Nigeria's central bank raised its main lending rate for the fourth straight time to 16.50% from 15.50% on Tuesday as policymakers seek to rein in inflation slowing economic growth ahead of elections next year, Reuters reported. Inflation and the state of Africa's biggest economy will be major issues when voters choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who will step down after the February polls. Nigeria continues to face inflationary headwinds, which analysts expect will be worsened by the impact of floods on food prices and from a weakening exchange rate.
Read more
Africa
Resources Per Country
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo
- Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Kenya
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
S&P Global Ratings expects South Africa’s government to fulfill its commitments to investors in Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. as it finalizes a plan to tackle the state-owned utility’s massive debt burden, Bloomberg News reported. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said last month the government may shift between one-third and two-thirds of the power company’s debt of about 400 billion rand ($23.2 billion) onto its own balance sheet and attach strict conditions to the relief. Details, including the quantum and terms, of the transfer are expected to be announced in February’s budget.
Read more
South African cinema group Ster-Kinekor has exited a local form of bankruptcy protection called "business rescue" after nearly two years, its administrator said on Friday, Reuters reported. Ster-Kinekor was placed under administration in January 2021, citing losses and financial distress due to COVID-19 and related restrictions forcing closures and prohibiting large gatherings in public spaces. Meanwhile studios either postponed blockbusters or released them directly on home streaming platforms, denting box office earnings.
A group of Ghana’s foreign bondholders has hired advisers ahead of prospective debt talks with the government over a bailout the country hopes to get from the International Monetary Fund, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ Pro reported. Holders of some of Ghana’s $14 billion in foreign-currency bonds have hired Rothschild & Co. as a financial adviser and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as legal counsel.
More than 50 of the poorest developing countries are in danger of defaulting on their debt and becoming effectively bankrupt unless the rich world offers urgent assistance, the head of the UN Development Programme has warned, The Guardian reported. Inflation, the energy crisis and rising interest rates are creating conditions where an increasing number of countries are in danger of default, with potentially disastrous impacts on their people, according to Achim Steiner, the UN’s global development chief.
Kenya Airways PLC's pilots union will give its final decision later tonight on whether to begin a strike on Saturday after the government urged them to it call off, the transport minister said on Friday, Reuters reported. The walkout, which is due to start at 6.00 am local time, will affect thousands of business and leisure travelers at one of the most important aviation hubs in the continent.
Fifty-one local firms have filed for bankruptcy, according to a public notice released by the Rwanda Development Board in October, Taarifa reported. Majority of these companies are from Gasabo, Kicukiro, Nyarugenge and Musanze districts. As per the notice, any person or institution can deliver a notice of objection to the Registrar General at RDB to halt the closure in a period of 20 days.
Read more
Tongaat Hulett Ltd., the 130-year-old South African sugar maker, is being placed in administration after failing to recover from an accounting scandal that exposed a mountain of debt, Bloomberg News reported. The decision was taken after creditors rejected a restructuring plan that would have given the company leeway on some of its outstanding loans and access to 1.5 billion rand ($84 million) needed to keep operations going. Tongaat had repaid about half of the 12 billion rand of debt that emanated from the scandal that erupted in 2019.
Read more
Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane urged other African nations considering using the Group of 20’s Common Framework mechanism to restructure unaffordable debt to act quickly, Bloomberg News reported. Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter has been using the template to rework external liabilities totaling $12.8 billion. In recent weeks, Nigeria and Ghana have announced they’re considering revamping their liabilities. Rising interest rates and a surging dollar may push more nations into default as they struggle to pay for imports from fuel to food.
Read more
Ghana's finance ministry has formed a five-member committee with the Bank of Ghana to lead discussions with the financial services industry concerning an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, it said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The goal of the committee is to "ensure orderliness and confidence in the government's ongoing negotiations with the IMF," the statement said. A similar engagement will be undertaken with external bondholders, it added.
Read more