Finance

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia plans to trim its fiscal deficit next year even as Africa’s second-biggest copper producer boosts spending. It may be considering raising mine taxes to achieve that, according to analysts. The Finance Ministry is targeting a budget shortfall of 6.5 percent of gross domestic product next year, compared to 7.4 percent this year, according to a medium-term expenditure plan that sets its fiscal course until 2021. At the same time, it…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya plans discussions with low-cost airlines such as Ryanair Holdings Plc and easyJet Plc to begin flying to the East African nation famous for its beaches and safaris, its tourism minister said. Tourism is one of the country’s biggest generators of foreign exchange after remittances and agricultural exports, and earned the nation 119.9 billion shillings ($1.2 billion) last year, according to the Kenya Tourism Board. “We are developing a strategy to encourage low-cost…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources. The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is on track to double drilling in African waters this year. Rising natural gas demand is adding…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Chinese companies will construct three main roads in Kenya through public-private partnerships under the East African nation government’s roads-annuity program. The unidentified companies will build a 30-kilometer (18-mile) expressway from the nation’s biggest airport in the capital, Nairobi, to the city’s Westlands suburb, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said Tuesday in an emailed statement. Other projects include two roads in the north-eastern Kenya that will cost 15 billion shillings ($149…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prime Minister Theresa May banked pledges for London Stock Exchange listings from Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Seplat Petroleum Development Co. as she announced plans to bolster ties between the City of London and Nigeria. Seplat on Wednesday committed to list $350 million of Eurobonds issued earlier this year on the LSE, May’s office said in a statement. That comes on top of Dangote’s commitment to list Dangote Cement Plc, valued at $10.8 billion, on the…

DAR ES SALAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Plc will lend Tanzania 3.3 trillion shillings ($1.44 billion) for the construction of a section of a new standard-gauge railway between Morogoro and Makutupora, in the Dodoma region, the Finance Ministry said. The agreement follows a meeting between Finance Minister Philip Mpango and Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the ministry said in an emailed statement. The East African…

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda’s state-controlled pension fund offered China Railway Group Ltd. a $110 million deal to construct a 32-story office tower in the capital, Kampala. Construction will begin next month and will be finished in two to three years, National Social Security Fund Chairman Patrick Byabakama Kaberenge said Tuesday in an interview. The project, which has been stalled for a decade, is part of NSSF’s plans to invest as much as…