While João Lourenço’s government continues to dominate the headlines - for highly visible corruption indictments against his predecessor José Eduardo dos Santos, his family, and associates - Vera Daves de Sousa, Angola’s young and resolutely optimistic Minister of Finance, is working hard behind the scenes to chart a more financially sustainable path for the country following years of economic distress. The way forward, she tells Bonds & Loans, is through an expansion of the private sector, more sustainable revenue generation, and crucially, finding a delicate balance between generating oil-related revenues and diversifying from a commodity that fundamentally underpins the entire country’s economy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has convulsed the global economy, unevenly weighing on some of the world’s largest emerging markets – not the least of which countries with a heavy dependence on oil revenues. For CFOs and Treasurers based in the GCC region, the pandemic was a crude awakening which quickly led to a liquidity squeeze that is only just starting to ease as a ‘new normal’ begins to set in. Bonds…
Jul 3, 2020
South Africa’s emergency budget tabled by Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni this week spelled out a number of “difficult decisions” for the country but made few, raising yet more credibility concerns around one of the region’s largest economies.
Jun 25, 2020
In an important stress-test, the global capital markets have responded and adapted quickly to the unprecedented shock caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has caused a dramatic shift in the way individuals and organisations in most nations live and work. These extreme conditions are only likely to accelerate the capital market ecosystem’s innovative efforts to streamline the securities…
Jun 18, 2020
Net fund flows into emerging market debt were flat for the week ending May 27, with investors continuing to favour hard currency debt over local assets.
Jun 2, 2020
