Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Nigerian government launched a bidding round for domestic companies aimed at bringing marginal oil fields to production. Africa’s largest crude producer is offering 57 onshore and shallow offshore permits, the Department of Petroleum Resources said on its website on Monday. Inviting bids from “indigenous companies and investors,” the statement didn’t specify when the fields will be allocated. The bidding round faces opposition from companies that had their permits…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — A South African court ruled that revised lockdown regulations implemented by the government as part of a phased reopening of the economy are unconstitutional and invalid, giving the state two weeks to amend them. The Gauteng Division of the High Court made the ruling earlier on Tuesday, Cabinet spokeswoman Phumla Williams said in an emailed statement. The decision applies to all regulations excluding the closing of South Africa’s borders and the…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Boris Johnson appealed to the U.K. to “move on” from the controversy over claims that his top adviser broke lockdown rules, as the prime minister tried to fight off a growing revolt from within his own party. Johnson said he was “sorry” for the “pain” and “anguish” the public had suffered since March, when he ordered sweeping restrictions on individual freedoms during the coronavirus pandemic. But he refused to…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — The U.S. finding that China has effectively stripped Hong Kong of its political autonomy leaves President Donald Trump with a difficult choice about how harshly to penalize Beijing. He could take a lighter touch with modest sanctions aimed at putting China on notice. Or he could unleash a far harsher approach that would curtail the former U.K. colony’s special trading status with the U.S., potentially imperiling its position…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — The African Development Bank’s board agreed to an independent probe of its president, Akinwumi Adesina after the U.S. rejected an internal investigation that cleared him of allegations of favoritism, according to two people familiar with deliberations on the matter. Africa’s largest multilateral lender decided on the inquiry after several governments backed U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s criticism of a bank-led examination into the allegations, the people said, asking not to…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Fatou Fofana used to be able to support herself, her baby daughter and two other children by selling spices and stock cubes on the outskirts of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city. But measures to contain the coronavirus have reduced her earnings to about $2 a day, leaving her reliant on local food aid to survive. The 39-year-old’s market stall was closed by authorities enforcing the country’s lockdown in late…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — The longest U.K. bond rally in a decade has seen yields close in on German equivalents, fueled by the prospect that the Bank of England could cut interest rates below zero next year. Yield premiums on 10-year gilts over bunds have hit lows unseen since 2016, as bets increase that the BOE will add monetary stimulus to support an economy struggling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. U.K….