Buhari Grapples With Widening Crises as Nigerian Vote Looms

Buhari Grapples With Widening Crises as Nigerian Vote Looms

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Islamist militant attacks, gasoline shortages, worsening violence over grazing land, simmering unrest in the southeast — the crises keep mounting for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year before general elections. The most recent setback came on March 1 when suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants killed three United Nations aid workers and eight soldiers in an attack in the north-eastern town of Rann, about two weeks after they kidnapped more…

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FinTech in South Africa: Accelerating the Digital Transformation of Banking & Financial Services

FinTech in South Africa: Accelerating the Digital Transformation of Banking & Financial Services

The impact of Blockchain, AI, Mobile Money, Digital Wallets and Payment innovations are radically transforming the financial services landscape as FinTech disruptors intensify the challenge to Incumbent Banks in Africa and kickstart new growth opportunities  Johannesburg, South Africa: Africa’s financial services landscape continues its dynamic evolution as the rapid growth of FinTech on the continent drives both the disruption and leapfrogging of legacy systems and further accelerates the digital transformation of financial services. In South…

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Zimbabwe Is Said to Be Ready to Quit Mugabe Policies Before Vote

Zimbabwe Is Said to Be Ready to Quit Mugabe Policies Before Vote

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s ruling party plans to bolster its campaign for this year’s general elections by jettisoning former President Robert Mugabe’s “look east” policy toward China and Russia and adopt some of the opposition’s key initiatives, according to three senior party officials. Since Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Mugabe as president after a military intervention in November, the authorities in Harare, the capital, have shown a willingness to re-engage with western nations and institutions in an…

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Al-Qaeda Militant Raids Erode Malian President’s Popularity

Al-Qaeda Militant Raids Erode Malian President’s Popularity

BAMAKO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Foreign travel is the first thing that comes to mind when Malian lettuce farmer Moussa Samake thinks about President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Nicknamed “the carrier pigeon” for his frequent trips abroad, Keita, 73, is expected to seek re-election in July after a five-year term marred by growing insecurity in the landlocked West African nation. His failure to halt a steady rise in deadly jihadist attacks has left many Malians disillusioned…

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Africa’s Richest Woman Denies Illegal Transfer at Oil Firm

Africa’s Richest Woman Denies Illegal Transfer at Oil Firm

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) -Isabel Dos Santos, the billionaire fired as chairwoman of Angola’s state oil company last year, denied any wrongdoing in the transfer of $38.2 million from the company and said the allegations were politically motivated. The allegations, made by Sonangol’s Chairman Carlos Saturnino are the latest salvo in a crackdown on the interests of the family of former President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who ruled the continent’s second-biggest oil producer for almost four decades….

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Strikes Spread in Restive Ethiopia Region Before Tillerson Visit

Strikes Spread in Restive Ethiopia Region Before Tillerson Visit

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Strikes protesting Ethiopia’s state of emergency spread across the restive Oromia region ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’sarrival for talks with the Horn of Africa nation’s embattled government. The closing of shops and roads by members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group is the latest sign of discontent in Oromia state, where unrest has prompted the country’s second state of emergency in two years. Tillerson is due in…

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Why South Africa Is Ripping Up Its Mining Rules Again

Why South Africa Is Ripping Up Its Mining Rules Again

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s mining industry is a prime example of the nation’s stark imbalances. Its highly paid, mainly white male executives oversee hundreds of thousands of mostly black workers labouring in deep and dangerous operations. To spread the nation’s wealth more equally, in 2017 the government revised its mining charter to require that companies give more ownership to black shareholders. The industry lobby group sued to stop this, saying that…

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