Congo Republic in Talks for World Bank, AfDB Budget Support

Congo Republic in Talks for World Bank, AfDB Budget Support

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Republic of Congo’s government is in talks with the World Bank and the African Development Bank to provide about $200 million of budget support to ease an economic crisis in the oil-producing nation. The discussions, which are in the “final stages,” are among a series of negotiations the government is holding about funding, Communications Minister Thierry Moungalla said by phone Friday from the capital, Brazzaville. Congo owes creditors…

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Trade War Piles Pain on China-Exporter Emerging Markets

Trade War Piles Pain on China-Exporter Emerging Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Just when it looked like things couldn’t get much worse for emerging markets, along comes a trade war. And it’s hitting emerging-market commodity producers and exporters to China especially hard. Take Thailand and South Africa, which each ship about 20 percent of their foreign-bound goods to China. The Thai baht has just reversed year-to-date gains against the dollar, while the South African rand is down 1.9 percent this week,…

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Billionaire Dangote Forecasts $30 Billion of Revenue by 2030

Billionaire Dangote Forecasts $30 Billion of Revenue by 2030

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said revenue at his group of companies may rise seven-fold to $30 billion a year by 2030. Africa’s richest man, worth $12.6 billion, also said tax payments from his Lagos, Nigeria-based Dangote Industries Ltd. would exceed $1 billion annually in about five years, according to a speech he gave Thursday in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Dangote, 61, derives almost 75 percent of his wealth from Dangote Cement Plc, according…

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Indorama to Raise $1 Billion for Nigerian Fertilizer Production

Indorama to Raise $1 Billion for Nigerian Fertilizer Production

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Singapore-based Indorama Corp. Pte. Ltd. will raise $1 billion of debt via one of its units to build a second fertilizer line in Nigeria. Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Ltd. will get $100 million from the World Bank’s investment arm, the International Finance Corp., and the rest from lenders including Standard Bank Group Ltd., Standard Chartered Plc, the European Investment Bank and the African Development Bank, according to a statement from…

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Kenya Airways Could Resume Fuel Hedging in the Third Quarter

Kenya Airways Could Resume Fuel Hedging in the Third Quarter

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya Airways Plc announced a return to a fuel-hedging strategy that it partly blamed for driving the company to record losses in recent years. Fuel costs make up about a quarter of the airline’s costs, Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Mikosz told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. KQ, as the company is known, abandoned fixed-price fuel contracts in 2016 when they locked it out of rock-bottom oil prices and caused it…

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Copperbelt Energy of Zambia Eyes $250 Million Power Investment

Copperbelt Energy of Zambia Eyes $250 Million Power Investment

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Copperbelt Energy Corp., the Zambian electricity supplier with customers including Glencore Plc’s copper mines, may invest as much as $250 million in solar projects and transmission lines in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Chief Executive Officer Owen Silavwe said. The amount includes two solar plants to generate 30 megawatts and 50 megawatts respectively, and the company is still determining their feasibility, he said Tuesday in an interview on the sidelines…

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South African Miners Say Free Carry Will Kill New Projects

South African Miners Say Free Carry Will Kill New Projects

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The biggest threat posed by South Africa’s new Mining Charter may be to mines that haven’t been dug yet. The draft rules, published Friday by Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, lay out several requirements for new mining rights, including that nearby communities and employees each get a 5 percent free-carried interest in either the asset or the company that owns it. The charter is aimed at distributing the industry’s wealth…

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