Features

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s Treasury opposed a plan by lawmakers in East Africa’s biggest economy to securitize the country’s stock of pending bills for supplies and services rendered, saying it will only inflate debt costs. Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani said the proposal to convert all pending bills of more than 500 million shillings ($4.88 million) into long-term instruments was “a weird idea.” In the fiscal year through June 2019 the state owed suppliers 190…

LAGOS (Capital Market in Africa) – The prevalence of malaria in Africa could complicate the diagnosis of novel coronavirus in the continent, said the epidemiologist leading the fight against the new disease in Nigeria. Nigerian health officials are racing to prevent the spread of coronavirus after the first case of the illness in sub-Saharan Africa was identified last week in Lagos, the nation’s business hub. Since then only three more cases have been identified in…

LAGOS (Capital Market in Africa) – Netflix Inc. sees the opening of new crime-drama series Queen Sono as the first of many original African TV series that will win the U.S. giant a bigger slice of a market still dominated by satellite TV. The tale of a South African secret agent seeking to uncover the truth behind the death of her freedom-fighter mother will be followed by a Zambian animation series, a Cape Town-set mystery-thriller and…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – SAP SE’s Africa head said the German software company is battling to complete investigations following allegations its employees paid kickbacks for government business in East and southern Africa. SAP suspended executives in South Africa after reports that the Walldorf-based company had dealings with the country’s corruption-linked Gupta family, and in 2018 said $11 million had been improperly paid to win contracts at the state power and transport companies. Then…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans to overhaul the energy industry have some way to go before they provide answers to the nation’s crippling power shortages. Africa’s most industrialized nation has been roiled by rolling blackouts since late 2005, a legacy of state power company Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s failure to adequately maintain its plants and invest insufficient new ones. In his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, Ramaphosa announced a raft…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Social media giants including Facebook and Twitter face the threat of fines if they fail to take down harmful content such as images of child abuse and material inciting violence, under a crackdown launched in the U.K. The government is “minded” to give broadcast regulator Ofcom a role as internet watchdog, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan and Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Wednesday. The proposals are yet to be fleshed out in detail, but the…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – BP Plc pledged to achieve net-zero emissions from its own oil and gas operations and production by 2050 while halving the carbon intensity of all the products it sells, as its new boss sets out his vision for the future. London-based BP became the latest fossil fuel giant to set out an ambitious, yet rather distant, the target for curbing emissions of planet-warming gases. The announcement from incoming Chief…