Finance | - Part 99

Threat of Cobalt Shock Is a Top Risk for Electric Vehicles

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A burgeoning risk of a supply crunch in cobalt — a key battery metal that’s more than tripled in price in two years — poses one of the biggest threats to forecasts for rising electric vehicle adoption. Major investment in mines is required to avoid price spikes that could see cost reductions for lithium-ion batteries stall, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysts said Monday in a report. Shortages of cobalt are likely earlier than…

Libya’s Oil Output Is Said to Wilt as Hot Weather Halts Turbines

Posted on by The Editorial Team

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Libya’s crude production tumbled by at least 120,000 barrels a day after some oil-field equipment stopped operating due to hot weather, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Output at the Libyan Arabian Gulf Oil Co., known as Agoco, dropped to about 145,000 barrels a day on Tuesday from about 260,000, the person said, asking not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to…

Carmakers in Battle With South Africa Over Support Plan

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa is proposing automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG more than double production in return for tax breaks so generous that the companies can ship the cars all the way to Europe. The auto industry accounts for about 7 percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product and has been one of the few highlights of a period of sluggish economic growth, according to the National…

Kenya Drops Budget Cap to Reach Oil-Cash Deal, Lawmakers Say

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya agreed to drop budget-allocation limits for oil-rich counties in order to break a deadlock in passing a revenue-sharing law that’s delayed production. The Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill, which was presented to lawmakers in February and later withdrawn, proposed giving communities 5 percent of revenue and county administrations receiving 20 percent provided those amounts did not exceed budget allocations by the national government. The local community’s share was…

Glencore Said to Face U.K. Bribery Probe Over Congo Dealings

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The U.K.’s white-collar crime prosecutor is preparing to open a formal bribery investigation into Glencore Plc and its work with Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler and the leader of Democratic Republic of Congo, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Investigators at the Serious Fraud Office plan to seek formal approval for a full probe into Glencore’s dealings in Congo, said the people, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t…

Congo Billionaire Seeks French Loan to Develop Iron-Ore Railway

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Paul Obambi, a billionaire investor in the Congo Republic, is in talks with French lenders to fund a railway he’s building to export iron ore. Obambi’s company SAPRO SA is negotiating with “a consortium of banks” to finance the 450-kilometer (280-mile) track that will link the southwestern town of Mayoko to a port at Pointe Noire, he said in a phone interview from Paris on Tuesday. Construction is expected…

Nigerian Lawmakers Raise 2018 Spending Plans to $25 Billion

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian lawmakers increased spending plans for 2018 by almost 6 percent from what President Muhammadu Buhari proposed in November. Of the new suggested budget of 9.1 trillion naira ($25 billion), 3.5 trillion naira is for recurrent expenditure, 2.8 trillion naira for capital spending and 2.2 trillion naira for debt servicing, according to a paper of proceedings in the House of Representatives released Tuesday. Provisions are also made for statutory transfers and…

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