The Markets | - Part 191

Stress Sign: Black Market’s Cheaper Than Official Naira Rate

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s new currency market is showing just how severe the country’s dollar shortage is. The naira is falling to levels weaker than the black-market rate in a foreign-exchange window set up for international investors and hedge funds last month. It’s a sign of how dysfunctional currency markets have become in Africa’s largest economy as officials enforce multiple exchange rates and trading and import restrictions. Funds including Chicago-based Frontaura Capital, South Africa’s Allan…

If Bond Market Could Decide, Egypt Would Be Set for Upgrade

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – With its finances in tatters, a credit upgrade was out of the question for Egypt before it secured an IMF loan agreement. Fast-forward six months, and it’s already won promotion in the bond market. Egypt’s dollar bonds have sprung back this year, driving its borrowing costs to the lowest level since 2015. That has lifted the market perception of Egyptian risk above that of some ratings assessors. The nation’s…

Dangote Cement Profit Rises as Price Gains Offset Lower Volumes

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Dangote Cement Plc, Africa’s largest producer of the building material and Nigeria’s biggest company, said first-quarter profit rose 34 percent as a price increase offset lower volumes sold and operations on the rest of the continent helped bolster sales. Net income increased to 70.6 billion naira ($220 million) in the three months through March, compared with 52.8 billion naira a year earlier, the Lagos-based company said in a statement on Friday….

What Investors Need to Know About Nigeria’s New Exchange Window

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s a lot riding on Nigeria’s new foreign-exchange platform. The system — called the Investors’ and Exporters’ FX Window — is the government’s latest attempt to lure back traders who fled in the past two years. The idea is that by creating a market for some types of investment transactions, policy makers can satisfy calls to float the currency without risking an inflationary spiral that may come from a devaluation. Eventually,…

Mozambique MPs Back State Guarantees for Previously Hidden Debt

Posted on by The Editorial Team

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa)- Mozambique’s parliament ratified a law that provides state guarantees for previously hidden loans of two state-owned companies that sparked a debt crisis in one of the world’s poorest countries. Lawmakers from the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique approved the state accounts for 2015, which included guarantees for loans worth $1.12 billion that ProIndicus and Mozambique Asset Management took out in the prior two years. Opposition members left the…

World’s Deepest Devaluation Makes Egypt Assets RenCap’s Top Pick

Posted on by The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt is reaping the rewards of a painful devaluation. The plunge that sent its currency tumbling the most in the world over the past six months has made the nation’s assets among Renaissance Capital Ltd.’s top picks in developing nations. The Egyptian pound is now the cheapest of all emerging-market and African currencies after it scrapped controls in November, the investment bank’s real effective exchange rate model shows. The…

Ivory Coast Said to Plan $1 Billion Eurobond Sale by End of July

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast plans to sell at least $1 billion in Eurobonds by the end of July to raise funds for infrastructure projects, the country’s first issuance of international debt since 2015, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The government is negotiating to sell bonds with 10-year maturity and the sale will probably happen in June or July, according to the people, who asked not to be…

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