Finance

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one. That’s because the U.S. was first in line to fund Sanofi’s vaccine research, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said in an interview with Bloomberg News. He warned that Europe risks falling behind unless it steps up efforts to seek protection against a pandemic that’s killed more than 290,000…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Citigroup Inc. is stepping up its role as a mediator between borrowers in sub-Saharan Africa and institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to provide access to cheaper financing in markets hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The importance of multilateral lenders, including others like the African Development Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corp., is growing as lockdowns to contain the spread of Covid-19 slow economic growth,…

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Zambia’s request for emergency coronavirus funding from the International Monetary Fund may be scuppered because of the southern African nation’s growing debt burden. The Washington-based lender last year cautioned that the nation’s borrowing was on an unsustainable path. And now, even as the fund makes as much as $100 billion available to member countries, the IMF warned it won’t lend money to governments if it’s not sure it will…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) — Egypt’s funding needs will probably prove decisive for the central bank, ensuring a longer pause in interest rates after a record cut in March. The focus at the moment is on bridging a financing gap that’s estimated at about $10 billion in 2020 by EFG Hermes and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Elevated rates are an advantage at a time many emerging nations are looking to stave off outflows amid…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) — A 21-day lockdown of Ghana’s biggest cities became financially unbearable for most of the population, a concern that gave the government little choice when it lifted the restrictions last month, said Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. Ghana, which identified its first two coronavirus cases on March 12, was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to ease movement restrictions after ramping up its testing capacity. With at least 160,000 people tested, more…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) — The International Monetary Fund approved $2.77 billion in emergency funding for Egypt as the Arab world’s most populous nation grapples with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The borrowing under the lender’s Rapid Financing Instrument comes after Egypt last month requested it and a stand-by agreement to help cover any current-account gaps. “Egypt achieved a remarkable turnaround prior to the COVID-19 shock, carrying out a successful economic reform program supported…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Anheuser-Busch InBev NV received the go-ahead from the South African government to transport drinks from manufacturing plants to depots, avoiding the need to dump millions of liters of beer and saving the government 500 million rand ($27 million) in lost taxes. South Africa has banned the sale and movement of alcoholic drinks as part of measures to contain the coronavirus, and the restriction was kept in place even after…