The Markets | - Part 233

Mozambique Says Can’t Pay $178 Million Debt Interest This Month

Maputo, Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa: Cash-strapped Mozambique won’t be able to honor a debt-interest repayment of $178 million that is due next week for a loan to a state-run company, Finance Minister Adriano Afonso Maleiane told lawmakers. The nation holds total public debt of $11.64 billion, of which $9.85 billion is owed to foreign investors, he said Wednesday in the capital, Maputo. Mozambique Asset Management, whose payment is due on May 23, is negotiating with lenders…

Deregulation With Price Controls. Precursor to Devaluation?

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Last week, the Federal Government finally took a step to pseudo-deregulate the downstream sector (the FGN refused to use the word deregulation). This initiative was expected due to the introduction of the price modulation template by the NNPC in January 2016 and also the 2016 budget had no provisions for petrol subsidy payments. Under the new framework, market players are now permitted to source FX independently of the CBN…

Oil Trades Near Seven-Month High as Supply Losses Tame Surplus

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Oil traded near a seven-month high on speculation that U.S. crude stockpiles declined last week while supply losses in Canada and Nigeria whittled away the global excess. West Texas Intermediate climbed as much as 1.5 percent in New York. U.S. crude inventories probably fell by 3.5 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data Wednesday. It would be the first consecutive weekly decrease since September. Wildfires in Canada came to within a…

Senegal President Sall Says Nation Will Sell Bond This Year

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DAKAR, Senegal, Capital Markets in Africa: Senegalese President Macky Sall said his administration will tap the international bond market this year to fund infrastructure development and accelerate growth that’s being driven by surging peanut and rice production. The West African nation intends raising $500 million to $1 billion through the sale of a Eurobond, Sukuk or Samurai bonds, Sall said in a May 13 interview in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where the World Economic Forum held its annual…

Desperate for Dollars, Investors Line Up for a Sure-Fire Loser

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CAIRO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa: The hot trade in Egypt’s stock market is a sure thing — a guaranteed money-loser. Clients have been snapping up shares of Commercial International Bank Egypt on the Cairo market, paying in Egyptian pounds, only to turn around and sell them in London for dollars at a loss of as much as 30 percent, brokers say. Big international companies are so desperate to get dollars that they’re willing to…

Congo Scales Back Eurobond Plans as It Seeks World Bank Help

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Kinshasa, DR Congo, Capital Markets in Africa: The Democratic Republic of Congo scaled back plans to sell $1 billion of Eurobonds and instead asked multilateral lenders for direct budgetary support after the collapse in commodity prices forced the government to cut spending. The World Bank will provide $250 million to $500 million of assistance, in addition to $100 million from the African Development Bank, pending a review in June by the International Monetary Fund of the country’s…

Congo Targets Airtime Touts as Central Bank Props Franc

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Kinshasa, DR. Congo, Capital Markets in Africa: Mobile-phone airtime touts on the streets of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital have become the latest target in the government’s attempt to stop the slide of the Congolese franc. The traders who peddle mobile credit to pedestrians in Kinshasa must stop speculating on the exchange rate and sell $1 airtime cards for no more than 1,000 Congolese francs ($1.05), according to a statement issued May 11 by the office…

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