Rand Tumbles as South Africa Seeks Higher Black Mine Ownership

Rand Tumbles as South Africa Seeks Higher Black Mine Ownership

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rand weakened the most in more than two months as South Africa said local mines should be at least 30 percent owned by black people in an effort to redress economic imbalances caused by the apartheid system. The currency fell as much as 1.9 percent against the dollar, the most since March 28, to be the biggest decliner among 31 major and emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The…

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Ghana to Tap Stabilization Fund for Cocoa Pay Next Season

Ghana to Tap Stabilization Fund for Cocoa Pay Next Season

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana will probably start drawing from its stabilization fund to cover cocoa farmers’ pay during the season that starts in October as the second-biggest grower props up local prices in the face of a global slump. While Ivory Coast, the largest producer, has already slashed the price it pays farmers for the smaller of two annual crops by 36 percent, Ghana’s Cocoa Board so far kept it unchanged and…

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Ghana Leader Favors Constitutional Change to Boost Finances

Ghana Leader Favors Constitutional Change to Boost Finances

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said he is in favor of changes to the West African country’s constitution that will allow lawmakers better oversight over public finances. Akufo-Addo, whose National Patriotic Party came into power in January in the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, is battling rising public debt following a discovery of about 7 billion cedis ($1.6 billion) in unplanned spending by the previous administration of President John Mahama. The new government is…

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Ethiopia Eyes Role in DP World-Managed Port in Somaliland

Ethiopia Eyes Role in DP World-Managed Port in Somaliland

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia is in talks to acquire shares in a joint venture involving DP World Ltd. that will manage a port in northern Somalia, a Somali official said, a move that could give the fast-growing yet landlocked Horn of Africa economy its first stake in foreign docks. Somaliland, a semi-autonomous territory that aspires to statehood, has agreed “in principle” to give Ethiopia a 19 percent share in the venture administering Berbera…

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Dangote $700 Million Deal to Meet Third of Nigeria’s Sugar Needs

Dangote $700 Million Deal to Meet Third of Nigeria’s Sugar Needs

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Dangote Industries Ltd. subsidiary will invest $700 million in a central Nigerian project that seeks to produce almost a third of the sugar consumed in Africa’s most populous nation. Tunga Sugar project, in the central state of Nasarawa, will be made up of a 60,000-hectare (148,260-acre) plantation and two factories with combined capacity of 430,000 metric tons of refined white sugar, Dangote Group’s president, Aliko Dangote, said in a…

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Kenya Airways Debt Swap May Give State a Controlling Stake

Kenya Airways Debt Swap May Give State a Controlling Stake

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s government agreed to swap loans it provided to Kenya Airways Ltd. for equity, a conversion that may give the state a controlling stake in the national carrier, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said. The government will also guarantee 77 billion shillings ($745 million) of the airline’s debt to lessors and domestic banks, enabling Kenya Airways to extend its loan repayments to 10 years, Rotich told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi….

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Standard Bank Tightens Grip on Liberty After Row With CEO

Standard Bank Tightens Grip on Liberty After Row With CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – History is repeating itself at the insurer controlled by Africa’s largest bank by assets. Standard Bank Group Limited on Tuesday announced that its head of investment banking will take over as chief executive officer of Liberty Holdings Limited in an effort to end the drag that the Johannesburg-based insurer is having on profit. The deployment of David Munro to the post comes after the abrupt departure of Thabo Dloti following a bust-up with his…

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