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CONGO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank approved a $1 billion aid package for the Democratic Republic of Congo in a sign of confidence that the country’s new government can grow revenue and distance itself from a long history of corruption. The Washington D.C.-based lender agreed last week to spend $800 million on primary-school education and another $200 million on maternal and infant health in the country. President Felix Tshisekedi, who took over Congo…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivered a grim assessment of the nation’s finances in a special adjustment budget that forecasts a deep recession and plunging tax revenue. Gross domestic product is forecast to shrink 7.2% this year, the most in almost nine decades and the consolidated budget deficit is expected to surge to 15.7%. While gross debt-to-GDP is to peak at 87.4% in four years, investors were cheered…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, the Nigerian power sector had been enmeshed in lingering challenges of inadequate and obsolete power generation, transmission and distribution facilities, that had made it impossible for the Nigerian state to meet the power requirements of resident individuals and businesses operating in the country. For most operators in the Nigerian power sector, the initial optimism that heralded their entry and subsequent investments in…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Quest Diagnostics Inc. is offering services to large employers geared at getting their employees back to work safely, including testing for the novel coronavirus, analytics to monitor symptoms and hotspots, and services like temperature monitoring, the company announced Wednesday. The Quest program joins similar ones from Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings and health providers like primary-care clinic One Medical, showing how reopening efforts have created a new way for health-care…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Warren Buffett was willing to stand by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s side during the last economic crisis, at least for the right price. Now, he’s bailing out just as the pandemic throws the U.S. economy onto uncertain terrain. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold 84% of its Goldman Sachs stock in the first quarter, marking a reversal for an investor who generally holds large stakes in the banking sector. It…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — France will continue to guarantee the euro peg of the west and central Africa’s common currencies and sees no need to devalue the units. The coronavirus outbreak has limited inflows of hard currency to the monetary blocs of mostly former French colonies that are struggling with the collapse of oil prices, lower trade, and the flight of investors to safe havens. “We do not see a need for adjusting…