The Editorial Team |

Oil Crash Is a Double-Edged Sword for LNG With Projects at Risk

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Oil’s rout may have been an unexpected boon for the biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas, but its knock-on effects may come back to bite. That’s because more than a dozen proposed LNG export projects from the U.S. to Mozambique are at risk of being delayed or scrapped as crude careened to levels that make most of them unprofitable. If fewer of them come to fruition, that would ease…

Kenyan Treasury Opposes Plan to Securitize Pending Bills

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s Treasury opposed a plan by lawmakers in East Africa’s biggest economy to securitize the country’s stock of pending bills for supplies and services rendered, saying it will only inflate debt costs. Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani said the proposal to convert all pending bills of more than 500 million shillings ($4.88 million) into long-term instruments was “a weird idea.” In the fiscal year through June 2019 the state owed suppliers 190…

South Africa Urges Overhaul of Top Fund Manager After Report

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A judicial inquiry in South Africa recommended sweeping changes to laws governing Africa’s biggest fund manager after it found senior management, including former Chief Executive Officer Dan Matjila, flouted internal procedures. The investigation, led by retired Judge Lex Mpati, concluded there had been “substantial impropriety” at the state-owned Public Investment Corp., which manages 2.13 trillion rand ($130 billion) of state-employee pension funds. It found that the board had acted as a…

South Africa Is Spoiling It For Banks Finding Growth Elsewhere

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s biggest banks are increasingly relying on the rest of the continent to make money as an economic recovery at home ebbs ever further away. The Big Four make the bulk of their profit in Africa’s most industrialized country, where power shortages, incoherent government policies, corruption and ailing state-owned companies have drained the fiscus and resulted in two recessions in as many years. None of the top bankers…

Labor Wants a Coronavirus Stimulus From S. African Government

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s biggest labor group wants the government to come up with a stimulus plan to prepare for the impact of the coronavirus, potentially stretching the country’s already strained finances. The Congress of South African Trade Unions will call for the plan at a meeting on Monday of the National Economic Development and Labour Council, which includes business and government leaders, said Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator. Cosatu represents…

Nigeria Denies Plan to Devalue Naira, Blames Dealers for ‘Panic’

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigerian central bank denied it plans to devalue the naira soon, and announced an investigation to uncover currency dealers it blames for sparking a “panic” market sell-off this week. “Market fundamentals do not support naira devaluation at this time,” the bank said in a statement released late on Thursday by spokesman Isaac Okorafor. The global market turmoil sparked by the coronavirus contagion and this week’s collapse of oil prices…

Sasol Cut to Junk by Moody’s on Debt, U.S. Project Overruns

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Market in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service downgraded South Africa’s Sasol Ltd.to junk, citing high debt and cost overruns at its Lake Charles chemical project in Louisiana. The ratings company cut its assessment on Sasol’s long-term rating to Ba1, from Baa3, with a stable outlook, it said in a statement on Thursday. “The decision to downgrade the ratings to Ba1 reflects Moody’s view that Sasol’s financial leverage will remain elevated over the next two…

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