Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Increased use of technology to improve the efficiency of mature African businesses is expected to boost the number of high net worth individuals, as the second generation of family owned businesses takes over management from founders.  The first generation emerged following the oil boom and liberalization of economies, with most investing in heavy industries, trading and commercial farming, according to Faizal Bhana, the director for the Middle East, Africa…

Nigeria’s outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari said his successor will inherit a far more resilient economy thanks to investments in infrastructure and policies that have bolstered local production. Under his watch, the government has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen state funds, built new transport links and beaten back militant group Boko Haram, Buhari said in written responses to Bloomberg News questions. With Russia’s war on Ukraine disrupting global supply chains, the government’s support…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The UK’s controversial move to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to process them was challenged in a London court as part of a last-ditch attempt to block the first flight to the east African nation. Lawyers representing asylum seekers asked a judge to halt next week’s planned flight, in what is the first case to scrutinize UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s flagship immigration policy. The case has attracted days of…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – After Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt, Jack McIntyre, a portfolio manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management, started watching rice and grain prices more closely. For a swath of the markets he’s tracking, global food shortages are presenting governments with a stark choice — pay their debts or feed their people. Sri Lanka opted for the latter, falling into arrears on its foreign debt May 18 amid a lack of dollars to ease…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The American government’s efforts to help Africa address crippling electricity shortages will increasingly focus on bolstering the continent’s output of green energy and helping it attract the required investment, a top State Department official said.   “Energy policy that warms our planet cannot continue,” US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez told the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town on Tuesday. “We…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto lashed out at his boss in a public spat, showing how deep the discord in Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration has gone ahead of elections in August. Ruto, who’s running to succeed Kenyatta, posted a tweet about a longstanding impasse in the cabinet of East Africa’s largest economy. He tweeted in response to a suggestion that he’s been absent from duty, and has become overly critical…