The Editorial Team |

Zambia to export 800,000 T of white maize to neighbouring states

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia plans to export 800,000 tonnes of white maize to neighbouring countries after producing its biggest ever harvest, leaving the southern African nation with a large surplus, the agriculture minister said on Monday. Given Lubinda said on Hot FM Radio that Zambia had a surplus of over 1.1 million tonnes of white maize after its harvest rose by a third, to 3.3 million tonnes in the 2013/2014 (October-April) season compared with the…

Mauritius foreign direct investment jumps 48.7 pct in 2014

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PORT LOUIS (Reuters) – Foreign direct investment in Mauritius grew 48.7 percent in 2014 to 14.15 billion rupees ($388.20 million), thanks to investment in real estate, hotels and restaurants, official data showed on Friday. Foreign investment in real estate led with a total of 6.17 billion rupees, the central bank said. Hotels and restaurants accounted for 4.89 billion rupees. France was the biggest source of investment with 3.48 billion rupees. Famed for its white sand…

S&P cuts Nigeria to B+ on weak oil, cites political risk

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ABUJA (Reuters) – Credit agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Nigeria’s rating to B+ from BB- on Friday, saying the decline in oil prices in the past seven months had significantly affected the country’s finances. Setting a stable outlook on the new rating, it also said political risk was a significant factor while the country’s non-oil sector would support economic growth. Nigeria holds a presidential election on March 28 when Goodluck Jonathan will seek another term….

African Inflation Snapshot: February 2015

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Angola inflation rises to 7.73 percent: Angola’s consumer inflation edged up to 7.73 percent year-on-year in February from 7.44 percent in January, data from the statistics office. On a month-on-month basis, prices were up 0.76 percent after a 0.72 percent increase previously. Botswana’s inflation falls to 2.8 percent: The annual inflation rate in February 2015 was 2.8 percent, a drop of 0.8 of a percentage point on the January 2015 rate of 3.6 percent. Annual…

Moody’s downgrades Ghana’s sovereign rating to B3; outlook negative

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Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded Ghana’s issuer and senior unsecured rating by one notch to B3 from B2. The outlook on the rating is negative. The key drivers of today’s rating action are the following: 1) Deteriorating debt dynamics as reflected by an increasing debt burden due to large fiscal imbalances and a sharp weakening of the country’s national currency, combined with reduced debt affordability stemming from a high cost of funding in the…

Zambia central bank to address volatile kwacha

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LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia’s central bank will take measures to deal with the volatility in the kwacha’s exchange rate against the dollar, including tightening liquidity in the market, new Governor Denny Kalyalya said on Friday. The kwacha turned on his comments, firming by 1.3 percent to 7.55, having earlier fallen more than 1.1 percent against the greenback. The currency weakened to a record low of 7.7500 on Thursday. The local unit has fallen about 20…

Global Corporate Bond Issurance and Outlook

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After advancing by 33% annually in 2012 to a record $1.134 trillion, 2013’s US$-denominated investment grade (IG) bond issuance dipped by -1.5% to $1.119 trillion. Following 2012’s 48% annual surge, US$-denominated high yield bond issuance advanced by 11% to a record $431 billion in 2013. Also, after gaining 5% in 2012, newly rated high yield bank loan programs increased by 38% annually to $579 billion in 2013. In 2014, US$-denominated bond issuance edged up by…

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