African Central Banks Seen Holding Rates on GDP Growth Concerns

African Central Banks Seen Holding Rates on GDP Growth Concerns

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Central bankers in eight key African countries are likely to leave borrowing costs unchanged this month to support the recovery of economies that remain vulnerable to coronavirus-induced shocks. Parts of the continent are wrestling with a third wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible delta variant. Africa is the world’s least-vaccinated region with only 3.2% of 1.2 billion people fully immunized, leaving it vulnerable to new waves and stricter lockdown…

Read More

Debt May Complicate Reform of Nigerian State Oil Firm, FSDH Says

Debt May Complicate Reform of Nigerian State Oil Firm, FSDH Says

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) -The Nigerian state-owned energy company’s debt burden will become “a political hot potato” when the firm is overhauled under new legislation, FSDH Capital Ltd said. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.’s current liabilities exceed its assets by 4.56 trillion naira ($11.1 billion), according to its 2020 financial statements. President Muhammadu Buhari last month signed a law that aims to transform the energy industry in Africa’s biggest oil producer, including replacing the NNPC with…

Read More

South Africa’s Green Energy Push Hinges on $28 Billion Debt Fix

South Africa’s Green Energy Push Hinges on $28 Billion Debt Fix

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africsa) – The head of South Africa’s state power utility needs to substantially reduce its 402 billion rand ($28 billion) of debt to realize his vision of transforming the coal-addicted behemoth into a leading green-energy producer and create as many as 300,000 jobs in the process.  Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. supplies more than 90% of the nation’s electricity, the bulk of it from coal, and emits more than two-fifths of the nation’s…

Read More

A Crack Opens in the Foundation of the App Store Economy

A Crack Opens in the Foundation of the App Store Economy

LAGOS (Capital Martkets in Africa) – When Apple Inc. introduced its App Store in 2008, the company’s founder and chief executive Steve Jobshad a message for iPhone app developers. “We are not trying to be business partners,” he told the New York Times. Jobs meant that developers didn’t have to feel threatened because Apple’s main business was selling phones, not taking 30% commissions on app sales. But the comment could be interpreted very differently today,…

Read More

Barclays to Deutsche Bank Dubbed Climate-Change Hypocrites

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG are among 17 banks accused by climate law activists of “hypocrisy” over work related to a controversial North Sea oil field.  ClientEarth, a London-based group of lawyers that brings environmental cases, wrote to the lenders asking them to justify financial or advisory services that they provide to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Siccar Point Energy, the two firms behind the Cambo oil field project, according to…

Read More

Biden’s Allies Shy From Taxing Rich, Eroding Inequality Promise

Biden’s Allies Shy From Taxing Rich, Eroding Inequality Promise

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Joe Biden’s push to ramp up taxes on the wealthy is getting diluted by his Democratic allies in Congress, undermining the president’s chances of fully delivering on his 2020 campaign pledge to curb America’s widening inequality. A blueprint that the House Ways and Means Committee will begin voting on Tuesday, prepared by Democratic members and staff of the panel, scaled back some of the most ambitious elements of…

Read More

Bitcoin Price Prediction – A Return to $47,000 Would Bring $50,000 Back into Play

Bitcoin Price Prediction – A Return to $47,000 Would Bring $50,000 Back into Play

After a bearish week last week and a bearish start to the current week, Bitcoin and the crypto majors found much-needed support this morning. At the time of writing, Bitcoin, BTC to USD, was up by 2.14% to $45,920.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall to an early morning low $44,699.0 before making a move. Steering clear of the first major support level at $43,311, Bitcoin rose to a late morning high $46,212.1….

Read More
1 66 67 68 69 70 1,067