Africa: A combination of Ivory Coast’s landline operator Côte d’Ivoire Telecom and Orange SA’s local unit may be valued at $4 billion to $6 billion on the regional stock exchange, a deal that could increase the capitalization of Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres by as much as 40 percent. Ivory Coast and Paris-based Orange have agreed to merge Côte d’Ivoire Telecom with Orange Côte d’Ivoire, the biggest mobile operator in the West African country by…

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Nigeria | China’s Africa Push Reaches Currencies in Deal Investors Decry

Nigeria | China’s Africa Push Reaches Currencies in Deal Investors Decry

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Strategists are criticizing Nigeria’s latest plan to rescue its currency — this time by relying on Chinese cash. On a visit to Beijing last month, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a currency agreement aimed at encouraging trade with China and reducing Nigeria’s demand for dollars to relieve pressure on its dwindling foreign reserves. While the deal, details of which are still being negotiated, helps China’s push into Africa’s largest economy, it will…

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Nigerian President Replies to British PM ‘Return the Stolen Funds’

Nigerian President Replies to British PM ‘Return the Stolen Funds’

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he isn’t demanding an apology from the U.K. after comments from Prime Minister David Cameron that the country was “fantastically corrupt.” President Buhari was asked if his country was “fantastically corrupt” as Cameron had claimed, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari answered “yes,” and said that he wasn’t demanding an apology for the comments. In addition, he said “What I am demanding is the return of assets” that are the product of corruption…

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