Finance

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo pledged that the government will maintain fiscal discipline following the completion of a four-year bailout program with the International Monetary Fund. West Africa’s second-biggest economy last week passed the final review of an almost $1 billion extended credit-facility program that it entered into in April 2015 when a currency crisis caused inflation to soar and debt to become unaffordable. During the course of the program, the fiscal deficit has…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Argentina is eyeing its first major new mining project in two decades, nudged forward by President Mauricio Macri’s market-oriented policies. But there’s no guarantee he’ll be around to take credit. Argentina’s economy is tanking with the central bank hiking interest rates to ease inflation and save the peso, the worst-performing currency in emerging markets. That could put Macri on shaky ground as he heads toward a presidential election in October where he could…

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia’s state-owned electricity provider has applied to the energy regulator for tariff increases that will see some prices more than triple as it seeks to return to profit. For commercial users, Zesco Ltd. has requested to raise charges to 1.85 kwacha per kilowatt-hour ($0.15) from 0.52 kwacha, it said in a statement on its website. For the biggest users, Zesco asked to increase tariffs to 0.36 kwacha per kilowatt-hour, from…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian business mogul Tony Elumelu plans to invest as much as $2.5 billion in power projects across Africa’s electricity-starved biggest oil producer. The chairman of United Bank for Africa Plc and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc will make the investments through a subsidiary, Transcorp Power Ltd., to help boost power supply in the West African nation, he said in a March 22 interview. He declined to give details on the time frame. Africa’s most populous…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tanzania plans to negotiate terms for developing a $30 billion liquefied natural gas project with companies between April and September, the Energy Ministry said. The talks are aimed at reaching a so-called Host Government Agreement, the pact that governs the rights and obligations of parties with respect to the development, construction and operation of the project. Equinor ASA, one of the companies involved, could sign the accord after the…

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd.’s South Sudan unit said it’s investing at least $30 million in revitalizing and expanding its operations as a new deal to end a five-year civil war brings relative peace to much of the country. Reviving transmission sites, upgrading to 3G and adding new coverage — they’re all planned by MTN South Sudan, one of the two remaining mobile-phone operators in the country. After a period…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – A no-deal Brexit has been averted on March 29, but the prospect of a chaotic U.K. withdrawal from the European Union is still looming. Uncertainties remain despite regulators saying there is almost no chance of a crisis in the financial system and that they’ve prevented the biggest potential problems. Here are the key vulnerabilities. Trading Venues The EU gave traders new reason to fret that markets could turn ugly….