Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria is considering ways to cushion the impact of fuel-subsidy cuts as it weighs the possibility that the reform may stoke popular discontent, an adviser to the nation’s president said. While those policies are being formulated, the state is continuing interventions that it says cost an estimated 744 billion naira ($1.8 billion) a year from 2006 to 2019 to maintain lower gasoline prices. That’s equivalent to about 10% of…

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Angola can expect interest from Gemcorp Capital LLP, a firm already invested in the nation’s energy sector when it offers a potential 30% stake in oil company Sonangol EP. Under President Joao Lourenco, one of Africa’s biggest oil-producing nations has implemented reforms in recent years to draw investment and mitigate a decline in output. The process is at an early stage, but Sonangol has estimated the value of the stake…

LODDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Boris Johnson led Britain out of the European Union on a wave of public anger with high levels of immigration. Now he says he’s open to the idea of an amnesty for migrants who move to the U.K. illegally. “When people have been here for a very long time and haven’t fallen foul of the law, then it makes sense to try to regularize their status,” Johnson told a…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Eni SpA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and several of their current and former executives were acquitted of corruption charges related to a Nigerian oil deal by a court in Milan. The verdict ends a three-year legal saga that loomed large over the tenure of Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi, who was among those found not guilty on Wednesday. Italian prosecutors had sought an eight-year jail term for him. Several…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) — Tanzania’s response to the coronavirus will be one of the key issues facing the successor to deceased President John Magufuli, whose unorthodox response to the disease ilicited international consternation. Under Tanzania’s constitution, 61-year-old Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan is set to take over from Magufuli and serve out his term, which was due to end in 2025. Magufuli, who died on Wednesday, dominated policymaking in the southeast…