Economy

Badly needed economic reforms will only succeed with democratic support. KHARTOUM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Half a century since juntas were the rage, generals in the three largest North African countries are trying to bring them back into fashion. In Algeria and Sudan, where popular protests have recently toppled long-reigning tyrants, military cabals are re-emerging from the shadows to bid for power. In Libya, eight unstable years since the fall of a dictator, another aspiring caudillo is trying…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – A prolonged dry spell in Kenya has delayed planting of crops in the East African country, increasing inflationary pressures from higher food prices. “Late onset of the 2019 long rains and prevailing dry conditions affected the early planted crop,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on its website. The resultant shortage of food in some areas caused prices of corn, beans and wheat to increase slightly, the…

TUNIS (Capital Markets in AfricaA) – Tunisia may have to wait a little longer for a much-anticipated IMF loan installment, as the Washington-based lender said the North African nation needs more time “to fully flesh out” its economic policy. The statement, released by the International Monetary Fund at the end of a staff visit to Tunisia, underscores how the nation’s ongoing political bickering is taking its toll on the implementation of broader economic measures, such as curbing…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The tension created by high levels of inequality in South Africa increases political risk and hampers the progress of economic reforms, Moody’s Investors Service said. Joblessness among young people in Africa’s most-industrialized economy that’s at more than 50 percent and slow economic growth “are key credit challenges,” the ratings company said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. While President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged reforms to boost the economy and lure investors,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Growth in Africa’s two largest economies may be sputtering along but that won’t stop the continent’s gross domestic product from expanding at the fastest pace since at least 2012. GDP growth for the continent is forecast to accelerate to 4 percent this year, up from an estimated 3.5 percent in 2018, making it the fastest-growing region in the world after Asia, according to the African Development Bank. And that’s…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund said Nigeria’s economy was growing too slowly to reduce poverty or joblessness and urged the government to boost revenue and scrap its system of multiple exchange rates. “Growth is not enough,” Amine Mati, the IMF’s mission chief for Nigeria, said in an interview in Lagos on Wednesday as the Washington-based lender released its latest Article IV report for Africa’s biggest oil producer. “Our number-one recommendation…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service’s brief comment on South Africa’s credit ratingsparked the rand’s strongest rally in five months on Monday and drove government bond yields to the lowest since May. More importantly, it bought President Cyril Ramaphosa more time to convince investors he has the ability to introduce reforms that would stimulate the economy, consolidate government spending and reduce corruption in Africa’s most industrialized economy. The rating company on Friday deferred a scheduled…