Finance

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, sees recent changes to its mining royalties regime as fair and won’t consider a review despite warnings from the industry that it could deter investment and result in job losses, Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said. “There is no renegotiation taking place because a law has been passed in parliament to change the tax regime,” Mwanakatwe said Tuesday in an interview in Cape Town. “We don’t want…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Simukai Tabvura knew nothing other than Robert Mugabe’s strongman rule in Zimbabwe until his ousting little more than a year ago. The promise of change that accompanied the end of Mugabe’s near-four-decade reign has long since withered for the used clothes seller. “It’s like a year of being able to speak freely never happened,” said Tabvura, 41, sitting on a home-made wooden stool at her second-hand stall on a broken…

CAIRO(Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund’s executive board will discuss Egypt’s fourth loan review on Monday, opening the door for the anticipated payout of the fifth installment of the fund’s $12 billion loan to the Arab nation. The loan was approved in November 2016 after Egypt devalued its currency and launched a sweeping program to overhaul the economy. It was a key part of the government’s efforts to restore investor confidence that had…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.K. farmers will find it harder to sell their goods abroad while at the same time potentially facing more competition at home under a no-deal Brexit, according to an agricultural advisory group. That’s because World Trade Organization tariffs would make U.K. supplies less attractive for European buyers, and finding new markets quickly for things like lamb would be almost impossible, the U.K.’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board said. If Britain…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund said there is progress in talkswith Kenya for a new program, months after a standby facility for the East African nation ended. “Significant progress was made during the mission” in December “and discussions on a new fund-supported program are continuing,” said Jan Mikkelsen, the Washington-based lender’s representative in Kenya. “There is no particular timeline.” The previous program, an insurance-type facility that Kenya would draw from in the event…

ALGIER (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gunvor Ltd., the commodity trading house controlled by billionaire Torbjorn Tornqvist, has discussed selling the company to Algeria’s state oil and gas producer, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The idea is preliminary but Sonatrach has started due diligence on acquiring all or part of the company, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private negotiations. A second plan under consideration would see Sonatrach,…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana will start a debt sale next month to prop up lenders as authorities seek 2 billion cedis ($403 million) in finance for banks undercapitalized banks. The government created a special-purpose vehicle known as Ghana Amalgamated Trust, or GAT, which will use the debt sale’s proceeds to purchase shares in five lenders and help them meet a minimum capital threshold of 400 million cedis. GAT will pay debt investors a…