Nigeria | Moody’s downgrades Nigeria’s sovereign issuer rating with a stable outlook

Nigeria | Moody’s downgrades Nigeria’s sovereign issuer rating with a stable outlook

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded Nigeria’s long-term issuer ratings to B1 from Ba3 and has assigned a stable outlook, concluding the review for downgrade initiated on March 4th 2016. The key drivers of today’s rating action are as follows: 1) Increased external vulnerability brought about by the prospect of lower-for-longer oil prices; 2) Execution risk in the transition to a less oil-dependent federal budget, and the implications…

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Angola | Moody’s downgrades Angola’s rating to B1 with negative outlook

Angola | Moody’s downgrades Angola’s rating to B1 with negative outlook

Luanda, Angola, Capital Market in Africa — Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings of the Government of Angola to B1 from Ba2 and assigned a negative outlook. The short-term issuer ratings have been affirmed at Not-Prime (NP). The key drivers of the downgrade are: The government’s financial position and the country’s external position have deteriorated sharply due to the shock stemming from the structural downward shift in…

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Botswana | Moody’s affirms Botswana’s A2 government bond rating; outlook stable

Botswana | Moody’s affirms Botswana’s A2 government bond rating; outlook stable

Gaborone, Botswana, Capital Markets in Africa — Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today affirmed Botswana’s A2 long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings. The outlook remains stable. Moody’s analyzed Botswana’s credit profile in the context of the commodity price shock and its impact on the country’s economic and fiscal strength. The affirmation reflects Moody’s view that despite pressure on some of the country’s credit metrics, the challenges that the current external environment poses for the…

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IMF Suspends Standby Credit Facility for Mozambique

IMF Suspends Standby Credit Facility for Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed the suspension of the second tranche of a loan to Mozambique of US$283 million from the Fund’s Standby Credit Facility (SCF). The suspension had been widely expected after the IMF announced last Friday that it was cancelling the mission which had been due to visit Mozambique this week because of the country’s “undisclosed loans”, which the IMF put at more than…

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Moody’s downgrades Zambia’s issuer rating to B3 with negative outlook

Moody’s downgrades Zambia’s issuer rating to B3 with negative outlook

Lusaka, Zambia, Capital Markets in Africa — Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) has today downgraded Zambia’s long-term issuer rating to B3 from B2 and changed the outlook to negative from stable. The downgrade on the issuer rating was driven by:  Greater-than-anticipated fiscal slippages in 2016 leading to material liquidity pressures and significant challenges to finance the budget deficit; The prospects of further deterioration in Zambia’s debt matrix in a lower growth environment, with the government debt likely…

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Ghana’s Inflation Rate touches over-six-year high at 19.2% in March

Ghana’s Inflation Rate touches over-six-year high at 19.2% in March

Accra, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa —  The outlook for achieving the Bank of Ghana’s medium term inflation target (8% ± 2%) could shift further into late 2017 (from the projected mid-2017) as inflationary pressures remain elevated on the back of high cost-push factors. The year-on-year increase in Ghana’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) shocked expectations with a 70bps surge to 19.2% in Mar-2016. Consequently, average y/y price inflation in Q1-2016 (18.9%) turned out 130bps higher…

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Africa’s Economic Growth Slashes AMIDST Global Economic Weakness

Africa’s Economic Growth Slashes AMIDST Global Economic Weakness

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Amid falling commodity prices and continuing weakness in global growth, Sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth decelerated to an estimated 3.0% in 2015 from 4.5% in 2014, according to the latest World Bank projections. This low pace of growth, which translates into an increase in the region’s GDP per capita of less than 0.5%, was last seen in 2009 following the global financial crisis, and contrasts sharply…

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