Finance

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya said it’s almost reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a new standby loan facility after a meeting this week in the East Africa nation’s capital, Nairobi. A similar facility, where the IMF availed $1.5 billion for Kenya to draw from in the event of balance of payment shocks, but didn’t, lapsed in September. The insurance-type facility will serve to reassure buyers of Kenyan debt such as…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump said he’s open to extending a March 1 deadline to raise tariffs on Chinese products if the two sides are near an agreement, sending a conciliatory signal amid talks to resolve the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. “If we’re close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it’s going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria expects $3 billion in investment funding from citizens living mainly in the U.S. to support the agriculture, power, mining and transportation sectors, a senior presidential adviser said. The government will support “a diaspora investment fund,” Abike Dabiri-Erewa, President Muhammadu Buhari’s adviser on diaspora affairs, said in an interview in Abuja, the capital. “They’re planning a $3 billion investment in Nigeria. The fund will be driven by Nigerians in America.”…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The European Investment Bank plans to double its funding for infrastructure development in Kenya this year if government bureaucracy in approving projects eases. The Luxembourg-based lender targets to disburse 200 million euros ($227 million) of loans, half of which will be available for the Kenya Ports Authority to refurbish berths at East Africa’s busiest sea-port in Mombasa county, Catherine Collin, the bank’s East Africa representative, said Thursday in an…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt is finalizing details of a new type of oil and gas contract to attract even more foreign investment than the $10 billion already coming into its energy industry this year. The contract will provide investors with incentives to explore for fossil fuels in undeveloped areas, Egypt’s oil minister Tarek El-Molla said in an interview. He didn’t provide details of the changes to the contract. “We’re improving the cost-recovery process to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe should adopt South Africa’s rand as its currency, one of a series of fundamental reforms needed to restore economic stability in the country, former Finance Minister Tendai Biti said. His call is an endorsement of government efforts to link Zimbabwe’s economy to neighbouring South Africa’s currency as it grapples with a foreign-exchange shortage that’s spawned the fastest price increases since hyperinflation a decade ago. Zimbabwe abolished its own currency in…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s first deep-water discovery, reported Thursday by French oil major Total SA, may prompt a rush of activity offshore by competitors as the country works to cut its reliance on imported fuels. The Brulpadda find, estimated at about 1 billion barrels by Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne, could be enough to supply South Africa’s refineries for almost four years. That’s a boon for a country that has always been short of…