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2.25%
Angola’s economic growth prospects are on the rise as higher oil prices and sounder policies under President Joao Lourenco bring greater stability to Africa’s second biggest crude exporter, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. Angola’s economy is expected to expand by 2.25 percent this year from 1 percent in 2017 and growth should reach 5 percent in the medium-term, Ricardo Velloso, IMF division chief for Africa, told reporters in Luanda.
N13m
The revelation by a Nigerian senator that lawmakers in the upper house of parliament receive about $37,500 each month for personal expenses is stirring anger in the west African country, where most people live on less than $2 a day. “We must stop our lawmakers being the ones to determine how they are paid,” said development economist Odilim Enwegbara.
1.7bn euros
Ivory Coast sold 1.7 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of bonds Thursday in the biggest issuance in the common currency from an African government.
The amortizing deal was equally split between a tranche maturing in 2030 and paying 5.25 percent, and another due in 2048 with a yield of 6.625%. Price guidance was around 5.375 percent for the shorter securities, which have an average life of 11 years, and 6.75 percent for the longer ones, which have a 29-year average maturity. That’s the largest amount of euro debt issued by an African sovereign since at least the start of this century, when Bloomberg began compiling the data. It was also the second-biggest transaction in the currency from emerging markets this year, after Romania’s 2 billion euro-deal on Feb. 1. Investors placed 4.2 billion euros of orders, said the person.
100MW
Botswana is exporting power for the first time in 10 years, a far cry from the days when Africa’s biggest miner of diamonds was forced to import as much as 75 percent of its needs. State-owned Botswana Power Corp. started “limited” sales to the Southern African Power Pool’s auction platform, where regional utilities buy and sell electricity, Chief Executive Officer Stefan Schwarzfischer said. Sales have been made possible by improved power availability at the flagship 600MW Morupule B plant, which is now producing 450 megawatts and is expected to reach full capacity next month. Exports will rise to a targeted 100 megawatts once the 120MW Morupule A plant is put back online in July.
14-year high
US consumer sentiment unexpectedly jumped to a more than 14-year high in March, with Americans cheered by the tigher labour market, rising home prices and tax reforms. The University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers preliminary results for the month came in at 102, compared to February’s reading of 99.7. The advance confounded analysts’ expectations for a slight dip to 99.3, and is the strongest reading since January 2004.
