Market Watch

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — BUA Group, which owns Nigeria’s second-biggest cement plant, said it plans to finish building a 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery by 2025. “We are looking to between three and four years” to complete construction, Chief Executive Officer Abudul Samad Rabiu told reporters in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. The company on Wednesday signed an agreement with France-based Axens SA to build the facility in Nigeria’s southeastern Akwa Ibom state, Rabiu said, declining to…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Contradictory statements and media leaks are making it impossible to get a handle on India’s soon-to-be-unveiled cryptocurrency policy. The uncertainty is throwing young blockchain firms and programmers into a paroxysm of anxiety: Should they leave or stay? If they hang back, should they do something else with their lives? On Sunday, the global crypto industry heaved a sigh of relief when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman categorically ruled out a…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — There comes a point in nearly every financial conversation these days when someone drops the “B” word. Bitcoin, that is. Maybe it’s pandemic boredom. Maybe it’s the fact that every billionaire out there wants us to know whether they hate it or love it. In any case, the cryptocurrency has been on — hmm, let’s say an… interesting… ride — over the past few weeks. So I thought I’d write you…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — In a world of rising U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar, higher oil prices can be a game-changer — for good or for bad. Oil exporters are the obvious beneficiaries: African crude producers including Angola, Ghana, and Nigeria had budgeted for an average price of around $40 per barrel for Brent crude in 2021, according to Rand Merchant Bank analysts. The price actually averaged closer to $60, providing…