Economy | - Part 63

South Africa Posts 8.6 Billion-Rand Trade Deficit in August

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s trade balance swung to a deficit in August after three months of surpluses as shipments of precious metals and stones, which include gold and diamonds slumped. The 8.6 billion-rand ($619 million) deficit compares with a revised surplus of 5 billion rand in July, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The median of 10 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a surplus of 1.6…

African economic growth to dip to 1.6 pct this year: World Bank

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) —Growth in sub-Saharan African countries will stall to just 1.6% this year, the lowest in over two decades, a report said Thursday, as one of the world’s once fastest-growing frontiers continues to lose steam because of overdependence on oil and commodity exports, and poor policies. The disappointing rate of economic expansion is well below the global average of 2.3%, the World Bank said in its twice-annual “Africa’s Pulse” report. Just…

S&P Says Political Tension in South Africa ‘Must Be Watched’

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Political tension in South Africa is making economic reforms more challenging and must be watched, according to S&P Global Ratings. “We clearly stated that there is a concern that political tension stifles the reform effort, so that must be watched,” S&P Managing Director for sub-Saharan Africa Konrad Reuss said in an interview in Johannesburg on Thursday. “In the current climate of political tension and turmoil it’s certainly more challenging now to achieve all…

Ghana’s Second Quarter Economic Growth Slowest in Two Years

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ACCRA, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana’s economy grew at the slowest pace in two years in the second quarter as mining and oil output slumped. Gross domestic product expanded 2.5 percent in the three months through June 30 from a year earlier, compared with a revised 4.8 percent in the previous quarter, Philomena Nyarko, government statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service, told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday. The economy grew 0.6 percent from the…

Nigerian Economic Policy Dispute Hinders Chances of Recovery

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LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: A dispute between Nigeria’s monetary and fiscal policy makers over how to lift the economy out of its worst slump in more than two decades may delay a recovery in Africa’s most populous country. Central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele last week ignored calls by Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun to cut borrowing costs and kept the key interest rate unchanged at 14 percent, hours after she said in a television interview looser policy is necessary to…

South African Rating Cut a Serious Risk, De Beers CEO Says

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa is in deep danger of losing its investment-grade credit rating and needs to reassure investors of its commitment to regulatory certainty and fiscal stability, said Bruce Cleaver, the chief executive officer of De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer. “South Africa is in a slightly difficult place right now,” Cleaver said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York on Wednesday. “I think the threat of…

Ivory Coast Leader Sees Steady Growth of 9 Percent Through 2017

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ABIDJAN, Capital Markets in Africa: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he expects an economic growth spurt in the west African nation that’s outpaced all its continental peers to last until at least through next year, and said the country is looking everywhere for investors as it recovers from internal conflict. Ivory Coast has no preference for either public or private investment on whether investors come from “China, the Gulf States” or anywhere else, Ouattara said in…

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