Features

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.S. officials have made no link between South Africa’s plan to expropriate land without compensation and the country’s access to trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said. One of the conditions for being eligible for AGOA, which favours 39 African nations by eliminating import levies on more than 7,000 products, is the protection of private property rights. Trade union Solidarity has warned…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt has selected Citigroup Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. to hedge against fluctuations in global oil prices, two Egyptian officials said. Egypt announced several weeks ago that it was seeking to protect itself against sudden increases in the price of crude oil and was negotiating with global banks. It expects to begin hedging at the end of this year or early in 2019, the officials said, speaking on condition of…

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gunshots and screams rang out as Rosemary Keji fled her village almost two years ago, one of millions of South Sudanese escaping civil war. After finally returning last month, she’s planting potatoes beside her wrecked house in Yei River state and vowing never to leave again. The 28-year-old mother of two is one of a steady trickle of refugees coming back from neighbouring countries after August’s preliminary deal to end…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s top court disqualified opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from this year’s presidential election because of his International Criminal Court conviction for witness-tampering. The decision confirms the removal of a second key opponent from the race against President Joseph Kabila’s anointed successor and increases the risk of protests by Bemba’s supporters. It also raises questions about the credibility of the Dec. 23 presidential and parliamentary votes in the cobalt-rich…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – An apparent attempt to bomb the American Embassy in Cairo failed on Tuesday when an explosive detonated prematurely in the backpack of a would-be attacker, the Egyptian government said in a statement. No one was injured. It was the latest reminder of the continuing threat to Western interests from the simmering unrest in Egypt that began after a military takeover five years ago. The Egyptian military is still battling to extinguish…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian presidential hopeful Atiku Abubakar said he will scrap a system of multiple exchange rates to attract foreign investment and accused President Muhammadu Buhari of failing to deal with the nation’s security challenges. “I would definitely end” the existence of several naira rates, Abubakar, a 71-year-old former vice president, told reporters Monday in Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa’s biggest oil producer. “It’s clearly anti-business and anti-foreign investment.” Investors and the International Monetary…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Seven years ago this week, a cryptic post appeared on UBS Group AG trader Kweku Adoboli’s Facebook page: “Need a miracle.” He was on his way to racking up a $2 billion shortfall that would become the biggest unauthorized trading loss in British history. Today, the 38-year-old is grasping for a miracle of another kind. He was detained Monday as a prelude to being deported to his native Ghana under U.K. rules governing crimes…