Economy

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund projected Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) real GDP to contract by 1.6% in 2020, down from its  growth forecast of 3.6% last October and following an expansion of 3.1% in 2019. It attributed the anticipated contraction to the adverse impact on production and demand of the measures that governments imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, to the spillovers from subdued economic activity worldwide, to tighter…

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today placed the Government of Tunisia’s B2 issuer ratings on review for downgrade. Moody’s has also placed the Central Bank of Tunisia’s B2 senior unsecured rating and the (P)B2 senior unsecured MTN program and senior unsecured shelf ratings on review for downgrade. The Central Bank of Tunisia is legally responsible for the payments on all of the government’s bonds. These debt instruments are issued…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – IHS Markit projected Algeria’s economic activity to contract by 5% in 2020 due to the imposition of restrictive measures to address the coronavirus pandemic, as well as to lower hydrocarbon exports. Also, it forecast the fiscal deficit to widen from 8% of GDP in 2019 to 10% of GDP in 2020, despite the government’s plan to reduce spending by 30% this year. It anticipated that the government is likely…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) — The International Monetary Fund has warned that Zimbabwe needs urgent aid as the coronavirus exacerbates the impact a food shortage following the worst drought in nearly four decades. The southern African nation needs hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid in the coming months to fend off a humanitarian crisis that’s likely to leave more than half of the population hungry, the Washington-based institution said. “The outbreak has…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa emerged from the 2008 global financial crisis in a strong position thanks to robust economic growth and a budget surplus when the downswing came. A rapid deterioration in public finances over the past decade means the opposite is likely after the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re starting off this crisis in a far worse position than what we started off the global financial crisis,” said Johann Els, chief economist at…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa)  — Ivory Coast’s economy will probably expand at the slowest pace since the end of a crisis in 2011 as the outbreak of coronavirus is seen to hit foreign direct investment and the roll-out of infrastructure. The world’s top cocoa producer cut its 2020 economic growth forecast to 5.8%, from an initial estimate of 7.3%, Minister of Economy and Finance Adama Coulibaly said in an interview. The loss of income…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast’s economy is more than a third bigger than previously estimated after the West African nation changed its base for measuring gross domestic product. The country’s GDP at current prices measured 27.1 trillion CFA francs ($46 billion) in 2015, government spokesman Sidi Toure said in an emailed statement. That’s 38% bigger than the 19.6 trillion francs-estimate of the previous 1996 base. The statement didn’t give updated figures for…