The Markets

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt cut its forecast for the pound’s value against the dollar and projected higher interest costs on local government debt for fiscal 2018-19, even as its expectations for economic growth and debt reduction remained on target. In a mid-year report, the Finance Ministry forecast: The currency will weaken to 18 pounds to the U.S. dollar versus earlier projection of 17.25 pounds Yields on Treasury bills and bonds will rise to 18.6…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The looming U.S.-China trade talks may be set to reveal how complacent traders have been about the dispute just as the rally in emerging markets loses steam. Last week’s sudden retreat came as representatives from the world’s two biggest economies prepared to discuss the standoff, with President Donald Trump saying he wouldn’t meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before a 90-day truce ends March 1. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the country could proceed with a sale of Eurobonds even before the International Monetary Fund completes a final review of the nation’s extended credit-facility program. The finance ministry will next week name transaction advisers for a planned issuance of as much as $3 billion, after which the lenders will test investors’ appetite for a sale, Ofori-Atta said Friday in an interview in the capital, Accra. “After…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – African online retailer Jumia is planning an initial public offering in New York this year that could value the business at about $1.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Jumia’s largest shareholder MTN Group Ltd. is planning to raise as much as $600 million from selling its shares through the IPO, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. MTN and…

JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sygnia Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Magda Wierzycka is questioning fees paid by South Africa’s state-owned money manager, citing an unverified document she says details a “sad litany of plunder” at the Public Investment Corp. The overseer of 2.1 trillion rand ($157 billion) of mostly civil-servant pension funds spent 960 million rand on advisory and transactional costs between 2014 and 2018, Wierzycka said in an opinion piece published Wednesday by Business Day. By…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gerald Cotten, the Canadian behind cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga CX, filed a will 12 days before his death listing substantial assets, according to court documents. Cotten, whose sudden death left C$190 million ($145 million) in Bitcoin and other digital assets protected by his passwords unretrievable, signed his last will and testament on Nov. 27, 2018. He left all his assets to his wife, Jennifer Robertson, and made her the executor to…