Features | - Part 177

Kenya president snubs vote crisis meeting, presses ahead with campaign

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta snubbed a crisis meeting called by the top election official for Thursday, saying he would instead spend the day campaigning for next week’s presidential vote re-run. The first presidential vote in August, which Kenyatta won by 1.4 million votes, was annulled by the Supreme Court over procedural irregularities. The re-run is set for Oct. 26 but opposition leader Raila Odinga has pulled out, alleging a…

World Bank Pledges Support to Ivory Coast, Ghana Cocoa Venture

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank said it will support plans by Ivory Coast and Ghana to develop a coordinated strategy for their cocoa sectors as the two biggest producers seek to exert better control over global prices and derive more value from growing the beans. The pledge by the Washington-based lender comes as the President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast and his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, signed an agreement Tuesday to adopt common policies…

Amazon Effect Meets Russian Consumers Slogging to Recovery

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Russian consumers, the missing piece of the economic recovery puzzle, may have been there all along — they were just browsing the web. As online shopping lifts off in Russia, it’s taking a growing bite out of brick-and-mortar businesses, helping account for the months-long mismatch between gains in incomes and retail sales near a standstill. That disconnect, one of the biggest mysteries of Russia’s rebound from its longest economic contraction this century, could at least…

South Africa Urges PIC to Invest in Social Development Projects

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Public Investment Corporation, which manages South African state-worker pensions, should consider investing a portion of its 1.93 trillion rand ($143 billion) in assets into projects that will boost job creation and support people on lower incomes, a parliamentary committee said. That shouldn’t include providing funds for ailing and mis-managed state-owned companies that won’t deliver a return on investment, the standing committee on finance said in an emailed statement…

Nigerian lawmakers to probe national grid firm over $2 bln of foreign loans

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s lower house of parliament will investigate $2 billion of foreign loans which the state-owned national electricity grid operator may have raised without official approval, lawmakers said on Wednesday. The investigation could be a blow to efforts to improve Nigeria’s creaking power infrastructure, which is often blamed for hobbling growth in Africa’s largest economy. Nigeria privatized most of its power sector in 2013 but retained control of the dilapidated…

Nigeria looks to food exports to boost FX income after oil shock

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is looking to boost agricultural exports to earn more hard currency, and aims to cut imports of rice and wheat which together cost it almost $4 billion a year, Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh told Reuters. Nigeria emerged from recession in the second quarter as oil revenues rose, but growth was sluggish. The government has touted agriculture as a way to wean the country off its oil dependence, improving…

Kenya Electoral Official Quits Saying Vote Won’t Be Credible

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – A top Kenyan electoral official resigned and fled the East African nation a week before a scheduled rerun of an annulled presidential vote, saying it won’t be credible. Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission staff face intimidation by political actors and protesters, senior personnel are serving partisan interests and the training of presiding officers is being rushed, Commissioner Roselyn Akombe said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. Akombe said by phone she’s…

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