Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — When African ministers held a video conference call to discuss debt relief last week, the same concern kept cropping up: how to cut the payments without jeopardizing future access to markets. One African Finance Minister, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of negotiations, said creditors may victimize his country if he is too vocal about a waiver in public. Benin’s Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni has argued the…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) — Halfway through Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term his pledge of transforming the economy through manufacturing, farming, health care, and low-cost housing has been slow to show results, and the coronavirus pandemic could now reduce that too little more than an election promise. The virus is hitting revenue collection as key drivers such as agriculture, tourism, and diaspora remittances decline, and debt costs rise for East Africa’s biggest economy….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — The coronavirus is muddying the outlook for London’s second-biggest airport. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. became the latest carrier to back away from London Gatwick, saying Tuesday it will shutter its operation at least temporarily to focus on the much larger Heathrow. With arch-rival, British Airways reportedly looking to do the same, and Gatwick’s third-largest tenant, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, retrenching to survive the winter, the south London hub is…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria will seek to delay payments of some government debt until 2021 when it expects state revenue to recover, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said. A deferral wouldn’t be debt forgiveness, but rather a rescheduling of obligations to free up fiscal space to enable the government to address the coronavirus pandemic, Ahmed told a virtual briefing Tuesday. “When revenues improve, and we hope by 2021 they should improve, we will be able…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) — Zimbabwe will get $7 million from the World Bank to fight the coronavirus pandemic despite being in arrears with the Washington-based lender. The lender will mobilize $5 million from its Global Financing Facility Trust Fund to support the nation’s health response to the outbreak and redirect about $2 million from its ongoing Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project to support affected communities, a World Bank spokesperson said in an emailed response…

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Ethiopian Airlines Group is prepared to come to the rescue of stricken carriers around Africa, even as the continent’s biggest airline deals with its own mounting losses and grounded planes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Talks are underway with the government of Mauritius about the revival of the island nation’s state carrier, which was put into administration last month, Ethiopian Chief Executive Officer Tewolde GebreMariam said in an interview on Tuesday. And…