Economy | - Part 23

South Africa Needs Improvement in Next Six Months, S&P Says

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s government needs to implement the reforms it promised to boost growth between now and December, S&P Global Ratings sovereign analyst Gardner Rusike said. “We are looking at improvements between now and the next six months,” Johannesburg-based Rusike said on a conference call with reporters on Monday. If the “government moves on to clarify some of the policy areas, it helps on confidence and it helps on investment, which…

Nigeria Records First Trade Deficit in at Least Seven Years

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigeria recorded its first quarterly trade deficit in at least seven years in the three months through March as exports of crude oil dropped, adding to the nation’s economic distress. The trade balance of Africa’s largest economy swung to a deficit of 184.1 billion naira ($925 million) from a revised surplus of 364.6 billion naira in the previous quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday….

Tanzania Plans Foreign Loans in Next Fiscal Year, Ndulu Says

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Capital Markets in Africa: Tanzania plans to borrow offshore in the next fiscal year, central bank Governor Benno Ndulu said. “We will be guided by what’s needed and what is reasonable in the market to do,” Ndulu said in an interview Wednesday at the World Economic Forum on Africa in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The “firm numbers will still come out. If it’s a Eurobond, typically you cannot issue less than $500 million.” The…

Nigeria edging closer to China — Bank of America Merrill Lynch

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Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Buhari’s recent trip to China generated impressive headlines on funding. If the whole $6bn infrastructure loan is disbursed, it could give a significant boost to Nigeria’s productivity. However, in the short term, the focus is on some important details of the currency swap arrangement and to what extent it can alleviate the pressure on Nigeria’s FX reserves. CBN lauds currency swap with China, but important details are missing The…

Nigeria | More details emerge on Nigeria’s fiscal plans — BoAML

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigeria’s Senators have urged Buhari to sign the budget into law after he requested it be sent to him to check for any unapproved adjustments. The local press has reported that this should happen within weeks but the whole budgeting process has been fraught with delays since it was first started in December 2015. The current delays relate to the allocation of the US$30bn headline expenditure, but the…

Zambia | Plenty to do after elections says Bank of America Merrill Lynch

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Lusaka, Zambia, Capital Markets in Africa — Our caution on Zambia, and hence our Underweight recommendation, was based on downside to copper prices and the government’s unwillingness to engage in an IMF program. Following our meetings with policymakers in Lusaka, we are now more confident that an IMF program will be taken, although our base case of a post-election program remains unchanged. We expect a program to start soon after the elections, regardless of who…

Cameroon | Boost from the AfDB through €500m guarantee

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Yaounde, Cameroon, Capital Markets in Africa — Much of the discussion in Yaounde concerned the €500mn partial credit guarantee given to Cameroon by the AfDB. This agreement covers the government’s payment obligations in a cross-currency swap they had entered with commercial banks to ensure dollar availability to service the obligations of its US$750m Eurobond issued in November 2015. From the AfDB press release, the guarantee appears to have been approved solely to limit exchange rate…

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