Features | - Part 238

Zimbabwe’s Black Market, Where the Dollar Trades Against Itself

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa: In Zimbabwe — the country that once suffered 500 billion percent inflation — one dollar may now cost you as much as $1.07. A shortage of banknotes is resulting in a new black market more than seven years after Zimbabwe abolished its own money, the Zimbabwean dollar, and adopted the greenback and other foreign currencies to avoid exactly that sort of unofficial trading. The cash crunch has intensified in…

Hydra-Headed Violence Haunts Nigeria as Economy Weakens

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Just as Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to be gaining the upper hand against the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, more rebellions have exploded across Africa’s most populous nation while the government grapples with the worst economic crisis in decades. They range from renewed attacks in the southern oil-rich Niger River delta that have cut monthly oil shipments to the lowest in about three decades to attempts to revive the secessionist state…

Ghana in Talks to Consolidate $1.2 Billion Energy Utility Debt

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ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana is in talks with domestic and foreign banks to consolidate its energy sector utilities’ $1.2 billion debts, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said. The state won’t be responsible for the debt, which will be accounted for by the energy companies, Terkper said in an interview in the capital, Accra. Ghana’s Chief Director at the Petroleum Ministry, Thomas Akabzaa, said Tuesday the country will sell $2 billion of bonds to clear $1.5 billion in debt…

Zimbabwe Threatens to Scrap Bank Licenses Over Export Rules

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa: Zimbabwe’s central bank threatened to cancel the licenses of banks and foreign-currency dealers found to have violated new exchange-control regulations aimed at easing a dollar shortage. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last week sent a directive changing the way banks and other authorized foreign-currency dealers are required to handle export earnings, adding measures aimed at encouraging companies to export their products through an incentive payment, according to a copy of the circular obtained…

Angolan Party Rejects President’s Daughter as Oil Company Head

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Luanda, Angola, Capital Markets in Africa: Angola’s main opposition party rejected President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s decision to name his billionaire daughter Isabel as chairwoman of the state oil company and said it would ask parliament to debate the appointment. “The measure confirms once more the practice of nepotism by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos,” the National Union for Total Independence of Angola, known as Unita, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. “Angolans should not accept…

South Africa’s S&P Rating Respite Strengthens Gordhan’s Hand

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan emerged in a stronger position in his tug of war with President Jacob Zuma after S&P Global Ratings decided not to cut the nation’s credit rating to junk. “This means that Gordhan will not be going anywhere for the time being, unless he takes a personal decision to go,” said Susan Booysen, a politics professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance. “This is another…

Old Mutual Confident Most Investors Will Support CEO Pay Plans

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Old Mutual Plc, the London-based insurer splitting its business into four units, said it’s confident most shareholders will support a plan to offer Chief Executive Officer Bruce Hemphill a bonus equal to 10 times his base pay for the break up. Company representatives spent three days in Cape Town and Johannesburg to canvass investors on the payout, meeting with more than 20 shareholders across South Africa and the U.K., Danuta Gray,…

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