Africa

China, Africa’s largest bilateral creditor, is likely to agree to delay but not forgive its $152 billion of loans, an approach at odds with prior forbearance plans from groups including the Paris Club, according to a top Johns Hopkins University researcher, Bloomberg News reported. “The Chinese have always done their lending on the idea that individual projects contribute to structural transformation and economic development,” said Deborah Brautigam, who heads the China Africa Research Initiative at JHU’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Months of concern over rising Covid-19 infection levels may be secondary for investors in coming days as market-moving events and policy decisions take center stage, Bloomberg News reported. China’s annual National People’s Congress starting Friday will likely keep volatility suppressed for developing-nation currencies, despite the prospect of another flareup in tensions between Beijing and Washington.

South African Airways (SAA) has spent just under 10 billion rand ($540 million) since it entered a form of bankruptcy protection, business rescue practitioners said on Friday as they flagged a structured wind-down process as their preferred option for the carrier, Reuters reported. The troubled state-owned airline, which has not made a profit since 2011 has been burning cash and is dependent on government bailouts to remain solvent. It entered business rescue in December in a last-ditch bid to save the company. “In terms of the amount of money that has been utilized...

Creditors of the biggest lender to South African farmers picked Rand Merchant Bank as financial adviser after it missed a loan repayment that triggered a cross-default in notes issued under a 50 billion-rand ($2.7-billion) bond program, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The Johannesburg-based investment bank has been entrusted with the task of drawing up cash-flow projections for the Land and Agricultural Development Bank, the people said, asking not to be identified as an announcement hasn’t been made.

Uganda would prefer debt cancellation to help rebuild its economy after the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, rather than rescheduling of payments, Bloomberg News reported. The government of Africa’s second-biggest coffee grower is considering offers from various creditors, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said by phone Thursday and declined to identify the lenders. “There is an argument with creditors,” Kasaija said, without elaborating. “Most of those who have written” to the ministry suggest the nation reschedule payments, he said from the capital, Kampala.

Administrators at state-owned South African Airways (SAA) will not sell assets for an interim period without involving the government, a memorandum signed by one of the administrators and the public enterprises ministry showed, Reuters reported. The memorandum, which was seen by Reuters, also said the administrators and the ministry had agreed that the objective of SAA’s bankruptcy protection process was to have a restructured SAA or a new company with no reliance on public finances. A public enterprises ministry spokesman confirmed the memorandum was an authentic document.

Kenyan banks are expected to hoard cash as they report a jump in first-quarter loan-loss provisions to cope with the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Kenyan institutions got a cash boost when the central bank lowered reserve requirements to free up funds for lending, while interest rates have been cut to a nine-year low. Banks have now started restructuring debt for customers hard hit by a drop in business activity because of lockdown-measures aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19.

Zambia’s request for emergency coronavirus funding from the International Monetary Fund may be scuppered because of the southern African nation’s growing debt burden, Bloomberg News reported. The Washington-based lender last year cautioned that the nation’s borrowing was on an unsustainable path. And now, even as the fund makes as much as $100 billion available to member countries, the IMF warned it won’t lend money to governments if it’s not sure it will be repaid.

South Africa’s fastest horses may not be racing, but a branch of the country’s richest family is pumping money into the industry so that when punters are allowed to return to the track, there will be horses to bet on, Bloomberg News reported. Phumelela Gaming & Leisure Ltd., the nation’s biggest horseracing company, will be receiving a 100 million-rand ($5.5 million) lifeline from Mary Oppenheimer Daughters Pty Ltd. after the racetrack owner filed for a local form of bankruptcy protection.

African finance ministers started talks with private creditors to find a way to temporarily suspend debt payments without triggering defaults, Bloomberg News reported. At least a dozen African finance ministers spoke during the hour-and-half virtual meeting with more than 100 creditors on Monday, according to a representative of private creditors who attended the gathering.