African Markets – Factors to watch on May 29

The following are company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on
Monday.
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GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks edged up on Monday, taking cues from Wall Street shares hovering around record highs, while the pound
nursed losses after a poll showed a shrinking lead for Prime Minister Theresa May’s party in Britain’s upcoming elections.

WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices fell on Monday as a relentless rise in U.S. drilling undermined an OPEC-led push to tighten supply.

EMERGING MARKETS
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AFRICA STOCKS
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SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa’s rand rose half a percent against the dollar on Friday, a day after the Reserve Bank kept rates on hold and played down the prospects of cheaper borrowing costs, encouraging investors in search of yield to pour money in.

SOUTH AFRICA POLITICS
South Africa President Jacob Zuma defeated a no-confidence motion against him at a meeting of top officials of the ruling African National Congress party on Sunday, News24 reported on its website.

SOUTH AFRICA VODACOM
Vodafone’s popular mobile financial services M-Pesa will expand into more African countries, giving millions of people access to banking services without the need for a bank account, the chief executive of Safaricom said.

NIGERIA OIL
The long-awaited oil governance bill passed by Nigeria’s upper chamber of parliament proposes breaking up the state oil company into three commercial entities supported by a regulatory body and a fund to oversee the distribution of money.

CONGO POLITICS
Militiamen have a freed French national and three Congolese who were kidnapped in March during an attack on Banro Corp’s BAA.TO Namoya gold mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

UGANDA/TANZANIA OIL
Uganda and Tanzania signed a framework agreement on their proposed $3.55 billion crude export pipeline on Friday, a key milestone for the project, which is expected to start pumping Ugandan oil to international markets in three
years.

IVORY COAST POLITICS
When a rag-tag group of soldiers launched a mutiny in Ivory Coast earlier this month, it looked like they were doomed. A column of elite troops quickly descended to put the mutiny down. The rebels were running out of ammunition and the
armouries had been locked.

GUINEA ECONOMY
Guinea’s government has forecast gross domestic product growth of 6.7 percent this year, up from 3.8 percent in 2016 as the West African country recovers from an Ebola epidemic
that killed thousands and hurt the economy.

ANGOLA ECONOMY
Tax payments in Angola can now be paid in foreign currency under the amended general tax law approved by lawmakers in a move to cope with a foreign currency shortage that has led to a flourishing black market.

NIGER/LIBYA CONFLICT
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou called on the leaders of the Group of Seven nations to take urgent measures to end the Libyan crisis and derided them for not keeping to aid promises to fight poverty in West Africa’s poorest regions.