The Editorial Team |

Desperate for Dollars, Investors Line Up for a Sure-Fire Loser

CAIRO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa: The hot trade in Egypt’s stock market is a sure thing — a guaranteed money-loser. Clients have been snapping up shares of Commercial International Bank Egypt on the Cairo market, paying in Egyptian pounds, only to turn around and sell them in London for dollars at a loss of as much as 30 percent, brokers say. Big international companies are so desperate to get dollars that they’re willing to…

Congo Scales Back Eurobond Plans as It Seeks World Bank Help

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Kinshasa, DR Congo, Capital Markets in Africa: The Democratic Republic of Congo scaled back plans to sell $1 billion of Eurobonds and instead asked multilateral lenders for direct budgetary support after the collapse in commodity prices forced the government to cut spending. The World Bank will provide $250 million to $500 million of assistance, in addition to $100 million from the African Development Bank, pending a review in June by the International Monetary Fund of the country’s…

Sierra Leone Pension Fund Buying Government Debt as Rates Rise

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Freetown, Sierra Leone, Capital Markets in Africa: Sierra Leone’s state-owned pension fund is increasing its holdings of government debt after rates more than doubled this year on Treasury bills sold by the West African iron-ore and cocoa producer. The National Social Security and Insurance Trust, or Nassit, is also increasing the maturities of its fixed-income investments, Alpha Keita, head of the fund’s Treasury Investment Division, said in an interview in Freetown, the capital. Nassit holds 105…

Congo Targets Airtime Touts as Central Bank Props Franc

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Kinshasa, DR. Congo, Capital Markets in Africa: Mobile-phone airtime touts on the streets of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital have become the latest target in the government’s attempt to stop the slide of the Congolese franc. The traders who peddle mobile credit to pedestrians in Kinshasa must stop speculating on the exchange rate and sell $1 airtime cards for no more than 1,000 Congolese francs ($1.05), according to a statement issued May 11 by the office…

We Were Sleeping, Says Kenya Central Banker After Lenders Fail

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa: Kenya’s central bank said that it should have stepped in sooner to halt the collapse of three lenders in the past nine months and that a culture of leniency by the regulator contributed to a build-up of misconduct in the industry. “The watchdog should have barked sooner and louder,” Njoroge told lawmakers in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. “We have been asleep at the switches in terms of us failing to…

Investment | The Carlyle Group invests in Mazarine Energy

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London, Capital Markets in Africa: The Carlyle Group announced an investment in Mazarine Energy B.V., an upstream oil and gas company with existing assets in Tunisia. Carlyle will also grant Mazarine Energy access to an equity line of up to $500 million to fund future bolt-on acquisitions, focusing on low risk, near-term, conventional exploration, development and production opportunities in Europe, Africa and the broader Mediterranean region. Capital for this investment and for the equity line…

SWIFT’s messaging traffic grows by 12.5 percent in Africa

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Mauritius, 17 May 2016 – Data from SWIFT shows that Africa’s traffic growth has outperformed the total growth of SWIFT globally. In the year to date, total message traffic volumes grew by 12.8% versus 5.4% growth for SWIFT worldwide, illustrating that Africa plays an increasingly important role in SWIFT’s global business. Levels of growth were also significantly higher than in EMEA at 3.2% and the Americas at 6.7%, and closely behind Asia Pacific at 15%….

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