Features

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mining companies in South Africa are considering spending as much as 40 billion rand ($2.7 billion) to construct 2,000 megawatts of power generation capacity, said Roger Baxter, chief executive officer of Minerals Council South Africa. Mining companies have been pushing to develop their own power plants because of persistent power cuts imposed by state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. They are also keen to move away from total reliance on…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – India will restart exports of Covid-19 vaccines for the World Health Organization’s Covax initiative from the quarter beginning Oct. 1, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya says, days after the government pledged to first focus on meeting local requirements. The country will also begin shipments as part of its vaccine donation program, the federal minister told reporters Monday. He did not give any details. Home to the world’s largest vaccine-manufacturing industry,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa)- BP Plc fired an ex-oil trader because he voiced concerns about bribes being paid in Nigeria to secure local contracts, according to a sprawling London employment suit that sheds light on the energy giant’s lucrative trading floor.  Jonathan Zarembok, who traded on BP’s West Africa desk, said that the company paid an “abnormally large” fee to a local agent to participate in a state oil tender. He alleged that BP’s…

ADDIS ABABA  (Capital Martkets in Africa) – U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against those prolonging conflict in northern Ethiopia, adding pressure on parties to end the civil war. The Department of Treasury can now go after several targets, including those in the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments as well as in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, who continue to fuel the conflict instead of negotiating a cease-fire, according to a statement…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Global food prices were up 33% in August from a year earlier with vegetable oil, grains and meat on the rise, data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization show. And it’s not likely to get better as extreme weather, soaring freight and fertilizer costs, shipping bottlenecks and labor shortages compound the problem. Dwindling foreign currency reserves are also hampering the ability of some nations to import food….

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A U.S. court dismissed an appeal by a former unit of Enron Corp. that tried to stake a claim to the proceeds from the sale of a luxury yacht to settle a debt it’s owed by Nigeria’s government. Federal judges upheld a decision made last year that allowed the American government to assume ownership of $37 million generated from the auction of the Galactica Star, according to a ruling…