Finance | - Part 128

World’s Biggest Mobile Carriers Defeated as Africa Promise Fades

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Back when African countries were auctioning off mobile licenses by the boatload to serve the region’s young, tech-savvy population, investing in the continent’s fast-growing economies seemed like a no-brainer. Some of the world’s biggest wireless carriers rushed in. Now they’re wondering if they made a mistake. Increasing government and regulatory scrutiny, as well as a lack of expansion opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa, are making it harder for operators such…

Sudan Says U.S. Backs Its WTO Bid as Sanctions Decision Due

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KHARTOUM (Capital Markets in Africa) – The U.S. is backing Sudan’s bid to join the World Trade Organization, a Sudanese official said, days before Washington is due to decide whether to permanently lift some sanctions imposed on the African country two decades ago. “Our team is very much satisfied with the support of the U.S. for Sudan going into the WTO,” Sudanese State Investment Minister Osama Faisal Elsayed Ali said in an interview. The North African…

Kenya Reviews Mining Laws as Industry Struggles to Grow

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya is reviewing its mining code, a year after enacting new legislation, as it seeks to attract investment into an industry that’s barely grown over the past five years. The government is working with the U.K. Department for International Development-funded Extractives Hub to come up with a revised law that balances investor returns with government-revenue needs and international best practice, Mines Secretary Dan Kazungu said. The review is expected to be…

Nigeria Taps Microsoft to Oracle to Recover From Recession

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is hiring U.S. technology giants such as Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corp. as the government invests more to save costs and fight corruption. An initiative led by Redwood, California-based Oracle has enabled Nigerian authorities to remove 50,000 so-called ghost workers, or fake entries, from the payroll, according to a presidency statement June 29. That followed Oracle’s decision to open an office in Abuja, the capital, in May. Other companies interested in taking…

Credit Suisse Disputes Fees Shown in Kroll Mozambique Audit

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Credit Suisse Group AG, which helped arrange the majority of the $2 billion in Mozambique state-backed loans that plunged the country’s economy into crisis, disputed that it received more than $160 million in fees for arranging the financing. The bank was responding to Kroll LLC’s audit report into the loans that said it and Russia’s VTB Bank PJSC were paid almost $200 million in arrangement and contractor fees. The investigation showed that Mozambican…

Burkina Faso Gets Solar Plant After Energy Policy Change

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OUAGADOUGOU (Capital Markets in Africa) – Burkina Faso signed an agreement to build a solar plant in the first such deal after the West African nation adopted legislation that authorizes private investment in the energy sector. Windiga Energy Inc. of Canada will install 85,000 photovoltaic panels to generate about 20 megawatts in the north-western outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou, the country’s energy minister, Alfa Omar Dissa, told reporters after the signing ceremony on Tuesday. The project…

Dangote Cement May Shut Ethiopian Plant Over Mining Disputes

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Dangote Cement Plc, controlled by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, said it may shut its operations in Ethiopia if authorities in the central state of Oromia don’t reverse an order to cement makers to hand over control of some parts of their businesses to local young people. Oromia state’s East Shewa Zone administration wants the Nigerian company to outsource its pumice, sand and clay mines to youth groups or…

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