Finance

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa shared parts of a package of reforms to kickstart an economy that’s in recession with business and labor leaders last week. The measures, already adopted by the cabinet, will “secure confidence in sectors affected by regulatory uncertainty” and cover mining, telecommunications, tourism and transport, the presidency said in a emailed statement Sunday. It will “reprioritize government spending, within the existing fiscal framework, toward activities that will stimulate…

LAUNDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – A $5.7 billion spending spree is catching up with Puma Energy Holdings Ltd. The fuel station operator, whose biggest shareholder is commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd, is struggling to increase profits after Angola’s new president froze pump prices this year, slashing Puma’s traditionally lucrative margins in the African country. The troubles in Angola are highlighting Puma’s weighty debt burden, incurred as it forked-out between 2012 and 2016 to buy and build fuel…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Escalating global trade tensions are giving Chinese fruit stalls a little more of an international flavor. Fruit distributor Sunmoon Food Co. is shipping navel oranges from Egypt, kiwis from Italy and apples from Poland into China for the first time ever. The produce will fill the gap created when the Asian nation slapped tariffs on U.S. fruit as part of the escalating trade war between the Xi Jinping and Donald Trump administrations. With turnover of…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo plans to establish special economic zones for companies that manufacture goods from the country’s minerals, President Joseph Kabila said. “There is a need to create special economic zones for the final users of Congolese natural resources,” Kabila said at a conference Wednesday in the south-eastern city of Kolwezi. The area will allow producers of electric vehicles, smartphones and other goods to “install themselves in the DRC,”…

ACCRA(Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s tax agency has hired McKinsey & Co. to help boost collections after missing the revenue target for the year trough August by 1.8 billion cedis ($367 million). The move to increase income comes after the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo announced tax increases for top earners in July as part of measures to yield 1.3 billion cedis by the end of the year and enable the government to meet its budget-shortfall target. The…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan legislators should repeal a law that introduced a 16 percent levy on fuel and seek other means of raising revenue, a top Treasury official said. While the value-added tax that came into effect on Sept. 1 will add 35 billion shillings ($347.2 million) to the government’s coffers, the levy will drive inflation up by as much as 2 percentage points, Chief Administrative Secretary Nelson Gaichuhie told lawmakers in…