Africa

Mozambique, the financially-embattled African nation, said on Monday it will miss a $60 million (€56.6 million) payment on an Irish Stock Exchange-listed bond this week, the Irish Times reported. With the government grappling with a hit to commodities-based revenues in recent years and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) move in 2016 to cut aid, Mozambique said in October it will seek to restructure debt.

Debt-ridden Mozambique has no chance of meeting its year-end deadline for a restructuring deal, according to investors who are preparing to dig in their heels until the country comes clear on what it owes and to whom, Reuters reported. The southern African country, one of the world's poorest, has seen its currency and investor confidence collapse since April, when the International Monetary Fund halted a loan after uncovering previously undisclosed debts that had not been approved by parliament.

Investors are preparing to fight Mozambique's plan to restructure their $726 million of bonds a second time, threatening a stalemate that could delay the country's access to much-needed aid, Dow Jones Business News reported. Bondholders are forming a committee to prepare for a potential default and say they won't negotiate debt relief now because they mistrust the government's financial disclosures and want it to seek relief from other creditors first, according to people familiar with the matter.

Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister, has slashed the country’s growth forecast in half and warned that political turmoil threatens to derail an economic turnround as he battles to stave off a downgrade to junk status, the Financial Times reported. In a budget delivered days before he is due to appear in court on fraud charges, Mr Gordhan said South Africa was “at a crossroad, politically and economically” in defending and reforming public institutions.

Kenya Airways needs to extend debt repayments and make other changes to restructure its balance sheet, which would take priority over finding a strategic partner, the new chairman of the loss-making airline told Reuters. Shares in the carrier, 27 percent-owned by Air France KLM , have surged 68 percent this month on hopes of a turnaround after four straight years of losses. The appointment of veteran telecoms executive Michael Joseph as chairman has also lifted sentiment.

The Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Advisors (GARIA) has cautioned of alarming consequences on Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to Ghana, if efforts are not intensified to develop the country’s insolvency regime. GARIA argues that the current practice where businesses are compelled to shut down over huge debts, downgrades the country’s reputation in attracting investments. “It is important for Ghana to have a good regime so that in addition to all our democratic dividends, goodwill and political dividends, we will be able to attract FDIs to the country.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has extended the appointment of Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver of the bank for a further six months. The regulator says the move follows a request by KDIC for an extension as the 12 months’ receivership term nears end. KDIC was appointed to take over the management of the bank on October 13, 2015 due to unsafe and unsound practices. KDIC will maintain the management and control of the bank and advise CBK of a resolution strategy as soon as it is practicable and not later than six months from October 13, 2016.

South African Airways, the national carrier, probably incurred a loss for a fifth consecutive year in the past financial period, and would be insolvent without a government-backed guarantee, Bloomberg News reported. The state airline’s loss for the year ending March is estimated at 1.8 billion rand ($124 million), and follows a 4.7 billion loss a year earlier, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in parliament on Tuesday. Gordhan approved a further 4.7 billion rand going-concern guarantee last week that will allow the company to release delayed financial statements on Sept. 15.

South African Airways, the national carrier, probably incurred a loss for a fifth consecutive year in the past financial period, and would be insolvent without a government-backed guarantee, Bloomberg News reported. The state airline’s loss for the year ending March is estimated at 1.8 billion rand ($124 million), and follows a 4.7 billion loss a year earlier, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in parliament on Tuesday. Gordhan approved a further 4.7 billion rand going-concern guarantee last week that will allow the company to release delayed financial statements on Sept. 15.

Weeks after being rebuffed, Ghana has tapped the international bond market again in what will be an important test of a rally in emerging market debt fanned by investors’ scramble to escape the low-yield world of developed markets, the Financial Times reported. West Africa’s second-biggest economy will sell $750m at 9.25 per cent, according to a banker familiar with the sale, before US Federal Reserve officials meet on September 21, when there is a chance, albeit receding, that they will raise interest rates.