Features | - Part 239

Investment | Gas May Transform Mozambique Even as Debt Darkens Confidence

MAPUTO, Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa: About 30 minutes down a pot-holed road from Vilanculos, where dhows ferry tourists to luxury resorts on Bazaruto island, Sasol Limited is ramping up output of a fuel that could transform the world’s 13th poorest nation. Vast gas discoveries hold the potential to boost Mozambique’s economy, more than three decades after the apartheid regime of neighboring South Africa backed rebels in a civil war that laid waste to the former Portuguese…

Angola Leader Secures Economic Grip Naming Daughter as Oil Boss

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Luanda, Angola, Capital Markets in Africa: Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos tightened his family’s grip on sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest economy two years before he has indicated he’ll leave office by naming his billionaire daughter Isabel as chairwoman of the state oil company. The appointment “shows that President dos Santos doesn’t trust anyone else and moreover that he’s looking to have a dynastic succession,” Markus Weimer, an analyst for Horizon Client Access Inc., an energy investment advisory group, said…

Zuma, Gordhan’s Conflicting Orders Frustrate SAA’s Acting CEO

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South African Airways is having to deal with conflicting orders from the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Jacob Zumaand that’s hindering the unprofitable state-owned airline from making a full recovery, acting Chief Executive Officer Musa Zwane said. The carrier needs firm decisions on whether SAA should be privatized, how it should be capitalized, the make-up of a new board and a new CEO, Zwane said in an interview. The former head of the…

WorldRemit Marks Africa for Share of $36 Billion Cash Transfers

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: WorldRemit is seeking transactions in every African country by October as the company seeks a bigger share of the continent’s money transfers which are forecast to reach $36 billion this year. WorldRemit is currently operating in 34 of Africa’s 54 states and is using partnerships with cellular operators such as MTN Group Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc to grow the number of money transfers through mobile technology, the London-based, closely held…

Nigeria | Darkness Looms Over Nigeria as Delta Attacks Cut Power

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Unless President Muhammadu Buhari, 73, can subdue armed militants attacking gas facilities that supply the nation’s power plants, his plans to remedy an electricity shortage he called a “national shame” in his inauguration speech a year ago, will be stillborn. In March, Buhari said he would increase power generation by 2,000 megawatts this year and raise it by 2019 to 10,000 megawatts, double this year’s peak in early February. Then militants…

Opportunity | Nigeria Telecommunications Industry Grows Despite Economic Woes

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Growth in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry picked up in the three months through March even as the economy shrunk for the first time in more than a decade, according to a government report. Telecommunications expanded 5 percent in the first quarter, compared with 3.5 percent in the three months through December, and contributed 8.8 percent to gross domestic product, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics said in a report on Thursday. The economy contracted by 0.4…

Foreign Exchange | As Nigeria Dithers on Naira, Foreign Companies See Funds Trapped

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: As Nigeria’s policy makers dither on plans to loosen capital controls and let the naira weaken, foreign companies such as Nampak Ltd. of South Africa and British Airways Plc are battling to get their money out of the country. Nampak, Africa’s biggest producer of beverage cans, is considering currency swaps that would enable the Johannesburg-based company to repatriate money trapped due to the shortage of foreign exchange in Nigeria, its chief executive officer said….

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