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Commodity prices likely to rise further in 2018: World Bank

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Oil prices are forecast to rise to $56 a barrel in 2018 from $53 this year as a result of steadily growing demand, agreed production cuts among oil exporters and stabilizing U.S. shale oil production, while the surge in metals prices is expected to level off next year, the World Bank said on Thursday. Prices for energy commodities – which include oil, natural gas, and coal — are forecast…

World Bank Pledges Support to Ivory Coast, Ghana Cocoa Venture

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank said it will support plans by Ivory Coast and Ghana to develop a coordinated strategy for their cocoa sectors as the two biggest producers seek to exert better control over global prices and derive more value from growing the beans. The pledge by the Washington-based lender comes as the President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast and his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, signed an agreement Tuesday to adopt common policies…

World Bank Says Africa GDP Rebound Inadequate to Tackle Poverty

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rebound in sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth is insufficient to meaningfully reduce poverty, the World Bank said. Gross domestic product in the region will probably expand by 2.4 percent in 2017, the Washington-based lender said in an emailed copy of its Africa Pulse report on Wednesday. While that’s down from the World Bank’s April forecast of 2.6 percent, it’s an improvement on the two-decade low growth rate of 1.3…

Development Agencies Investing $1.6 Billion in Nigeria Power

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – International development agencies are investing $1.6 billion in Nigeria’s plan to expand its power-grid capacity threefold in four years, the head of the country’s transmission company said. The World Bank, the French Development Agency, the European Union and the Islamic Development Bank are among agencies committing funds to projects in Nigeria to boost transmission capacity to 20,000 megawatts from the current 7,000 megawatts, Usman Mohammed, managing director of state-owned Transmission Company…

Nigeria Seeks $5.2 Billion From World Bank for Electricity

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is seeking $5.2 billion from the World Bank to expand electricity generation and help the economy recover from its first contraction in 25 years. The bank’s private-sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, may invest about $1.3 billion in power projects and electricity distribution companies. Its political risk insurer, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, could provide equity and debt of $1.4 billion for gas and solar power programs, according to Power, Works, and…

World Bank cuts Kenya’s 2017 growth forecast to 5.5 percent

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The World Bank cut Kenya’s economic growth forecast for this year by half a percentage point on Wednesday to 5.5 percent, citing drought, sluggish private sector credit growth and rising prices of oil. The country is estimated to have expanded by 5.9 percent last year, the highest annual expansion in half a decade. But the outlook has been hit by months of dry weather, that left 2.7 million people in…

Tanzania’s economic growth slowed by policy uncertainty, credit squeeze

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Uncertainty over government policies and a slowdown in the private sector cut Tanzania’s gross domestic product growth to an estimated 6.9 percent in 2016 from 7.2 percent the previous year, the World Bank said on Tuesday. Growth is still supported by substantial government investment in infrastructure, including a standard gauge railway, new roads and expanding the ports. But investors have been unnerved by unpredictable policies from the government of President…

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