Features

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what we’ve already been through.  Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Hershel “Woody” Williams, a massive warship the U.S. Navy calls an “expeditionary sea base,” is now off the west coast of Africa as part of a multinational exercise in countering piracy. Nearly 800 feet long and topped with a flight deck for helicopters, the Williams can provide tremendous logistical support — fuel, stores, spare parts — while remaining at sea almost indefinitely, because it has two separate crews…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)- Dozens of companies appealed to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ease restrictions on travel from southern Africa that are hampering trade. The limits on movement are jeopardising the competitive advantage the U.K. has, which stem from its historical, cultural and economic links with Africa, the businesses said in a letter sent Monday by lobby group Business Leadership South Africa. The South African units of companies including BMW AG, JPMorgan…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in AfricA) -Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed key allies to her cabinet in a reshuffle that may help her push through long-awaited energy industry reforms. In the second change to the administration since she came to power in March, Hassan appointed January Makamba to the influential post of energy minister. Makamba, a 47-year-old former cabinet minister who has had presidential ambitions, will oversee the development of Tanzania’s huge natural-gas discoveries by companies…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – A senior White House adviser expressed confidence that a key Democratic senator who raised objections to President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax and spending package can eventually be persuaded to give his backing.  Senator Joe Manchin, who last week demanded a “strategic pause” in Biden’s economic agenda, should be “very persuadable” by the argument that the package as envisaged “adds nothing to the debt,” White House chief of staff Ron…

L;AGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The United Arab Emirates plans to deepen its trade ties in fast-growing economies in Asia and Africa, and draw $150 billion in foreign investment from mainly older partners to reposition itself as a global hub for business and finance. The UAE — which has been the Middle East’s commercial capital for more than a decade and has been facing growing regional competition from Saudi Arabia — will work on…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Methane is the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. But new and better techniques to spot major emitters of the odorless, colorless gas have pushed curbing it up climate to-do lists. Scientists view reducing methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry as the cheapest and easiest way to hold down global temperatures in the near term. That could counterbalance the initial warming effect from declining use of…