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PARIS — French carmaker PSA announced on Monday the acquisition of General Motors' (GM) European subsidiary, which includes the Opel and Vauxhall brands, for 1.3 billion euros ($1.38 billion).

The move will let PSA regain its position as Europe's second-largest automobile manufacturer, after Germany's Volkswagen, overtaking its rival French firm Renault.

PSA said in a statement it was also buying GM Europe's financial operations for 900 million euros in a joint deal with the bank BNP Paribas, taking the total value of the deal to 2.2 billion euros.

The takeover includes six assembly plants and five component-making facilities, and about 40,000 employees.

Plans for the takeover of the Opel division by PSA, which owns the Peugeot and Citroen brands, were unveiled in the middle of February, sparking fears in Germany and Britain that the prospective new owner could cut non-French jobs. 

The French carmaker's shares rose 2.7 per cent on the Paris stock exchange on Monday to 19.58 euros. Shares in GM were down around 2.1 per cent to $37.43 in midday trading in New York.

PSA chief executive, Carlos Tavares, said the company was "deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround".

"We are confident that the Opel/Vauxhall turnaround will significantly accelerate with our support, while respecting the commitments made by GM to the Opel/Vauxhall employees," Tavares said.

Vauxhall employs around 5,000 people in Britain. Opel operates across six European countries, and had 35,600 employees at the end of 2015, of which 18,250 were in Germany.

Founded in 1862, Opel, with its lightning-bolt emblem, is a familiar sight on European roads, but in recent years the company has booked repeated losses, costing Detroit-based GM around $15 billion since 2000.

Britain, where it sells vehicles under the Vauxhall brand, is Opel's largest European market.

A sharp fall in the pound since Britain's vote to quit the EU last June sank Opel's hopes of getting back into profitability in 2016, and it ended up reporting a loss of $257 million.

'Difficult decision' 

Britain's Unite trade union said the productivity of the UK plants and the strength of the Vauxhall brand meant that it "makes sense" for PSA to continue manufacturing there.

Unite boss Len McCluskey also called on the British government to end the uncertainty surrounding trade relations with the EU after Brexit.

"We need every assistance from the government to give this sector a fighting chance," he said.

"That absolutely includes committing now to securing access to the single market and customs union."

PSA said the deal would enable substantial economies of scale and savings in purchasing, manufacturing and research, and the company aims to return Opel-Vauxhall to profit in the next three years.

GM's Chairman and Chief Executive Mary Barra said at a press conference on Monday that the sale had been "a difficult decision for General Motors... but the right one".

In a statement confirming the sale, Barra hailed the move as "another major step" in the company's efforts to improve its performance.

"We believe this new chapter puts Opel and Vauxhall in an even stronger position for the long term and we look forward to our participation in the future success and strong value-creation potential of PSA through our economic interest and continued collaboration on current and exciting new projects," Barra said.

PSA said that all of Opel-Vauxhall's pensions would remain with GM, apart from a German pension pot and some smaller plans which will be transferred to the French manufacturer. GM is to pay PSA 3 billion euros for settlement of these obligations.

GM said that the sale would force it to account for deferred tax assets and pension losses and that it would make a one-time charge of up to $4.5 billion.

AMMAN — The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) on Sunday launched its accounts on social media networks Facebook and Twitter under the name "Amman Stock Exchange" or "ASE".

The initiative has come as social media is playing an important role in strengthening communication channels with investors, securities’ dealers and those interested in Jordan Capital Market, according to the ASE website.

The social media platforms will enhance accessibility of information and increase speed of access to information for the public, the ASE added.

BEIJING — China on Sunday trimmed its 2017 GDP growth target to "around 6.5 per cent" as the world's second-largest economy, already expanding at the slowest pace in a quarter-century, faces an array of challenges.

The target, detailed in a report to be presented to China's rubber-stamp parliament by Premier Li Keqiang beginning at 9:00am (01:00 GMT), was lower than last year's range of 6.5 to 7 per cent. 

The economy ended up growing 6.7 per cent in 2016, its slowest rate since 1990.

"GDP is projected to grow by 6.5 per cent approximately, however in practice, we will strive for better," according to a copy of Li's planned address to the National People's Congress (NPC), the Communist Party-controlled legislature. 

Li's remarks said the target was still sufficient to meet the Communist Party's target of doubling the size of the economy by 2020, compared to 2010.

The NPC brings together thousands of politicians from across China, touted by the ruling party as proof that it answers to the people despite a monopoly on power, and is used to outline top national priorities and policies.

The target came in slightly below the expectations of analysts in a sign that authorities are prioritising risk control over short-term
growth rates. 

China is trying to pivot from hyper-fast growth based on investment and exports towards a steadier consumer-driven model.

But the transition is complicated by slowing growth, a slumping currency, massive capital flight by Chinese enterprises seeking better returns abroad and fears of a housing bubble and bad-loan crisis.

The government report also set an inflation target of "around 3 per cent" for the year. 

ABU DHABI — International healthcare operator Mediclinic is lobbying Abu Dhabi government to rethink a change in medical insurance rules that has damaged its business after it bet big on acquiring Al Noor Hospitals, its regional CEO told Reuters.

At least two other healthcare companies operating in Abu Dhabi are also in talks with authorities, seeking a reversal or amendment to the reform that reduces state insurance coverage for citizens using private hospitals, according to two industry sources who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. 

Abu Dhabi has cut insurance coverage under its Thiqa plan to 80 per cent from 100 per cent, meaning patients have to pay 20 per cent of bills if they seek treatment at private hospitals. 

The rule, which does not apply to government hospitals, was introduced last July — at the worst possible time for Mediclinic as it had just bought Abu Dhabi private hospital group Al Noor for about $1.7 billion.

The London and Johannesburg-listed company's experience illustrates the business risks in the Gulf's oil-exporting countries, as low crude prices dampen economies and strain state finances.

The firm has begun lobbying the state Health Authority of Abu Dhabi over the Thiqa change, David Hadley, chief executive of Mediclinic Middle East, told Reuters in an interview. 

"Other providers have done the same," said Hadley, adding that the reform had channelled patients to government hospitals.

"We don't have a problem with the policy on co-payments as long as it applies to the entire industry." 

One of the industry sources said that although authorities did not want to be seen as giving in to pressure in any way, the policy might be adjusted again around the end of this year — partly because reduced Thiqa coverage had led to higher costs at state hospitals, hitting the government's budget. 

The Health Authority of Abu Dhabi did not respond to requests for comment about the private sector's discontent with the Thiqa change or whether it planned to scrap the reform or extend it to all hospitals.

It has previously said that the rule change would contribute to its efforts to increase efficiency, standardise operations and increase the sector's financial viability for the benefit of patients and the healthcare system as a whole. 

‘Multitude of headwinds’

By many measures, the Gulf is an attractive destination for foreign healthcare providers; incomes are high and growing populations are burdened with some of the world's highest levels of lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes. 

Encouraged by such trends, Mediclinic, which has 73 hospitals and 43 clinics across South Africa, Namibia, Switzerland and the UAE, bought Al Noor last year. But since the Thiqa change, Al Noor's in-patient volumes have dropped 38 per cent and out-patient volumes by 43 per cent, Hadley said. 

To compound Mediclinic's problems, at around the same time as the reform, competition intensified in Abu Dhabi with three new players entering the sector, while thousands of expatriates and their families left because of job losses in a slowing economy. Also, 147 doctors out of 600 left Al Noor, many to join new hospitals in the area, and new doctors had to be hired. 

"We were hit by a multitude of headwinds. I think it was the timing — we couldn't have predicted. It is going to be a challenging year," said Hadley. 

Mediclinic's London-listed shares have dropped 8 per cent since the company issued a profit warning for its Middle East business last week. 

While timing played its part, other factors might also have contributed to the company's struggles in the region, however.

"In the long-term it will probably be clear that Mediclinic overpaid for the Al Noor acquisition," said Neil Brown, analyst at Electus, a South Africa-based fund manager. 

"However, at these Mediclinic share price levels of 120 rand, which are now around 40 per cent lower than mid-2016 when the above-mentioned rules changed in Abu Dhabi, we believe that Mediclinic is attractively priced for longer-term investors." 

'Need for a correction'

Mediclinic has not diversified across the region as broadly as some rivals to share out its risk.

Its stock performance stands in stark contrast to rival NMC Health, which has seen its shares rise almost 13 per cent year-to-date, according to Thomson Reuters data. 

NMC, one of the oldest healthcare players in Abu Dhabi, has operations in seven emirates of the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, while Mediclinic has operations in just Abu Dhabi and Dubai. 

Also, some rival companies say they disagree that the Thiqa change is negative for the private sector. 

"It is a measure to manage over-utilisation and over-diagnosis. When coverage is free, no one cares," said Prasanth Manghat, deputy CEO of NMC Health.

Shamsheer Vayalil, managing director of VPS Healthcare, said: "Unnecessary medical visits have stopped since the new policy took effect. There was a need for a correction." 

Mediclinic aims to complete the Al Noor integration and rebranding by the end of this year. A total of 432 jobs at Al Noor were cut in 2016 with another 511 to go in the next few months, said Hadley. Of the planned lay-offs, 183 jobs relate to the closure of small facilities and clinics, including one in Oman which was uneconomic, he said. 

BARCELONA — Phones rugged enough to survive falling from the sky or resistant to foaming hand soap — just some of the special features mobile phonemakers are offering to appeal to niche markets.

“The smartphone market is so enormous that even having a phone that is targeting a niche can still sell hundreds of thousands, if not millions of units over its life,” said Ian Fogg, head of mobile research firm IHS.

“1.5 billion smartphones will ship in 2017. Even a company that is targeting a fraction of a per cent can still have a product with very significant volumes.”

Several “niche phones” were on display at the four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which wraps up Thursday seeking to attract markets ranging from adventure sport enthusiasts to busy mothers.

Bullitt Group, a small British firm, showcased its extremely rugged phones that carry the branding of US construction giant Caterpillar which can withstand heat up to 120 degrees Celsius and temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The devices are also waterproof and come with a thermal imaging camera.

Bullitt sells over a million Caterpillar phones a year. They are popular with ski instructors, builders and others with rugged jobs or who like outdoor activities.

The phones have an ardent fan base. Videos posted on YouTube by satisfied customers show the devices surviving falls into fresh cement, falling down a flight of stairs or being run over by a car.

“We have even had one of our phones fall out of someone’s backpack when they were parachuting and land and work afterwards. It got banged up on the way down but it was still working,” said Bullitt’s chief executive Peter Stephens.

Bullitt plans to launch a Land Rover-branded phone later this year that targets adventurers. 

The company is reluctant to reveal details but Stephens said it will “have elements that appeal to someone who is away from energy sources for a very long time”.

Help for seniors 

Bullitt released a Kodak smartphone in December that features a retro design and a high-powered camera and software with exceptional tools to edit images.

“We have got a huge list of niches that you could enter,” said Stephens.

Swedish telecoms firm Doro began focusing on creating easy-to-use phones for the elderly a decade ago and is now the market leader in Europe in this segment.

The devices feature large icons, easy menus and loud, clear sound, as well as an alarm button that can be used to alert relatives in case its user needs help.

The company also makes it possible to manage its smartphone’s settings through a web service so more tech-savvy friends or family can help users add contacts or adjust the device’s volume from miles away.

“We realised that there was a segment in the market that nobody was really focusing on and that has a real need. Seniors feel lost, they feel abandoned,” said Doro’s marketing manager Caroline Kristensson Helin.

Smartphones with extra strong security measures to prevent hacking were also on display that target financial sector employees.

Reaching customers 

Japan’s Kyocera launched a new smartphone last month that is resistant to foaming hand soap and includes an app that allows users to scroll through recipes using just hand gestures.

The features are convenient “for people like busy mothers”, said the company’s general manager for strategic business planning, Takashi Nohara. 

However, reaching customers who may be interested in a niche phone can be a challenge, said David Eberle, the vice president of French firm Crosscall which makes phones geared for outdoor activities.

“Most users do not know that something else exists in the market,” he said.

The company sells its phones in sporting goods stores.

“The real challenge for these small brands, these small niche products, is finding what volumes do they need to be profitable,” said Fogg.

LONDON — Iraq’s Kurdistan has agreed on new deals to borrow $3 billion from trading houses and Russian state oil firm Rosneft that will be guaranteed by future oil sales to strengthen its fiscal position as the semi-autonomous region fights the Daesh terror group. 

Kurdistan’s Natural Sources Minister Ashti Hawrami told Reuters the new deals had been concluded in recent weeks. The region also negotiated grace periods between 3 and 5 years for repaying the debt.

Trading houses have been pre-financing Kurdish oil exports for the past two years after the government in Erbil decided to start independent oil exports via Turkey’s Mediterranean terminals. Rosneft said last week it would join them. 

Kurdistan says it needs to export oil independently as Baghdad has not paid Erbil its budget share just as the region needs money to fight Daesh and host Syrian refugees.

Baghdad has said it would sue buyers of Kurdish oil, arguing that the central government was the only legal exporter. The new Baghdad government has softened its stance, however, as it cooperated with Erbil against Daesh in Mosul.

“This helps our economic independence although it is important to understand that this cannot be achieved just by oil revenues and higher oil prices. We also need to press on with our economic reforms,” Hawrami said in an interview in London.

“We have learnt a lot from the oil price shock, the costs of fighting Daesh, and the burden of some 1.8 million refugees coming to our territory... Reform is a must - we have a lot of debts to deal with.” 

He declined to name the trading houses but market sources have previously identified Vitol, Petraco, Glencore and Trafigura as buyers of Kurdish barrels. Last week, Glencore confirmed it had concluded deals for Kurdish oil. The other trading houses do not comment on their dealings with Kurdistan and Rosneft did not give any details on the size of the deal. 

Hawrami said the deals would serve as a hedge against an oil price slide for several years. Previous deals with trading houses have usually lasted 6-12 months.

“It is also positive for the traders as they don’t have to renegotiate their contracts every six months,” said Hawrami.

“It strengthens our fiscal situation. It means we can pay more regularly to the international oil companies working in Kurdistan and we can invest some money in expanding our oil infrastructure,” he said.

Kurdistan’s finances suffered badly during the oil price slump of 2015-2016 and it has accumulated several months of arrears to producers such as Genel, DNO and Gulf Keystone due to tight revenues and supply glitches.

“This year we want to avoid repeating this. I’m confident we will do better. We know the producers’ needs and plans. We are prioritising not to fall behind again,” Hawrami said.

Ground breaking deal 

Hawrami said the arrival of Rosneft in addition to trading houses to the marketing of Kurdish barrels was good news for the region as it gave Erbil its first big end-user and opened up new markets - Rosneft has refineries in Germany and India.

“We hope Rosneft’s deal will become a ground breaker for other majors,” he said adding Rosneft was also looking at exploration blocks in Kurdistan.

He also said relations with Baghdad were improving.

“We didn’t hear any negative comments from them after the deal with Rosneft. They know we are selling our oil. And actually if we help each other rather than hindering progress, we can both achieve better prices as buyers will not be able to seek unreasonable discounts.”

He also said the fact that Erbil was now selling some barrels for Baghdad from the northern Kirkuk field was evidence of improving relations.

“In reality, Baghdad has given us some share of oil to export. So we have an arrangement that we both honour. We have real cooperation and we hope to build on that,” he said.

Infrastructure expansion

Kurdistan’s existing pipelines can handle just over 650,000 barrels per day of exports and more investments are needed to bring that capacity to 1 million bpd, including upgrading of pumping stations, said Hawrami.

He said pipeline capacity should be expanded by the year-end but production would not start rising until next year.

“We have to be mindful about supply and demand. You tell me what the oil price is going to be and I will tell you when we could reach 1 million bpd of output. Investments have dried up in the last two years because of the oil price crash and attacks by Daesh,” he said.

Kurdistan is planning to offer some 20 blocks of land for exploration to investors. The region took some blocks back from investors after discovering they did little exploration, said Hawrami without naming the companies.

Some operators relinquished blocks as they were disappointed with what they found, including US oil giant Exxon Mobil which has given back three blocks out of six over the past year. 

Hawrami said he did not see this as a setback.

“Exxon has concluded that they will continue working on 3 blocks while on another three the potential reserves were simply not big enough for them. Those blocks could suit other firms. We are now looking to farm them out,” he said.

AMMAN — Representatives of 46 Jordanian food companies are participating in Gulfood 2017 that is currently held in Dubai, Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) President Nael Kabariti said in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Tuesday.

Kabariti, who is heading the delegation, said the participation is an opportunity to foster economic cooperation between Jordan and the UAE, and between Jordan and the participating countries.

He urged the industrial and commercial sector to join efforts in promoting Jordanian products at the regional and international levels, besides working to acquaint Arab businesspeople with investment opportunities in the Kingdom.

The annual food & beverage exhibition, Gulfood, is a business to business trade exhibition that is managed and hosted by the Dubai World Trade Centre, according to its website. 

By Maram Mazen

CAIRO — Egypt is pursuing a raft of reforms to try to revive an economy weakened by years of turmoil, but analysts say that wooing foreign investors will take time.

Since the 2011 uprising, the Arab world’s most populous nation has suffered a slump in key tourism revenues, slowing economic growth and investment, double-digit inflation and falling foreign currency reserves.

In November, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $12 billion loan for Egypt after the government committed to reforms, including floating the Egyptian pound, which subsequently plunged against the US dollar.

The authorities also pledged a new investment law with tax incentives, a “one-stop-shop” to simplify investment procedures and a new bankruptcy law.

“Egypt’s economic recovery will come with a lag, until the government follows through on reform policies with a successful implementation,” said Hany Farahat, a senior economist at the Egyptian investment bank CI Capital.

The authorities have also introduced a value-added tax and cut fuel subsidies, moves the IMF said were required to fix government finances and boost investor confidence.

“Everyone is expecting 2017 to be a difficult year,” said Walid Allam, the chief financial officer in Egypt for Swiss elevator manufacturer Schindler.

“But we expect that starting in 2018 there will be a bit of a revival,” he told AFP. “We are talking about a state, not a company that would take a decision and profit from it after a week or two.”

Foreign direct investment in Egypt has fallen from a peak of $13.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in June 2008, to $6.8 billion in the year ending in June 2016.

The tourism sector in particular is reeling from years of upheaval and a series of terrorist attacks, including the 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers home from the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

Even before the tumultuous 2011 uprising that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s economy was suffering from decades of structural problems and delayed reforms, said Ahmed Abdelnaby, a strategist at Mubasher Financial Services.

Investors will need time to see the government’s commitment to reforms if the business climate is overhauled, he said.

One of the challenges for Egypt is to diversify its sources of foreign currency, said political economist Amr Adly, non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

This is particularly important as the main sources now — workers’ remittances, crude oil exports, the Suez Canal and tourism — “proved to be very volatile and cannot be depended on”, said Adly.

A key part of the government’s efforts should be directed to improving the business climate and reducing bureaucracy for small and medium enterprises and not just foreign investors, he said.

This would help boost local industries, including agriculture and manufacturing, he said.

Potential investors are keen to see additional structural reforms before committing to long-term investments, said Esraa Ahmed, an economist with Mubasher.

She thinks that more than half of the problems facing investors still need to be resolved.

“Investors have always suffered obstacles in procedures, corruption, and bureaucracy. Reforming these issues will take some time,” she added.

The former chairman of the General Authority for Investment, Ziad Bahaa-Eldin, said that fixing “genuine barriers” to investment would have a bigger impact than a new investment law.

These include “the state’s unclear economic and social vision, its competition with the private sector in all fields, the spread of corruption, and clogged, slow courts, as well as security and political conditions,” he wrote in an article for the Ahram Online news website.

Despite the remaining challenges, there are signs that investors are responding positively to the reforms.

In January, Egypt sold $4 billion of dollar-denominated bonds on international markets, almost double its initial target.

“Every time I attend a discussion one can sense that officials are aware of everything they should be doing,” said an official at a multinational company.

ABIDJAN — Fallout from army mutinies, public sector strikes and a cocoa crisis is threatening to derail Ivory Coast’s public finances and turn startling economic growth into a cycle of hardship and social unrest.

Two months into 2017, the government is already facing unforeseen spending that could total roughly half-a-billion dollars, according to a Reuters calculation, just as it is supposed to be exercising budget discipline under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

How President Alassane Ouattara weathers the instability will reveal whether the much-praised recovery from civil war in Francophone West Africa’s biggest economy can last.

“We’ve all been applauding the country’s economic management in recent years, but it’s mostly been fair skies,” said Alain Feler, the IMF country representative in Ivory Coast. “The current shocks... will require its economic policymakers to demonstrate their ability to navigate through turbulence.”

After coming to power following a decade of political crisis capped by the 2011 war, Ouattara steered the economy to average annual growth of nearly 9 per cent from 2012 to 2015. It was Africa’s fastest growing economy last year.

During the boom Ivory Coast has attracted foreign funding for everything from breweries and shopping malls to construction and power production, and borrowed from international investors through Eurobonds and sukuk Islamic financing.

The IMF’s official projection for growth this year remains at 8 per cent, but the rosy outlook took a major hit last month.

First came the mutinies, when former rebel fighters now serving in the army rose up at bases across the country demanding the payment of bonuses they said they were owed for ousting ex-president Laurent Gbagbo in 2011.

Ivorian authorities have not released details but mutiny leaders say a deal to end the uprising included payments of more than 100 billion CFA francs ($160 million), or about 0.5 per cent of annual gross domestic product (GDP), spread over 8 months.

Ouattara also promised negotiations to persuade teachers and public sector employees to suspend a three-week strike that has turned violent at times. The workers were demanding over $400 million in back wages and a rolling back of pension reforms that would cut benefits and raise their contributions.

“With social unrest, if you want to stay in power you promise everything,” said the regional head of an international bank. “The risk is they enter this vicious circle of social crisis to fiscal crisis to economic crisis.”

‘A huge, huge mess’

Just as the government is facing these unexpected costs, a main pillar of its economy — cocoa exports — is crumbling.

Ivory Coast is the world’s top grower of cocoa but many exporters have defaulted on contracts to buy beans via state marketing board auctions. Those who speculated that world prices would continue rising walked away from the contracts to avoid heavy losses when the market fell.

This has paralysed an industry that typically accounts for a quarter of total exports and around 15 per cent of state revenues, creating a glut.

“It’s a huge, huge mess. And what will be the cumulative damage? Who knows?” an official with one cocoa exporter said.

Ivory Coast sells forward the bulk of its crop, but last Wednesday, the agriculture minister acknowledged that it has been forced to resell cocoa from the defaulted contracts and also auction excess production — 350,000 tonnes of beans in total.

The government is obliged to subsidise the sales to maintain prices for farmers. Without further details from the cocoa marketing board it is impossible to calculate the precise cost to the government. However, an analyst with an international investment bank put it at between $274 million and $313 million.

That would effectively wipe out up to 43 per cent of the government’s anticipated tax revenues from cocoa exports.

Agriculture Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly said the costs would be covered by a reserve fund for the sector, but exporters are sceptical that sufficient money is there.

With buyers scarce, a large part of this season’s bumper crop has been left to rot. The impact on those who depend on the cocoa sector — over 6 million people, or a quarter of the population — is growing.

“We’re in debt. We have nothing. I have a worker I employ and I can no longer pay him this year,” cocoa farmer Ali Bamba, 54, said as he walked home from his plantation near the western town of Soubre, a machete in hand.

“How am I supposed to get by now? We see now that the government is abandoning us,” he told Reuters.

Ouattara is facing hard choices. Under the IMF deal, the government has agreed to reduce the budget deficit from 3.8 per cent of GDP in 2016 to 3.7 per cent this year, in return for $659 million in loans.

This year’s target equates to somewhere in the region of $1.4 billion, so an extra half billion in unbudgeted expenditure could have serious consequences at a time when international investors and bondholders are watching for any signs of slippage.

Any cuts to services to curb the deficit risks antagonising ordinary Ivoirians, many of whom have seen few of the benefits of the economic revival and bristle at the government’s regular touting of its near double-digit growth.

On the other hand, the possibility of higher taxes already worries businesses. One director at an Abidjan-based firm told Reuters his company has already faced more than two dozen tax reviews over the past three years, and he fears it will now only get worse.

“Is that going to encourage investors to come?” said the regional bank official. “That creates an economic crisis.”

Even the option of increasing borrowing appears difficult, as liquidity among local banks dries up.

Ivory Coast was forced to call off a five-year, 50 billion CFA franc bond issue this month after demand reached less than a quarter of that amount. Its latest 3-month treasury bill was also undersubscribed.

So far the government has said little about the scale of the problems it faces.

The ministries of budget and finance did not respond to Reuters requests for interviews.

Investors complain that any information they manage to get on the state of the government’s finances is months old.

“There’s more uncertainty in Ivory Coast, just with recent data let alone with current politics, than there is with other countries from Nigeria to Kenya to Ghana,” said Charles Robertson, global chief economist for Renaissance Capital.

Ivory Coast’s leadership at least has a strong reputation among investors to draw on. Ouattara is an economist and former IMF deputy managing director. Vice-president Daniel Kablan Duncan has served as finance minister and as an official with the West African regional central bank. Budget Minister Abdourahmane Cisse used to work for Goldman Sachs.

If, with their combined expertise, they can correct the course, the country could yet solidify its reputation as Africa’s rising star.

“[Ivory Coast] could even come out of this difficult situation stronger,” the IMF’s Feler said.

MUMBAI — Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel will buy the local operations of Norway's Telenor, it said on Thursday, as the ultra-competitive mobile market is shaken up by the country's richest man.

Tycoon Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance Jio's 4G network in September with an audacious free service for the rest of 2016, followed by vastly cheaper data plans and free voice calls for life.

The move forced rivals to slash their tariffs and scramble to match the deep pockets of Jio, which is backed by Ambani's vast energy-to-chemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries, and picked up 100 million subscribers in its first six months

Bharti's acquisition is the latest movement towards consolidation in India's telecoms sector as major players try to position themselves to best face the tough new environment.

The move, which still needs to be approved by regulators, will enhance its coverage, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, and see Telenor exit India.

"The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India's assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel's overall base and network," the Indian firm said in the statement.

Last month British mobile phone behemoth Vodafone announced that it was in talks to merge its Indian unit with Mumbai-based Idea Cellular in its own move to counter Jio's rise.

That deal would create India's largest telecoms company. Global brokerage firm CLSA estimated that the pair would command a combined 43 per cent share of market revenue, ahead of Airtel, which is currently the market leader, on 33 per cent.

Reliance Communications — owned by Ambani's brother Anil Ambani — and Tata Teleservices, part of the sprawling salt-to-steel Tata conglomerate, are also reportedly in talks to join forces.

Reliance merged with telecom operator Aircel in September last year. 

Bharti Airtel's shares surged more than 5 per cent in Mumbai morning trade following the Telenor deal announcement.

"The decision to exit India has not been taken lightly," Sigve Brekke, Telenor Group CEO, said in the statement.

"After thorough consideration, it is our view that the significant investments needed to secure Telenor India's future business on a standalone basis will not give an acceptable level of return," he added.

Telecoms analyst Baburajan Kizhakedath said Telenor was quitting India because the intense competition meant there was no scope for growth.

"The Airtel-Telenor deal is probably the best exit route for Telenor," he told AFP.