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Tycoon Dangote Can’t Get Enough Tomatoes to Run Plant Profitably

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is barely managing to operate Africa’s biggest tomato processing plant, six years after the factory began production, as he can’t get adequate berries to crush. Dangote’s 1,200-ton a day plant is producing at 20% of capacity because farmers don’t have enough resources to boost acreage. The factory was meant to reverse Nigeria’s dependence on imports of tomato paste from China and increase local production. But…

Bitcoin Tests $50,000 Threshold With Market Technicals in Focus

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Bitcoin headed for its worst week in almost two months as a proposed capital-gains tax increase for wealthy Americans intensified the volatility whiplashing the world’s largest cryptocurrency. A fresh bout of selling on Friday drove Bitcoin down as much as 7.9% to $47,525 — below its 100-day moving average — as it continued to take out key technical levels. Wall Street analysts warn of further losses for the notoriously…

Angola Made Her Africa’s Richest Woman, But the Tide Has Turned

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) — A year after Angolan authorities cracked down on her multibillion-dollar business empire, Africa’s once-richest woman is watching it crumble. From self-imposed exile in Dubai, Isabel dos Santos has been fighting a legal battle against Angola’s government as court orders roil her companies. In Luanda, shelves at the Candando supermarket stores are more than half-empty. A beer factory south of the capital is running at 30% of its production capacity. Operations at…

Bitcoin Is Exactly Like Gold Except When It Isn’t

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin has been described as digital gold. The phrase digital gold may be a brilliant and highly informative metaphor, a cynically clever sales trick (a form of associative and repetitive priming) intended to boost bitcoin trading by naïve investors or, perhaps, an indication of the futility of explaining the utility of bitcoin. Elmandjra (2020) embraces the concept of bitcoin as digital gold and enthusiastically recommends bitcoin investment while Furman…

Tanzania’s First Female Leader Sworn In With Authority in Doubt

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DAR ES SALAM (Capital Markets in Africa) — Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania’s president two days after the death of incumbent John Magufuli, and now faces the arduous task of securing political control of the East African nation. Hassan, 61, took the oath of office at a ceremony in the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam on Friday. She succeeded Magufuli under a constitutional provision that the president’s deputy will serve out…

Time to be Small -Rupert Thompson, Chief Investment Officer at Kingswood

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Equity markets recovered some of their mojo last week. Global equities gained 2.0%-2.5% in sterling and local currency terms respectively and are now only 0.5%-1.0% below their mid-February peak. In the US, a number of equity indices have touched new all-time highs in recent days. The S&P 500, which is the benchmark generally used by professional investors and measures the performance of the largest 500 stocks, inched above its…

Buffett’s Tone Deaf’ Annual Letter Skirts Major Controversies

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Warren Buffett’s 15-page annual letter to shareholders on Saturday made mention of the pandemic that ravaged the globe in 2020 exactly once: One of his furniture companies had to close for a time because of the virus, the billionaire noted on page nine. Buffett likewise steered clear of politics, despite the contested presidential election and riots at the U.S. Capitol, and never touched on race or inequality even after…

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