Economy | - Part 12

Ghana Budget Gap May Double Forecast as $1.6 Billion Hole Found

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s fiscal shortfall could be close to double the forecast for last year, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said a day after the government said it discovered a 7 billion-cedi ($1.6 billion) hole in the budget. The budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product could be close to “double digits” for 2016, he said Wednesday in an interview in Accra, the capital. “We’re still in the process of gathering information,”…

South Africa Posts Its Biggest Trade Surplus in Seven Months

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa recorded its biggest trade surplus in seven months in December, narrowing the shortfall for the year and supporting the rand. The 12 billion-rand ($890 million) surplus compares with a revised 1.7 billion-rand shortfall in November, after imports of chemicals and base metals dropped, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. The cumulative deficit for last year was 2.9 billion rand compared with 52.2 billion…

Kenya Warns ‘Trump Effect’ Poses Threat to Its Economy

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uncertainty surrounding U.S. policies on trade and immigration poses a major external threat to East Africa’s biggest economy, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. The lack of predictability on policy is stoking fears of abrupt changes that may affect trade between the U.S. and Kenya, some of which may end up eroding sources of foreign currency, Njoroge told reporters Tuesday in Nairobi, the capital. While Kenya has sufficient buffers,…

Zambia IMF Talks Seen Shielding Country Amid Trump Risks

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia is asking the International Monetary Fund for March talks over a program that could help buffer it from uncertainties relating to U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies and rising rates in that country that will lift borrowing costs for frontier markets, NKC African Economics said. Formal agreement to a technical and financial support package would also help Zambia rein in a ballooning budget deficit that’s pushed up debt, said Irmgard…

Emerging Market Stocks Pare Monthly Gain as Trump Trade Falters

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – An index of emerging-market stocks retreated, paring its biggest monthly gain since March, as concern over the new U.S. administration’s unpredictability prompted investors to avoid riskier developing-nation assets. Yields on developing-nation bonds rose relative to U.S. Treasuries, though the Brazilian real and Polish zloty led gains in currencies against a weakening dollar. Equities in India, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea and Qatar led emerging stocks lower. MSCI’s…

Revival Beckons for Sudan as U.S. Lifts Economic Sanctions

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KHARTOUM (Capital Markets in Africa) – The U.S. removal of sanctions on Sudan may unlock the potential for the government to tap its rich mineral and agriculture resources. Now the African state needs to carry out the large-scale reforms required to attract investors. Former President Barack Obama’s January 13 executive order reversed some measures put in place by the U.S. in 1997, four years after it first listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism. It lifted restrictions…

Lagarde Says Trump’s Fiscal Plans Likely to Boost U.S. Economy

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump’s plans to overhaul the U.S. tax system and increase infrastructure spending should accelerate growth in the world’s biggest economy over the next two years, said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “We think there is a high probability of that in the next couple of years,” Lagarde said Friday in an interview in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where she met President Yoweri Museveni. In an economic update…

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