Economy | - Part 80

Nigeria’s new President Muhammadu Buhari promises to supercharge the African economic giant

Criticism of Nigeria as a place to do business is widespread but misplaced. The scaremongers say that the country is unstable, with a crumbling economy and threats from terrorist groups. They point to oil shortages, collapsing crude prices, the ferocity of the Boko Haram terrorist group, and rampant corruption. But these snapshots do not paint a fair portrait of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy, and overlook what the regional powerhouse offers foreign corporations and investors. President-elect…

Governor of Congo mining hub Katanga warns against tax hikes

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LUBUMBASHI, DRC (Capital Markets in Africa): – The powerful governor of Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga province warned on Wednesday against significant tax hikes in a proposed new mining code amid a recent decline in copper prices. The southeastern province accounts for nearly all of the vast central African state’s copper production, which surpassed 1 million tonnes for the first time in 2014. Congo vies with Zambia to be the continent’s top producer of the metal. A…

African economies grew by 3.9% GDP in 2014 amid global and regional shocks

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire (Capital Markets in Africa) — African economies registered 3.9% average GDP growth in 2014 compared to the 3.7% in 2013. This reflects resilience to global and regional shocks which affected the continent last year, according to the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Report, which was released Wednesday, May 27 in Abidjan. According to the report, despite the negative impacts of low commodity prices, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa as well as…

Moody’s affirms Tunisia’s government issuer rating at Ba3 and changes the outlook to stable from negative

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Tunis, Tunisa (Capital Markets in Africa) — Global rating agency Moody’s has affirmed Tunisia’s government issuer rating at Ba3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative. The key drivers for the ratings rationale were attributed to a significant decline in domestic political risk emphasized by the successful democratic transition and installing of a broad unity government. As well as reduced external funding challenges following the resumption of official financing and access to international capital…

South Africa’s central bank keeps repo rate steady at 5.75 pct

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Pretoria, South Africa (Capital Markets in Africa): – South Africa’s Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged as expected on Thursday but warned the deteriorating inflation outlook meant the stance cannot be “maintained indefinitely”. The bank has kept its benchmark rate steady at 5.75 percent since July last year as Africa’s most advanced economy struggles with power shortages being the biggest risk as state utility Eskom fails to cope with demand. But rising electricity and oil prices…

Broadly stable outlook for Sub-Saharan African sovereign credit quality

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London (Capital Markets in Africa):- The credit quality of sovereigns in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the next 12-18 months will be supported by strong infrastructure investment, structural reforms and competitiveness gains from currency depreciation, says Moody’s Investors Service in its latest sovereign outlook for the region. However, lower oil and commodity prices, uneven global growth, latent political risk and tighter external financing conditions pose challenges of different magnitudes to the region’s economies. The report, “Sovereign…

Burundi’s Political Crisis Is Credit Negative

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Bujumbura, Burundi (Capital Markets in Africa):-Last Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that more than 105,000 people had fled Burundi (unrated) to neighbouring countries to escape political violence after three weeks of demonstrations and a failed coup last Wednesday. The worsening political situation in Burundi threatens to disrupt economic activity and administrative stability, weaken the political will and capacity to implement much-needed structural reform, and jeopardise multilateral and bilateral donor support. Additionally,…

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