Largest Africa Economies Need More Growth to Cut Joblessness

Largest Africa Economies Need More Growth to Cut Joblessness

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A surge in agriculture has helped lift Africa’s biggest economies out of their slumps, but the recovery may be weak. Gross domestic product in Nigeria, the continent’s largest crude producer, advanced for the first time in six quarters in the three months ended June from a year earlier, growing 0.55 percent, the statistics agency said. In South Africa, GDP expanded 2.5 percent from the previous quarter, ending the second recession in almost…

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Nigeria’s Economy Expands to End the Worst Slump in 25 Years

Nigeria’s Economy Expands to End the Worst Slump in 25 Years

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economy expanded in the second quarter, ending its worst slump in 25 years as agricultural and oil output increased. Gross domestic product of Africa’s largest crude producer grew 0.55 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier compared with a revised 0.9 percent contraction in the first quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report Tuesday. The median of 10 economists’…

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Worst May Be Over as Biggest Africa Economies End Growth Rut

Worst May Be Over as Biggest Africa Economies End Growth Rut

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The worst may be over for Africa’s two largest economies as they likely emerged from a slump in the second quarter. Official data on Tuesday will probably show South Africa’s economy expanded in the three months through June, ending its second recession in less than a decade. Nigeria’s gross domestic product probably grew from a year earlier, and came out of its worst slump in a quarter of a century. South Africa…

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Nigeria Immigration Service bans cash payment at passport offices

Nigeria Immigration Service bans cash payment at passport offices

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), on Monday, 28 August 2017, announced the ban of cash payment for processing of Nigerian passports in all passport offices across the country. The ban is part of the efforts by NIS to eliminate perceived corruption associated with processing of Nigerian passports. This directive was made following an investigative report revealing that immigration officials engage ‘agents’ also known as touts to request for more…

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Nigeria Says Chinese to Build $5.8 Billion Hydropower Plant

Nigeria Says Chinese to Build $5.8 Billion Hydropower Plant

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria said China Civil Engineering Corp. will build a $5.8 billion hydro-power station in the country’s eastern Mambila region with a capacity to generate 3,050 megawatts. China’s Export-Import Bank will provide 85 percent of the funding for the project, which is scheduled to be completed in six years, Power, Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola told reporters on Wednesday in the capital, Abuja. Nigeria will contribute the remaining funds. “The scope…

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Nigerian Naira Is Overvalued by 20% vs USD Says Bank of America

Nigerian Naira Is Overvalued by 20% vs USD Says Bank of America

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – “A 20% depreciation in the NAFEX/NGN spot exchange rate is still needed to reach fair value, despite last year’s partial devaluation and the recent moves in key FX windows,” Bank of America analysts Yusuf Rukayat and Gabriele Foa say in a note to clients. They recommend avoiding naira debt, even with 1-year T-bills yielding 22% and FX-hedged trades yielding 12%. “While NGN carry is similar to EGP, we find…

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Nigeria bond auction raises 56 bln naira, less than half of amount on offer

Nigeria bond auction raises 56 bln naira, less than half of amount on offer

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria raised 56.05 billion naira ($179 million) in a bond auction on Wednesday, less than half the amount on offer as domestic pension funds and insurance firms cut orders due to low yields, traders said on Thursday. The Debt Management Office (DMO) offered 135 billion naira worth of bonds maturing in 2021, 2027 and 2037, but investors shunned the auction to take positions in the relative liquid secondary market….

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