Nigerian President to Meet Lawmakers to Negotiate Delayed Budget

Nigerian President to Meet Lawmakers to Negotiate Delayed Budget

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet leaders of Parliament on Friday to negotiate a delayed 2016 budget after he said lawmakers had made changes to the original spending plan he presented in December. The president will meet to resolve “areas where he wanted adjustments in the 2016 budget,” Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman for the House of Representatives, said by phone from the capital, Abuja. “It is going to be a negotiation.” Buhari…

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Black South African Investors Bidding for PIC Stake in Vodacom

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — The Public Investment Corp., which manages the bulk of the pension money of South African government workers, is in talks with various black investors who are seeking to buy a stake in Vodacom Group Ltd., PIC Chief Executive Officer Dan Matjila said. The government last year sold its 14 percent stake in Johannesburg-based Vodacom, the largest wireless operator in South Africa, for about 25 billion rand ($1.8 billion) to raise funds…

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Greece’s Secret Debt Evoked in Mozambique $1 Billion Hole

Greece’s Secret Debt Evoked in Mozambique $1 Billion Hole

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Market in Africa — For some Africa watchers, Mozambique’s confession of a $1 billion debt hole seems strangely reminiscent of another country — one that’s also in contentious talks with the International Monetary Fund. The predicament reminds analysts including Rand Merchant Bank’s Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana of Greece’s concealment of its true fiscal dilemma in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The IMF said last week that Mozambique failed to disclose government-guaranteed loans provided by Credit Suisse Group…

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Congo’s Government Halts VAT Repayments to Support Currency

DRC, Capital Markets in Africa — The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government suspended the payment of value-added tax reimbursements to all companies until further notice to reduce pressure on the domestic currency and shore up government finances. The suspension is a “temporary measure,” said Gerard Mutombo, cabinet director at the Finance Ministry. The decision was taken by Prime MinisterMatata Ponyo Mapon, according to a letter to the central bank sent by Vice Finance Minister Albert M’Peti…

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Nigeria’s Buhari Says He’s Not Convinced on Naira Devaluation

Nigeria’s Buhari Says He’s Not Convinced on Naira Devaluation

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — President Muhammadu Buhari reiterates that he’s yet to be convinced that majority of Nigerians will derive any benefit from a devalued naira, his office says in an e-mailed statement. Buhari says he holds same conviction on the currency as when he resisted its devaluation as military ruler in the 1980s. “I stood my grounds for the good of Nigeria”. After naira was devalued when Buhari was deposed in…

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Nigeria Revenue Drops to 5-Year Low as Tax, Oil Income Fall

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigeria’s revenue fell last month to the lowest level in more than five years as taxes and oil earnings dropped, making it more difficult for the government of Africa’s largest economy to pay public workers. The country’s federal, state and local governments were altogether allocated 300 billion naira ($1.5 billion) in March, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement e-mailed late Thursday from the capital, Abuja. To assist the…

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IMF Suspends Standby Credit Facility for Mozambique

IMF Suspends Standby Credit Facility for Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed the suspension of the second tranche of a loan to Mozambique of US$283 million from the Fund’s Standby Credit Facility (SCF). The suspension had been widely expected after the IMF announced last Friday that it was cancelling the mission which had been due to visit Mozambique this week because of the country’s “undisclosed loans”, which the IMF put at more than…

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