The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) –  An expected seasonal dollar-liquidity crunch means the outlook for South Africa’s rand is anything but merry as the year draws to a close. Funding requirements of large European and Japanese banks going into year-end, together with the Federal Reserve’s tighter monetary policy, will probably lead to greater demand for dollars and rising offshore funding costs, according to Mehul Daya and Walter de Wet. That would weigh on the rand, one of the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Despite reports of fraud, the success of initial coin offerings compares favorably to conventional technology projects and early-stage ventures. Ernst & Young recently published a damning analysis of 2017’s initial coin offerings. The odd thing is it concentrates on the financial performance of the cryptocurrency market’s equivalent to an initial public offering in the mainstream investment world since the end of 2017. That does not reflect on the competence and sincerity of their…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) MTN Group Ltd.’s battles with Nigerian authorities over $10 billion in repatriated funds and back taxes could increase risk in South Africa’s financial system, the Reserve Bank said. Africa’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers is facing mounting pressure to return $8.1 billion to Nigeria after its central bank argued that the Johannesburg-based company had repatriated funds illegally. Separately, the West African nation’s attorney general’s office alleges the company owes $2…

DAKAR (Capital Markets in Africa) – Senegal is considering raising royalties and taking a bigger stake in oil and natural gas projects as part of the West African nation’s overhaul of its oil code, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg. Senegal is revising its code as a string of major discoveries off its coast is expected to make the country an oil exporter in coming years, with explorers including BP Plc and FAR Ltd. due…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Foreigners are losing their taste for Ghanaian local-currency debt. Offshore investors bought 38 percent of the 989 million cedis ($204 million) of three-year bonds the government sold on October 18, according to data from Central Securities Depository Ghana Ltd. That’s down from 53 percent at a similar sale in September last year, and as much as 80 percent of an offering of five-year debt two months before that. An…