Features

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he’ll seek a third term in next year’s presidential election if “certain people from his own generation” decide to run.   “I want my generation to understand our time is up, and we should all step aside. But if they decide to run, I’ll run too,” Ouattara told a rally in the northern city of Katiola Saturday. The world’s top cocoa producer is…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – North Korea appears to have fired off two missiles on Thursday in a move that comes as it has threatened to break off sputtering nuclear talks unless President Donald Trump offers up concessions by year-end. Two unidentified projectiles were fired at 4:59 p.m. local time from North Korea’s east coast into waters between it and Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that it was monitoring…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Donald Trump signed legislation expressing U.S. support for Hong Kong protesters, prompting China to threaten retaliation just as the two nations get close to signing a phase one trade deal. China summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad, with Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng telling him to stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs. He warned that such actions would strain ties and risk affecting “cooperation in important areas,” according to a foreign…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party is on track to win its biggest majority in more than three decades, according to the most hotly anticipated poll of the general election campaign. The Tories will win a majority of 68 seats in the Dec. 12 election, according to a YouGov poll which used a technique that more closely predicted the 2017 election than standard surveys. Such a majority would allow Johnson to deliver on…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa, a continent blighted by the world’s highest maternal mortality rate and scant legal protection for women, beats all other regions globally in the proportion of females on company boards. In Africa, one in four board members is female. That’s better than second-placed Europe at 23% and well ahead of global laggard Latin America at 7%, according to a report on gender parity released by the McKinsey Global Institute…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya should reintroduce the position of the prime minister and name the runner up in presidential contests the leader of the opposition, a panel recommended in a bid to end violent disputes that have marred past ballots. The proposed establishment of the posts is part of a raft of suggestions by the so-called Building Bridges Initiative, which was established by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga and…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lawmakers said that a proposed supplementary budget could increase public debt to 6.7 trillion shillings ($65.4 billion) by the end of 2019-20, saddling the economy with more liabilities. The National Treasury asked parliament two weeks ago to approve almost 3% extra spending for the fiscal year through June 2020 after revenue collection came in below target. It also wants more funding for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s priority development projects…