Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bags of rice, cell phone credit, and mobile phones were just some of the freebies that politicians in the remote West African nation of Guinea-Bissau handed out in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential election. Many voters regarded their generosity with skepticism: Cocaine trafficking has been big business in Guinea-Bissau for at least a decade, and suspicions abound about the origin of some of the 12 candidates’ money. While many…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – A solution to the crisis in social care has eluded both the Conservative and Labour parties. Now, maybe, a consensus is forming. When a topic is both highly controversial and mind-numbingly complex, there’s a rule of politics that says it’s best avoided before an election if at all possible. A botched offering on social care was one of the things that derailed Theresa May’s 2017 U.K. election bid and cost the…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The European Union’s time frame to complete a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.K. will be “very demanding” as officials race to complete a complicated set of negotiations at an unprecedented pace, according to Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have only 11 months to negotiate a trade deal with the EU’s 27 remaining members even if an agreement to exit to the bloc goes through the British…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – It will be no ordinary general election. Voters in Britain are now focusing their minds on the decision they will make in two weeks’ time. The result will determine not just the next government, but the fate of Brexit. From crashing out without a deal to holding another referendum and remaining in the European Union, the range of outcomes is still wide open. Here’s a guide to how it…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – China signaled trade talks with the U.S. are on track towards an interim deal after negotiators from both sides spoke by telephone on Tuesday. The officials “reached consensus on properly resolving relevant issues” and agreed to stay in contact on the remaining points for a so-called phase one pact, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office confirmed a meeting took place but declined…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is aiming to consolidate his lead in the polls in the final weeks of the general election campaign. On Sunday, he announced a safety-first policy package based on “sensible” promises, which included hiring 50,000 nurses for the country’s cherished National Health Service and cutting taxes for working people. Johnson carefully avoided the radical language and out-of-the-blue policy announcements that derailed his predecessor Theresa May’s campaign in 2017….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Small and mid-sized accounting firms in the U.K. are poised to continue winning more audit business regardless of the outcome of the Dec. 12 election. The U.K.’s top parties, Conservative and Labour, both support audit market reforms and want to shift more business away from the domination of the Big Four firms. That means the inroads made this past year by three smaller firms—Mazars, MHA MacIntyre Hudson, and RSM—to…