Features

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged his Nigerian counterpart to sign a continent-wide free-trade deal. Nigeria should take its time to consult on the agreement before signing up, but shouldn’t “take too long,” Ramaphosa said at a conference Wednesday in the West African nation’s capital, Abuja. “The continent is waiting for Nigeria and South Africa. By trading among ourselves, we are able to retain more resources in the continent.” Talks to establish…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African Airways pledged to urgently begin a search for a private-sector partner to help turn around the troubled state-owned carrier and ease the burden on an already stretched National Treasury. The assurance followed an attempt by the Solidarity union to end SAA’s reliance on state funding and push the airline into business rescue. The carrier hasn’t made a profit since 2011 and last year needed a bailout to avoid…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The natural gas industry is on a mission to prove it can keep up with the green energy industry, whose price reductions are starting to become a competitive threat to fossil fuels. Gas and oil producers have slashed overheads by a third since 2014 and are finding deeper reductions harder to come by, according to energy consultants Wood Mackenzie. That’s spurring them to rewrite supply contracts, build mobile liquefied natural gas terminals and…