The Editorial Team |

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…

Zimbabwe Scraps Plan to Swap Dollar Earnings to Rand, Euros

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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…

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

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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…

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

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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…

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

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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…

South Africa | Barclays Unit Rejects South Africa Minister’s Invite to Gupta Talks

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Barclays Africa Group Limited’s Absa declined an invitation to meet South African Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to discuss the closure of bank accounts related to companies controlled by the Gupta family, who are friends of President Jacob Zuma and in business with his son. “We have respectfully declined on account of client confidentiality,” the Johannesburg-based lender said in an e-mailed response to questions on Wednesday. “As a bank we cannot discuss any…

Africa’s growth: Meltdown or slowdown?

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Economic growth across the region is likely to remain slower in coming years than it has been over the past 10 to15 years. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) baseline projection for 2016 is now down to 3%, from what was a forecasted 6.1% in April 2015(1). The main reasons for a relative slowdown are not unique to Africa and are the same as those weighing down the global…

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