The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s surprise recession provides an opening for opposition parties heading into next year’s elections against the ruling African National Congress. The question is whether they can capitalize on it. News of the economic slump on Tuesday marked the first real setback for the ANC in months. Since appointing Cyril Ramaphosa as president in February, surveys showed the party making headway in winning back support lost during the scandal-marred rule of…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – This year’s global emerging-market selloff has its roots in a slew of mini-roots as the era of easy-money came to an end. Consider Turkey, now paying the price for its refusal to follow orthodox monetary policy; Argentina, facing a crisis of confidence just four years of its last default; China, targeted in a trade war; and South Africa, the emerging-market proxy punished for crisis in any corner of the asset class….

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is seeking about $2 billion in back taxes from MTN Group Limited, another curve ball directed at Africa’s biggest wireless carrier less than a week after it was ordered to refund $8.1 billion in illegally repatriated funds. MTN outlined the tax dispute and refuted both accusations in a statement on Tuesday, yet faces an uphill battle to convince investors it won’t end up shelling out for either or both offenses in…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A cryptocurrency expert languishing in a Greek jail may have a vantage point on a tantalizing issue — how Russians in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs used Bitcoin to obscure their money trail. The expert, Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, was detained last year after U.S. prosecutors in San Francisco accused him of supervising a digital-currency exchange that helped criminals launder billions of dollars. That exchange, according to cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic, handled some…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. and four lenders may have won approval from Nigeria’s central bank to repatriate funds in a 2017 ruling, Lagos-based Business Day reported, citing a letter signed by an official at the reserve bank. In the letter addressed to MTN Nigeria’s chief executive officer, the central bank confirms the validity of the company’s certificates of capital importation — needed to take funds out of the country — according…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. may receive a naira-denominated refund if Africa’s biggest wireless carrier returns the $8 billion that Nigeria says was illegally taken out of the country. The South African phone company must bring back the cash after it and three banks “flagrantly violated foreign-exchange violations,” Nigeria Central Bank Deputy Governor Joseph Nnanna said by text message Sunday, reiterating a Wednesday order. The lenders have been hit with a combined $16 million…