With Libyan leader Muammar al Qadhafi stepping up his anti-Western rhetoric, there are growing fears that what Mark Mobius recently called ‘the ideal frontier market’ is turning its back on the reformist experiment it has been pursuing for the last few years. Mark Schaltuper speaks to Liz Martins, Head of Middle East and North Africa [Read more...]

 

 Standard Podcast [14:51m]
Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

My colleagues at Business Monitor International tell me that oil production will be a defining feature of the Ghanaian growth story over the medium-to-long term. In fact, they forecast that over the coming years, growth will be in the double digits and the deficits on the current account and fiscal account will be wiped out. [Read more...]

With the improvement in financial market conditions seen over the last few months, a number of African countries are reviving or devising plans to launch US dollar denominated bonds – or Eurobonds. While the majority of the volume will come from the larger, better established economies like Nigeria, Kenya and Angola, smaller players are also [Read more...]

BMI’s Africa team cautions that political risk in Sub-Saharan Africa may be on the rise as a full-blown leadership crisis continues to escalate in Nigeria. Alan Cameron and Lisa Lewin provide some insight into an increasingly tense political situation, sharing their views on potential outcomes from the ongoing crisis. The next couple of weeks and [Read more...]

 

 Standard Podcast [09:40m]
Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Republic of Congo’s unrated US$ 2029 sovereign bond is now trading at an all-time high, reflecting the strength of global risk sentiment in general, and the appetite for African fixed income instruments in particular. While I don’t see any fundamental reason for the instrument to continue rising, I do think its recovery bodes well [Read more...]

The Zimbabwean Industrial Index could be one to watch over the next few months after returning about 50% in 2009. If we look at a chart of the performance last year, it is quite plain to see that the index was a bit of slave to politics. Each time there was a positive development the [Read more...]

The Ghana All-Share Index was the worst-performing stock market in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2009, but I believe that it could reverse its fortunes and be among the top performers in 2010. Having experienced a dramatic 48.0% fall in the first half of 2009, the market has found support around 5,200, and now appears to be [Read more...]