The Editorial Team

U.S. Ex-Im Warned on Mozambique Risks Before $4.7 Billion Loan

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. decided to lend $4.7 billion to a gas project in Mozambique despite its own analysis warning about security risks that have since forced Total SE to suspend work at the site. Ex-Im Bank approved the financing last year, outlining that it would support about 16,700 U.S. jobs over a five-year construction period. The funding accounted for the biggest share of about $15 billion raised for…

Mercenaries Fighting Insurgents in Mozambique Set to Exit

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) — The private military contractor providing aerial support to Mozambican ground forces battling Islamic State-linked insurgents near a $20 billion natural gas project is set to leave the country in a week. Dyck Advisory Group’s one-year agreement is coming to an end and hasn’t been extended, with the last gunship helicopter flights on April 2, Lionel Dyck, the South African company’s founder, said by phone. That could leave state troops…

Getting Back to Work: How U.K. Banks Plan to Revive the Office

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — As the U.K. inches out of its third Covid lockdown and leads the way in vaccinations, some financial firms are starting to entice employees back to deserted offices. Others are doubling down on the lure of living rooms. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. invited London employees back starting March 29, the day the U.K.’s blanket “stay home” mandate was lifted. Standard Chartered Plc is embracing a hybrid working model, mapping out strategies to…

U.K. Is Not Structurally Racist, Report Ordered by Johnson Says

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — The U.K. is not a “post-racial” society but issues around race and racism are becoming less important as opportunities improve, a report commissioned by the government after the Black Lives Matter protests found. When the death of George Floyd last year prompted riots in the U.S., mirror protests took place around the U.K. against perceived police racism and the poorer life chances for ethnic minorities. The report by the Commission on…

Boris Johnson Distances Himself from Race Report After Backlash

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to distance himself from a report into U.K racial inequalities that drew an angry backlash after suggesting the history of slavery could be taught from a different perspective than one of only pain and suffering. “There are some interesting things in it, I’m not going to say we agree with every word, but we’re going to be responding in due course,” Johnson told reporters…

Biden $2.25 Trillion Jobs Plan Squeezed By All Sides in Congress

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NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — President Joe Biden laid out what he called a “bold” plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure, but now needs an equally ambitious effort to wrangle it through Congress in the face of Republican opposition and criticism from within his Democratic Party. Biden, in a speech Wednesday in Pittsburgh, invoked the great public investments of the past — the transcontinental railroad, the interstate highway system and the space program —…

NIGERIA INSIGHT: Recovery Continues, But Economy Remains Fragile

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria has managed to get the virus under control, for now at least, enabling the government to lift most lockdown restrictions. This, together with easing OPEC production cuts, has supported a gradual pick-up in output. The recovery, however, remains fragile, with uncertainty around the vaccine rollout and ongoing foreign exchange restrictions posing downside risks. We now expect the economy to rebound 2.4% this year, with GDP growth expanding by…

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