Crypto News: Next Africa: Missing in action

Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here. In today’s edition, we look at:

The effect on markets of the absence of Cameroon’s president
Ugandan lawmakers’ approval of the deployment of troops to Gaza
The wider use of vaccines and drugs to curb the Ebola outbreak

Missing in Action

Bond investors in Cameroon, home to the world’s oldest president, are on edge.

The latest source of their unease is the absence of President Paul Biya, 93, who hasn’t been seen in public for more than two months. His last known sighting in Cameroon was at the airport in the capital of Yaoundé on June 7, when he left the oil-producing nation for Geneva.

In African politics, the prolonged absence of a head of state is sufficient grounds to fuel speculation that something is amiss. Cameroon is no exception.

Debt investors now want clarity.

The cost of hanging onto Cameroonian debt is turning riskier by the day and losses are also stacking up for fixed-income investors. Yields on the nation’s bonds have jumped to the highest since April, while losses of almost 2% since mid-June are the worst among African sovereigns.

Even Cameroon’s oil-producer status hasn’t been enough to calm those who have looked more favorably at crude producers given the war in the Middle East that has driven up energy prices.

In fact, the under-performance relative to other African crude producers including Gabon, Republic of Congo, Angola and Nigeria stands out. In these countries, higher oil prices have helped tighten spreads.

Cameroon is “the sole exception” bucking the trend, says James Kuate, founder and managing partner at Qantara Asset Management, an asset manager focused on Africa.

“The president’s prolonged absence is rekindling succession uncertainties.”

Markets are known world over to frown at uncertainty and time may now be running out for Cameroon before investors hand their own verdict. — Ray Ndlovu

Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya at a rally in Maroua, Cameroon.

We’re bringing the “Where to Invest” series to Kenya this month. If you would like to attend the event on Aug. 18 in Nairobi, please reach out to gbell16@bloomberg.net.

What Everyone’s Reading

Ugandan lawmakers approved the deployment of troops to Gaza to participate in a multinational force that will seek to maintain security in the war-torn Palestinian territory. The country joins Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Indonesia and Albania in pledging soldiers for the proposed International Stabilization Force in Gaza, which has struggled to attract troop commitments.

Israeli troops deploy at the border fence with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel in September.

Guinea picked Glencore as offtaker to buy bauxite produced by state-owned Nimba Mining as the West African nation looks to manage more closely export flows of the aluminum feedstock.

Libya’s National Oil Corp.’s plans to raise output to 2 million barrels a day by early next decade are on track after a US-brokered unified budget cleared the path for an investment push. The spending plan gives the NOC a “lifeline” of more than $2 billion as an operating budget after it received nothing in 2025, the state energy company’s chairman, Masoud Suleman, says in an interview.

Next Africa

Turmoil At A $220B Pension Giant

In this week’s podcast, Jennifer Zabasajja is joined by South Africa Bureau Chief Alexander Parker, who explains how one of Africa’s most influential money-management firms became mired in repeated governance crises.

Zimbabwe’s dollar-denominated stock exchange plans to increase its market value by 25% over the next year as it rolls out new products, including a venture board to help junior mining and exploration companies raise capital. The VFEX, established during a currency crisis in 2020, eclipsed the 132-year-old Harare-based bourse by market value in March after tycoon Strive Masiyiwa transferred telecoms firm Econet InfraCo to the platform.

Merck’s Ebola vaccine and an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences are set for wider use in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to blunt the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Africa CDC and Congolese officials plan to expand access to both products across two provinces as the epidemic outpaces conventional control measures. Almost 4,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,800 deaths have been reported in the past 12 weeks.

A hygiene specialist decontaminates a doctor at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Center in Bunia, Congo, on July 13.

Next Africa Quiz — Climate change is poised to expose more people in cooler parts of Africa to which disease-bearing insect by the end of the century? Send your answers to gbell16@bloomberg.net.

What’s Coming Up

Aug. 10: July inflation for Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania
Aug. 11: Kenya interest-rate decision, South Africa second-quarter unemployment & June manufacturing
Aug. 12: Mauritius, Namibia interest-rate decisions
Aug. 13: Uganda interest-rate decision, Namibia inflation for July, South Africa mining production for June
Aug. 14: Botswana inflation for July, Bloomberg economic surveys for Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda & Zambia

Last Word

Tewolde Gebremariam’s track record of steering the Ethiopian Airlines Group past a fatal plane crash in 2019 and posting profit even during Covid-19 clinched him Air India’s top job, sources say. His success in his 11-year tenure as CEO to recast the carrier into Africa’s largest and most profitable and make Addis Ababa a regional aviation hub also distinguished him as a candidate. The Asian airline harbors similar ambitions for the New Delhi airport.