Category: Africa
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South African regulator reviewing volatile share trading
A South African market regulator said on Friday it was reviewing volatile share trading sparked by market speculation that a research group would release a negative report on a listed firm. The regulator confirmed in an emailed response to questions it was reviewing unusual activity in shares of Aspen Pharmacare, which plunged 10 percent on…
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Tanzania’s central bank revokes licences of five banks
Tanzania’s central bank on Thursday revoked the licenses of five “critically undercapitalised” community banks to protect financial stability in East Africa’s No. 3 economy. There are about 40 commercial banks and a dozen community banks, which target savings from specific communities or sectors such as farming, but the financial sector is largely dominated by just…
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Zambia shuts three of Shoprite’s Hungry Lion restaurants
Zambia has shut three of South African retailer Shoprite’s Hungry Lion fast-food restaurants after their food tested positive for the bacterium that causes cholera, a government minister said on Thursday. Zambia is struggling to contain an outbreak of the disease, which has killed 51 people and made more than 2,000 others sick in the capital…
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Angola’s central bank’s new currency plan could see kwanza devaluing by 30% – economist
It was Angola’s depleting foreign reserves that prompted the central bank to pursue a more flexible exchange rate strategy, the regulator said. The comment came a day after plans were unveiled to restructure foreign debt and allow looser trading of the kwanza. The central bank said on Wednesday it would shift from a currency peg…
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Gas supply to Nigeria’s Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System restored
Nigeria has fully restored the supply of gas on a pipeline affected by a fire last week, a spokesman for the state oil company said on Monday. Gas supply to several power stations was cut off because of the fire on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System near Okada in the southern state of Edo on Wednesday…
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East Africa: Chase Bank sale frees billions for companies
Companies that have deposits running into billions of shillings locked in the troubled Chase Bank are set for a major cash boost with the sale of the lender releasing up to 75 per cent of their money. Betting firm SportPesa, investment company Centum , State-owned Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA),…
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Kenya: Exotix says cement stocks overpriced
Kenyan cement stocks remain overpriced in comparison to African peers, with projected lower earnings for the 2017 financial year expected to put downside pressure on the stocks this year. A new cement sector report by UK-based investment bank Exotix partners says local producers are facing cost-side pressure on higher clinker cost due to rising coal…
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New Zimbabwe government seeks to sell stakes in state-owned companies
Zimbabwe has invited bids to buy stakes in up to eight loss-making state-owned enterprises, including its national airline and power utility, to help plug a ballooning budget deficit, its deputy finance minister said on Wednesday. “We are diluting our shareholding in those entities and our shareholding might go to zero percent in some entities,” Terence…
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Nigerian power grid shut down by gas pipeline fire -ministry
Nigeria’s electricity grid has been shut down by a fire on a gas pipeline, the ministry of power said in a statement on Wednesday. Gas supply to several power stations was cut off because of the fire on the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada in the southern state of Edo, the ministry said. “The…
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Tanzania increases fuel prices due to rising crude costs
Tanzania’s energy regulator raised the maximum price for petrol, diesel and kerosene on Wednesday, citing rising international crude oil prices. Fuel prices have a big influence on the inflation rate in the East African country. In the 12 months through November inflation eased to 4.4 percent, from 5.1 percent the previous month, but the fuel…