Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is a laggard in a region that accounts for half of the world’s 866 million mobile banking and payment accounts. Every month, Ifeyinwa Abel, the secretary of a Pentecostal church in Lagos, spends as much as a quarter of her salary sending money to pay for diabetes drugs to her mother 430 miles away in Abia Ohafia, a small agricultural village. It isn’t easy. First Abel, 35, has…

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambian Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu plans to obtain almost 10% of the southern African nation’s total income next year from undisclosed sources, raising concerns about the accuracy and sustainability of government spending plans for 2020. The budget, which Ng’andu presented to lawmakers on Sept. 27, contains 6.75 billion kwacha ($515 million) of “exceptional revenue” that could further stretch the finances of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer if it doesn’t materialize. Government debt has…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – In order to provide young energy professionals with the tools and experience to become future leaders across the industry, the African Energy Chamber is launching its first Fellowship Program in 2020. Applications are open throughout October 2019, for a one-year program that will start in January 2020. In line with its growing international cooperation, the African Energy Chamber will be welcoming young professionals from across Africa, North and South…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – This week had seen some hints that there might be a way to get a deal. Tory MPs who refused to vote for the agreement that May negotiated suggested they could be persuaded to back a deal to avoid losing Brexit altogether. The Democratic Unionist Party — a key ally from Northern Ireland — has been publicly supportive of Johnson and his negotiating efforts. Johnson said at an event…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Boris Johnson is poised to issue an ultimatum to the European Union on Wednesday: negotiate Brexit on his terms within the next nine days, or face a no-deal divorce. A key EU player has already rejected the prime minister’s plan. On Wednesday, Johnson will address his Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester, England, and his office said he would present a “fair and reasonable compromise” offer to the EU. He…

YAOUNDE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cameroon convened about 1,500 delegates to a week of talks about the crisis in its two English-speaking regions as part of the government’s first serious effort to negotiate an end to a three-year secessionist revolt. The talks in the capital, Yaounde, billed as “national dialogue,” are being presided over by Prime Minister Joseph Ngute and will include opposition supporters, church leaders, civil-society groups, members of the security forces and…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey is a Brexit supporter and he’s shorting the pound. But he dismisses allegations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s links with investors like him amount to a conflict of interest. “What they’re thinking is: can we show that the people who back Boris are unpatriotic, have no interest in the U.K. and basically are only there to try and make money out of the suffering of others,” Odey…