Features | - Part 238

Informal Sector on Tax Radar as East Africa Boosts Spending

NAIROBI, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa: Governments in East Africa will levy more tax on their informal sectors as they seek to accelerate growth through increased spending, while economies slow in other parts of the continent. Kenya will reintroduce a new tool to collect revenue from hard-to-tax parts of the economy, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich announced in his budget speech on Wednesday. His counterpart in Uganda also set out plans to improve compliance in the informal sector….

Investment | Glencore Sells Agri Stake to Canadian Fund for $625 Million

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South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Glencore Plc agreed to sell just-under a 10 percent stake in its agriculture unit to Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corp. for $624.9 million in cash as it continues to cut debt. The commodities trader and miner, which sold a 40 percent stake in the business to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $2.5 billion in April, will retain a majority 50.01 percent stake, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The agreement takes the value…

Mozambique Commits to Repay Debt Used in Public Interest

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MAPUTO, Mozambique, Capital Markets in Africa: Mozambique vowed to honour what it said were illegal debt contracts to state-owned companies even as it aims to only repay loans that have benefited the public interest. Yields on the nation’s Eurobonds fell for the first time in four days. Prime Minister Carlos do Rosario, acknowledging that it seemed “attractive” to default on some payments, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the “good image of the country among international creditors”…

Zimbabwe’s Black Market, Where the Dollar Trades Against Itself

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HARARE, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa: In Zimbabwe — the country that once suffered 500 billion percent inflation — one dollar may now cost you as much as $1.07. A shortage of banknotes is resulting in a new black market more than seven years after Zimbabwe abolished its own money, the Zimbabwean dollar, and adopted the greenback and other foreign currencies to avoid exactly that sort of unofficial trading. The cash crunch has intensified in…

Hydra-Headed Violence Haunts Nigeria as Economy Weakens

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Just as Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to be gaining the upper hand against the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, more rebellions have exploded across Africa’s most populous nation while the government grapples with the worst economic crisis in decades. They range from renewed attacks in the southern oil-rich Niger River delta that have cut monthly oil shipments to the lowest in about three decades to attempts to revive the secessionist state…

Ghana in Talks to Consolidate $1.2 Billion Energy Utility Debt

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ACCRA, Ghana, Capital Markets in Africa: Ghana is in talks with domestic and foreign banks to consolidate its energy sector utilities’ $1.2 billion debts, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said. The state won’t be responsible for the debt, which will be accounted for by the energy companies, Terkper said in an interview in the capital, Accra. Ghana’s Chief Director at the Petroleum Ministry, Thomas Akabzaa, said Tuesday the country will sell $2 billion of bonds to clear $1.5 billion in debt…

Zimbabwe Threatens to Scrap Bank Licenses Over Export Rules

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HARARE, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa: Zimbabwe’s central bank threatened to cancel the licenses of banks and foreign-currency dealers found to have violated new exchange-control regulations aimed at easing a dollar shortage. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last week sent a directive changing the way banks and other authorized foreign-currency dealers are required to handle export earnings, adding measures aimed at encouraging companies to export their products through an incentive payment, according to a copy of the circular obtained…

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