Features

LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigerian government appears to be taking a hard line on religious opposition — though not against the usual suspects. Even as the Boko Haram insurgency persists in the north, peaceful demonstrations by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) sparked a recent round of state repression. In late October, protests in and around the capital left at least 45 IMN members dead and more than another 100 wounded after Nigerian…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Brexit’s impending arrival is prompting intensifying warnings from the likes of Airbus SE and Nissan Motor Co. about the potential fallout for U.K. businesses. But Britain’s split from the European Union has been a boon to at least one information-technology provider. Kainos Group Plc stock surged almost 11 percent Monday after the London-based government contractor said full-year results will probably exceed analysts’ expectations, thanks to “very strong” growth in digital services and ongoing demand from…

SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – A former top adviser to embattled Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir sees a “new spirit” in widespread protests that he said may bring great change to the economically troubled North African nation. Ghazi Salaheddine Atabani, who quit the ruling party after 2013 protests, said events such as the fall of the Soviet Union are proof that long-standing political systems can suddenly change. While his Reform Now party hasn’t urged people to join…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of England may not be worried about U.K. household debt, but it looks like ordinary people are. Even though employment, income and spending levels are rising, Britons’ well-being isn’t improving, Office for National Statistics data published Monday showed. That may be due to concerns about rising debt repayments, it said. The BOE has been relatively sanguine about debt levels, with Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent last month describing suggestions that they’re unsustainably high as…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they want to head off a no-deal Brexit that could rattle their economies, as both braced against the U.K.’s increasingly chaotic course toward an exit from the EU. Abe and Merkel, both 64, are two of the most outspoken defenders of the international order being shaken by Brexit and the U.S.-China trade war, as well as President Donald Trump’s questioning of decades-old alliances. Their…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Congress has only a few days left to come up with an agreement on border security spending to prevent a government shutdown and may yet see the process upended once President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Trump in recent days has repeatedly declared the negotiations a waste of time and said Feb. 1 that his speech to a joint session of Congress would reveal more…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.K. civil servants preoccupied with Brexit are struggling to find time for the 2019 spending review, a set-piece opportunity for Prime Minister Theresa May to show that almost a decade of austerity is at an end. Officials in the Treasury are so consumed with planning for a no-deal exit from the European Union that the spending review has already lost steam, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked…