Ivory Coast Airline to Resume Flights to Ebola-Affected Nations

Air Cote d’Ivoire will resume flights to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia later this month, making it easier for aid workers to travel to the countries worst hit by Ebola after most carriers scrapped their routes.

The airline partly owned by Air France-KLM (AF) will fly to Guinea from Oct. 20, spokeswoman Ruth Domagni said in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital. She said the carrier will offer services to Monrovia in Liberia and Freetown in Sierra Leone from Oct. 26.

Most regional and international carriers stopped serving the countries after an infected Liberian man flew to Nigeria and introduced the Ebola virus there in July.

The worst outbreak on record has killed about 4,500 people, with the vast majority of cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.

Shale Boom Helping American Consumers as Never Before

Oil traders might see the 27 percent slide in global prices as a bear market. For U.S. consumers, it’s more like an early holiday gift.

The drop in crude has pulled retail gasoline down more than 50 cents a gallon from the year’s high in April. That means annual savings of $500 for the average U.S. household, which consumes about 1,000 gallons of fuel a year, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration.

Gasoline’s slide represents the biggest benefit that U.S. consumers have seen to date from a record boom in domestic oil production, a surge that’s contributing to a global crude glut and helping reduce international prices. U.S. gasoline is being exported at record levels for this time of year.


The average retail price fell 1.9 cents to $3.144 a gallon, Heathrow, Florida-based motoring group AAA said on its website. That’s down from this year’s peak of $3.696 in April and the lowest since February 2011. Futures have decreased 84 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange over the same period, signaling there may be further declines at the pump.

Lagos to join oil producing states in 2015

Lagos State is set to join the league of oil producing states in the country come next year as the joint venture partners on the Aje Field offshore Lagos have taken the final investment decision on the exploration of the field.

A group led by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited took the FID to develop the first phase of the Aje shallow water oil field for $220m.

Reports say the aim of the first phase is to produce 10,000 barrels per day of oil from two target wells in the Oil Mining Lease 113 area. A re-entry of Aje-4 will form the first producer, while drilling of Aje-5 is expected to be the second.

The Aje field’s first stage is scheduled to be brought on stream at the end of 2015.

Transcorp to open hotel in Port Harcourt

Transcorp Hotels Plc, the hospitality subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc yesterday announced the signing of an agreement with Hilton Worldwide to develop a 250 guestroom Hilton Hotels & Resorts-branded property in Port Harcourt, River State.

A statement explained that the Transcorp Hilton Port Harcourt would be situated at Evo Road in the city and would be a full-service, upscale hotel featuring almost 1,400sqm of state-of-the art conference facilities and meeting rooms, alongside stylish and creative leisure facilities including six restaurants and bars, a gym, spa, pools, and tennis and squash courts, all targeting Nigeria’s burgeoning middle class.

The announcement comes on the heels of Trancorp Hotels’ initial public offer (IPO) to raise N8 billion to partly finance the development of the new hotel projects in Lagos and Port Harcourt. The offer closes on October 17, 2014.

NSE All Share Index down 0.76%, as FBN Holdings, Diamond Bank, Academy Press add weight

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed Friday on a negative note at the All Share Index declined by 0.76 per cent to close at 38,197.73 points from 38,490.67 on Thursday.

Similarly, the market capitalization declined to N12.613 trillion from N12.710 trillion on Thursday.

Only 13 stocks added weight on Friday, led by FBN Holdings with a gain of N0.80 or 7.27 per cent to close at N11.80 followed by Diamond Bank that gained N0.27 or 4.85 per cent to close at N5.84 while Academy Press gained N0.06 or 4.55 per cent to close at N1.38.

Altogether, a total of 362,564,273 shares valued at N3.864 billion exchanged hands in 4,846 deals.

Indonesia plans to boost trade with Nigeria

   

A senior official at the trade ministry said on Friday that Indonesia has planned to enhance trade with Nigeria, targeting bilateral trade volume at 5 billion U.S. dollars within the next three years.

Trade enhancement with Nigeria is based on the facts that both Indonesia and the African country have large populations and have continued to see high economic growth in the last few years.

The move was also part of the Indonesian government's plan to seek alternative markets for its exports following the economic downturns in Europe and the United States, two economies that have been major markets for Indonesian commodities.

Sectors that have been picked up to enhance trade with Nigeria are food and beverages, energy and related business and airplane maintenance to facilitate connectivity between the two countries, Nus said.

Indonesia exports oil, vegetable fats, paper products, pharmacy, soaps, electronics to Nigeria, while Nigeria exports oil, cotton and leather to Indonesia.

NSE, CBI set to launch the Corporate Governance Rating System

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in collaboration with the Convention for Business Integrity (CBI) is geared to launch the foremost Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) in Nigeria on Monday, November 3, 2014.

The CGRS launch event, will be attended by corporate sector participants joined by government and civil society delegates from across Nigeria and globally.

The discussions will provide unique insights on issues of leadership and corporate governance within the African context.

The event will also present the details on the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) framework which is designed to evaluate companies based on the quality of their corporate integrity; corporate compliance; understanding of fiduciary responsibilities by their directors and their corporate reputation.

FG projects N4.817 trillion budgets for 2015

 

The Federal Government of Nigeria has projected the sum of N4.817 trillion as budget for 2015 as against N4.724 trillion for 2014.

The proposal is contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) sent to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan for consideration and approval also projected N1.221.4 trillion as subsidy on petrol and kerosene.

A total of N971.4 billion is being proposed as subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known petrol while N250 billion would be spent as subsidy on kerosene.

The document also contained a projected sum of N4.817trillion as budget for 2015.

The Fiscal a Responsibility Act provides that the National Assembly must consider and approve the MTEF/FSP before the President presents the budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.

Nigeria, South Africa’s WesBank sign MOU on made-in-Nigeria vehicles

The National Automotive Council (NAC),  has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with WesBank of South Africa, to finance retail and corporate acquisition of made-in-Nigeria vehicles.

A statement by the Director General of NAC, Aminu Jalal,  said The MOU with  WesBank,  a subsidiary of FirstRand Bank Limited, was signed in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 16.

Jalal said that the aim of the MOU was to stimulate Nigerians interest in the acquisition of locally assembled vehicles.

He said the agreement would allow WesBank collaborate with NAC in the development of financing locally assembled vehicles and making them affordable for the average Nigerian.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WesBank, Mr Chris de Kock, commended Nigeria for the opportunity to invest in the emerging Nigerian automotive industry.

WesBank is South Africa’s market leader in vehicle and asset finance through successful partnerships with leading manufacturers, offering finance to consumers for both locally-manufactured and imported models.

It would be recalled that the NAC DG recently announced that the Council was packaging a vehicle financing scheme aimed at making Nigerian assembled vehicles affordable.

Nigeria's SEC investigating share price freeze on Access Bank

 

 Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it was investigating last month's price freeze on the shares of top tier lender Access Bank ahead of its planned 68 billion naira ($415 million) rights issue.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in September suspended the shares for a week after the bank applied to the bourse, arguing that information on its capital raising was not publicly available and that it wanted to avoid speculation in its shares.

The SEC, the main securities market regulator said in a statement it was aware of last month's price freeze on Access shares, but it had issued a directive five years ago that no listed company should have its share price frozen for reasons of fund raising.

The SEC said rival firms such as Diamond Bank and Unity Bank had their shares trading while they were raising funds.

Access Bank earlier this week said it had filed for regulatory approval to raise fresh capital after its shareholders backed the plan.

Meanwhile shares in the bank closed at 8.35 naira each on Thursday, more than 11 percent below the pre-suspension price.

Madagascar plans licensing round in 2015 once new petroleum law passed

A senior energy ministry official said on Friday that Madagascar plans to issue licenses for three on-shore and up to 50 off-shore exploration blocks next year once parliament approves a new petroleum law.

Madagascar, famed for its wildlife and eyed by foreign companies for its minerals and its hydrocarbon prospects, has struggled to court oil and mining giants since a coup in 2009, which also prompted international donors to cut off ties.

President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who took office in January after a peaceful vote in December, has pledged to woo foreign investors and alleviate poverty which deepened after the 2009 coup when the economy slumped.

Reuters report that the World Bank and other donors have since re-established ties and resumed aid flows.

Madagascar has a total 249 exploration blocks, of which 24 have so far been licensed to exploration companies.

Nigeria prices 3-year govt bond at 12.14 pct to attract investors

  

Nigeria priced its 3-year government bond at 12.14 percent at Wednesday's auction, up 102 basis points from the previous sale, to attract foreign investors unnerved by falling oil prices and a weakening Naira.

The Debt Management Office said on Friday that yields on its longer-term 10-year and 20-year government bonds were priced for sale at more than 30 basis points higher than at its last debt auction in September.

The foreign investors who are significant buyers of Nigerian debt were not rolling over bonds at maturity, analysts said. Instead, they were sending their money abroad to safe havens as interest rates in the United States begin to normalize.

Nigerian Navy Impounds 65,000 Litres Of Petroleum Products In Kogi  

 Nigeria NavyThe Nigerian Navy has impounded a 40meters length wooden boat carrying about 65,000 litres of petroleum products suspected to be diesel or crude oil from bunkerers on the River Niger.
The Commander, NNS Lugard, Commodore Shuwa Muhammed, told newsmen in Lokoja, that the boat was discovered at a mash area on River Niger around Lokoja by his command while on patrol from Baro, Niger State to Lokoja and Idah in Kogi State.

According to Shuwa, no arrest was made because as at the time of the discovery, the boat was abandoned by the bunkeres due to intensive patrol around the area by his men.

He, however, stated that the seized products would be handed over to the officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for test to determine the type of product while the boat would be destroyed with all the equipment.

Electricity consumers want N750 fixed charge scrapped

Some Electricity Consumers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday called for the scrapping of the monthly N750 fixed charge being charged by electricity distribution companies.

The consumers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that it would amount to exploitation if the companies continued to retain the charge when services were not delivered.

A businessman, Mr Chukwuemka Echem, who described the charge as mere exploitation of electricity consumers in the country, said it should be abolished.

He said that it was out of place for consumers to pay the monthly fixed charge after paying the monthly bill.

A Kuje Area Council resident, Mr Prince Aduche, told NAN that the regulatory body should stop the payment of fixed charge on electricity until power supply was stable in the country.

According to him, consumers should not be the ones to bear the operational cost of electricity distribution companies.

Nigeria’s Heritage is Acquiring Enterprise Bank for $340 Million

Nigerian Heritage Banking Co. is paying 56.1 billion naira ($340 million) to acquire nationalised lender Enterprise Bank Ltd.

Bloomberg reports that Kayode Lambo, a spokesman for Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, which is overseeing the sale of banks taken over by the state after the financial crisis, confirmed the price today.

Amcon on Sept. 2 named HBC Investment Services, a unit of Heritage Banking Co., as preferred bidder for Enterprise Bank, after 24 local and international bidders expressed interest in the lender.

The bad bank was set up in 2010 to buy non-performing loans and stabilize Nigeria’s banking industry after a debt crisis threatened it with collapse.

Lagos-based Amcon on Oct. 4 named Skye Bank Plc (SKYEBANK) the preferred buyer for Mainstreet Bank, the second of the nationalized lenders close to being sold. The third lender, Keystone Bank, will be sold later, it said.

Enterprise resumed operations in August 2011 “as a full-service commercial bank” operating 160 branches in the West African nation, according to Amcon. Heritage is a commercial lender operating in eleven locations, according to its website.

US oil giant ExxonMobil invests $40bn in Nigeria, Asian countries

The US oil major, ExxonMobil says it has spent about $40 billion in oil and investment in countries where it exploits oil and gas, including Nigeria in 2012.

Speaking on the company’s energy outlook in Lagos yesterday, the General Manager Deep Water Operations in Nigeria, Olatodun Isiaka, said that ExxonMobil’s, major discoveries were being made in countries in Asia and Africa and by 2040, about 60 percent of oil reserves based on 78 million barrels daily production (mbpd) would be largely untapped.

Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper report on Thursday said that Isiaka pointed out that the issue has put paid to speculation of possible dry up of oil wells in Nigeria.

However, the company said it intends to improve on the expenditure but would urge a bilateral trade harmonisation among nations to improve on oil trade.

According to him, new technologies are helping to uncover oil reserves in ultra deep horizons and Nigeria would be benefitting from this if the right environment were put in place.

Ghana trims 2014 GDP growth forecast after weak Q2 data

 

Ghana trimmed its economic growth forecast for this year to 6.9 percent after a slowdown in second-quarter growth, the country's statistical service said on Wednesday. The finance ministry had been forecasting full-year growth of 7.1 percent.

Ghana's Statistician General, Philomena Nyarko said unadjusted GDP growth decelerated to 5.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, sharply down from a revised 10.8 percent in the same period last year, government statistician .

Reuters reports that the government is holding talks with the International Monetary Fund on a possible financial assistance as it deals with escalating inflation, a currency that has fallen sharply this year and a budget deficit above 10 percent.

Ghana's economy grew by a revised 7.6 percent in 2013, the statistics service said. Excluding oil, the figure was 7.3 percent.

Naira sheds 0.24 pct as demand for dollars grows

The Nigerian naira fell 0.24 percent against the dollar on Wednesday as demand for the U.S. currency strengthened despite the sale of large amounts of dollar by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell.

The naira closed at 164.58 to the dollar, weaker than Tuesday’s close of 164.18.

Shell sold an undisclosed amount of dollars to some lenders, but dealers said high demand countered its effect. Hard currency is in demand in Nigeria on concern that lower oil prices will weaken the naira and widen the current account of Africa’s biggest economy.

The naira firmed against the U.S. currency on Monday, after state-owned oil company NNPC, the source of most of the dollar liquidity traded on the interbank market, sold dollars to lenders. But that has since dried up, dealers say.

Nigeria's Sterling Bank plans to raise up to $320 mln in fresh capital

Nigeria's Sterling Bank said on Thursday it would seek shareholder approval on November 11, to raise up to $200 million in debt or equity.

The mid-tier bank also said it would issue up to 19.8 billion naira ($120.3 mln) worth of shares to a strategic investor via a private placement at 2.65 naira each.

Nigeria Not to borrow from W/Bank, IMF to manage fiscal shocks

 

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala says the Federal Govetnnment will not borrow more from the World Bank and the IMF for managing fiscal shocks and vulnerabilities arising from declining crude oil price at the international market.

Speaking against the backdrop of threats posed on project implementation by declining crude oil prices at rap-up session for Nigeria at the just concluded annual meetings of the IMF/ World Bank in Washington DC, Okonjo-Iweala said that the government was considering a number of other options that did not include borrowing from the IMF and the World Bank.

According to local media reports, the minister’s response came against the backdrop of anxiety in some quarters that Nigeria’s rising external debt profile and declining revenues may cripple the business of governance.

The World Bank and the IMF have advised governments of developing and frontier economies to adopt contingency plans to manage downside effects of expected revenue shortfalls.

Gold rises on lower dollar, Fed rate hike uncertainty

 

Gold prices rose on Monday as the dollar fell on uncertainty about how soon the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and worries about the global economy reduced investor appetite for risk.

Spot gold rose to a near four-week high of $1,237.30 an ounce and was trading up 0.4 percent at $1,227.75 at 1353 GMT. It posted its biggest weekly gain in four months last week, up 2.7 percent. U.S. gold futures hit their highest since Sept. 17 at $1,238 an ounce earlier.

The metal has rebounded four percent from a 15-month low of $1,183.46 hit last week after strong U.S. jobs data fuelled talk that U.S. interest rates could rise sooner rather than later.

But dovish-leaning minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting prompted the market to push back the expected timing of an interest rate hike.

According to Reuters, Gold's gains were helped by a lower dollar after Fed officials warned at the weekend that if the global recovery stumbled, it could delay an increase in U.S. interest rates.  

Nigerian naira firms on NNPC dollar sales

 

The Nigerian naira firmed against the dollar on the interbank market on Monday, gaining 0.48 percent, after state-owned energy company NNPC sold an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency to lenders.

The naira closed at 163.85 to the dollar, compared with 164.65 at Friday's close.

The naira has been slipping since last month, weakened by falling global oil prices and low inflows of hard currency into Nigeria's debt and equity markets.

Traders said the NNPC's dollar sales brought a temporary relief to the market, but the naira is seen depreciating again, to the 164 to the dollar level, before Friday on persistent demand from mainly offshore investors selling down their bonds and equity holdings.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer. Oil prices have fallen by more than 20 percent since June, touching a four-year low on Monday below $88 a barrel, and oil analysts forecast further falls.

Ivory Coast tightens regulation of world's leading cocoa sector

 

Reports say Ivory Coast's government has introduced stricter regulation of its world-leading cocoa sector for the 2014/15 season as it reasserts its control following a decade of liberalisation.

The government abandoned a system of spot buying in the 2012/13 season, selling forward its anticipated crop in order to fix a guaranteed minimum price for farmers and encourage investment in ageing plantations.

The reforms, which also included stricter quality standards, have largely won the government praise for raising farmer incomes and improving the reputation of Ivorian cocoa. Some exporters were quick to criticise the new regulations, however, claiming they were overly restrictive and risked cutting into their profit margins.

Under the new measures contained in a memorandum sent to exporters and merchants by the Coffee and Cocoa Council last week, exporters are limited to 110,000 tonnes of bean purchases during the October-to-March main crop harvest.

Of that, 70,000 tonnes will be permitted for the period from October to December and 40,000 tonnes from January to March. No restriction was placed on the volumes exporters may purchase during the April-to-September mid-crop, which generally produces smaller beans typically used for semi-refined cocoa products.

Under Ivory Coast's system of forward sales, exporters bid at auction on the right to export specific volumes of beans during a fixed time frame.

Sudan inflation falls in September to 39.2 pct

 

Sudan's annual inflation rate fell slightly to 39.2 percent in September from 46.4 percent the previous month, the Central Statistics Office said on Monday.

Inflation also fell in August after months of steadily rising rates.

Reuters reported that prices have soared in Sudan since South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil output -- the main source of the foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound and pay for food and other imports.

The rising cost of living is causing social unrest. Austerity measures and government plans to cut fuel subsidies prompted protests last year in which dozens were killed and hundreds were injured.

Nigerian Breweries wins approval to merge with rival firm

 

Nigerian Breweries (NB) said on Monday it won regulatory approval to merge its operations with rival Consolidated Breweries, majority owned by its parent firm Heineken.

Heineken, the majority shareholder in Nigerian Breweries, acquired a controlling stake in Consolidated Breweries in 2005 and said it would seek approvals to merge both businesses to take advantage of Nigeria's growing market for beer and malt drinks.

Nigerian Beweries, a unit of the world's third biggest brewer, said it has won Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the merger and said it would now seek shareholders' vote on the deal.

Neither firm disclosed the value of the deal. Nigerian Breweries listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange will be the surviving entity after the merger.