Nigerian navy boosts camera surveillance against pirates

 Nigeria's navy has installed eight automated, camera-equipped surveillance towers in the waters just off its coast, in an effort to tackle a surge in pirate attacks and crude oil theft that have blighted Africa's top energy producer this year.
   Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba told journalists late on Thursday that the equipment, most of it from Japan's Furuno and costing roughly $12 million in total, had high-frequency radio and long-range cameras able to spot ships up to 48 km (30 miles) away.
   Pirate attacks off Nigeria have jumped by a third this year as ships passing through West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, a major commodities route, have come under threat from gangs seeking to snatch cargoes or hold crews for ransom.
   Oil theft in the Niger Delta has also seen a relentless rise, although analysts say this has only been possible because of collusion by the security forces.
   The data the towers collect is beamed to a central naval intelligence room and then checked against ships' registration, flag and other information, Ezeoba said in Yenagoa, in a part of the Niger Delta plagued by criminal gangs.
   "From the domain awareness centre we can see ships from anywhere in the world coming or leaving our maritime space," he said. "It also gives you ability to ... ascertain the actual threat the vessel poses."  
   Four are in Lagos, one each at the Bonny and Brass crude export terminals, one in Yenagoa and one in Ibaka, in eastern Akwa Ibom state.
   But he added that Nigeria still needed to work on its capacity to pursue pirates and other criminal gangs.
   Nigeria's navy has had two successes against pirates this year - it captured four off the coast of the main commercial hub of Lagos in mid-August and said it killed 12 pirates in a shootout a week earlier.
   But it has had little luck stemming this lucrative enterprise, which remains on the rise and has driven up insurance costs.
   Unlike the waters off Somalia on the east African coast, where boats now have armed guards on board, there is scant protection for the many ships which anchor off West Africa.
 

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Nigerian interbank rates ease on budgetary allocations

Nigerian interbank lending rates eased 2.25 percentage points on Friday to an average of 10.5 percent, from 12.75 percent last week, boosted largely by a naira liquidity injections from budgetary allocations and matured T-bills.
   Traders said about 349 billion naira ($2.21 billion) in monthly budgetary allocations to state and local governments hit the market on Tuesday with additional cash flow from matured treasury bills of about 123 billion naira on Thursday.
    Dealers were, however, at times unable to access their balances with the central bank due to system glitches arising from switch to the new Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ) platform, which replaced the current telephone dealing system this week.
   Nigeria, Africa's second biggest economy, distributes revenue from oil exports among its three tiers of government on a monthly basis with the portion due to state and local governments passed through the banking system.
   "The system remains liquid from cash flows from budget distributions and matured treasury bill repayments, but the volume of transactions have been reduced considerably due to system challenges," one dealer said.
   The open buy back (OBB) eased to 10.5 percent, two percentage points lower than 12.5 percent last week and 1.5 percentage points below the central bank's benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.
   Overnight placement closed at 10.25 percent, against 12.75 percent last week, while call money rose to 10.75 percent compared with 13 percent last week.
   "We hope to see the system challenges resolved next week, but don't anticipate major activity in the market as a result of shorter trading week," another dealer said.

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Africa's local banks offer mining lifeline where others fear to tread

African banks are playing an increasingly significant role in the continent's new generation of mines, providing cash for projects considered too risky or expensive for rattled markets and cautious international lenders.
   Central and West Africa is home to some of the world's largest untapped deposits of gold, iron ore and other minerals, but the promising mine projects often require billions of dollars to be spent on bridges, roads, railways and ports.
   That level of investment, combined with the perceived risks of corruption and political uncertainty in Africa, is proving too much for under-pressure equity and debt markets and twitchy overseas banks undergoing enforced belt-tightening since the financial crisis.
   A solution, however, appears to be on the mining companies' own doorsteps, with recent deals suggesting that local banks could provide a lifeline for the region's junior miners.
   In West Africa, banks such as Togo-based Ecobank  and Ivory Coast's Banque Atlantique are moving in on mining projects, emboldened by the expert local knowledge gained from their extensive branch networks.
   Ecobank agreed a $63 million loan with Burkina Faso-focused gold miner Avocet , which has a market value of $44 million. It also increased its share of a $200 million loan with Sierra Leone iron ore miner London Mining , equivalent to four fifths of the company's market value.      
   IMIC, an investment company that is buying Cameroon-focused miner Afferro, signed a loan facility with Banque Atlantique worth $27 million. Afferro has a market value of $150 million.
   
   RAPID EXPANSION
   Ecobank, listed in Nigeria and Ghana, has expanded rapidly and operates in 35 African countries. Banque Atlantique operates in eight countries, with a focus on French-speaking Africa, once dominated by the likes of BNP Paribas, SocGen and Credit Agricole, who have cut back overseas lending to boost their capital strength.
   Chinese investment, though present in companies such as iron ore miner African Minerals, has also failed to live up to expectations.
   Yet Africa's burgeoning banks are ready to pick up some of the slack, says the head of corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank <SBKJ.J>, the continent's largest lender.
   "There is an emerging group of more local African banks who are sophisticated, have strong balance sheets and are looking to build their investment banking and structured project financing capability," Standard Bank's David Munro said, adding that the trend is also extending to other capital-intensive areas such as oil, gas and general infrastructure.
   For international banks, including the big South African ones with a significant African presence, such as Standard Bank and Nedbank, local lenders can be important partners to share the risk attached to mines in remote and often volatile parts of the world.
   Nedbank has an alliance with Ecobank and is also affiliated through bonds that could convert to a 20 percent holding in its smaller rival. Nedbank Chief Executive Mike Brown recently said he expects the bank to take up the stake.
   
   GOOD PARTNERS
   "They're a good partner, they don't tend to have the same view of political risk as we do," Mark Tyler, managing director of mining investment banking at Nedbank Capital, told Reuters.
   But while the Ecobank tie-up gives access to a branch network stretching into places where Nedbank has no presence - such as Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Liberia - it is starting to encounter an increasingly competitive edge.
   "We've lost a couple of deals because Ecobank has put some serious money down," Tyler said.
   Charles Kie, head of corporate banking at Ecobank, told Reuters that having operations on the ground across Africa enables it to see the risks differently.
   "I can easily imagine that the perception of risk of African countries is still far from the reality," Kie said.
   "It's not simply because the international banks are stepping out of the continent," he said of the rising involvement of local banks, "... 20 years of growth means we are now in a position to play a much stronger role."
   Ecobank in March announced a record annual profit of $348 million for 2012, though it has also faced its share of troubles, with its chairman resigning in October over allegations of mismanagement.
   Regardless of any hitches along the way, Standard Bank's Munro believes the role of Africa's local banks in mining will only increase: "You can't play against a theme like this, you have to play with it."

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EXCLUSIVE-SEC disapproves Kogi State moves to raise N20 bln bond

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has put paid to plans by the  Kogi state government to raise about N20 billion debt through the capital market to fund some developmental projects in the state.

SEC DG, Oteh

According to sources familiar with the deal, SEC has refused to approve the plan by the state to raise bond after a careful look at the debt profile of the state and concluded that, kogi state government might be biting more than it can chew with the new debt issue if it is approved.

“The state has a lot of debt overhang and should not be allowed to raise fresh fund from the market now,” the source told Global Business and finance focus.

It was learnt that the present debt to revenue ratio of the state is about 1-4, meaning for every N 4 million earned by the state through federal allocations and internally generated revenue, N1 million is being used to service debt.

SEC, it was learnt has communicated its decision to refuse the state approval for the bond, which would have pushed up the state debt profile and probably set the state back in term of development.

Many states, include Lagos are tapping into the bond option to fund some of their developmental project, in the face of dwindling revenue allocations from oil earnings.

Recently, Lagos concluded the issuance of N87.5 billion 7-year bond to complete ongoing infrastructure projects in the state.

No immediate response from kogi state on the refusal of its applications by the SEC, but sources said the state may have to reapply to raise fewer amount, if it must get the commission’s approval.

“The state may have to reapply to raise about N10 billion or less if it must scale the SEC approval,” another source said.

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Nigerian interbank rates rise on central bank liquidity tightening

Nigerian interbank lending rates rose marginally to an average of 10.75 percent this week, from 10.5 percent last week, after central bank tightening measures reduced money supply.
   Traders said around 6.5 billion naira ($41 million) was withdrawn from banks this week to meet the regulator's cash reserve requirement (CRR) rules.
   The central bank hiked the CRR on public sector deposits to 50 percent, from 12 percent, in July in a bid to curb money laundering and speculation on the naira currency.
   The public sector makes up around a tenth of deposits in the banking sector.
   Traders said inflows of repaid matured open market operation debt notes of about 166 billion naira on Thursday helped to keep rates from rising further.
   The market opened with a cash balance of about 328 billion naira, slightly lower than the 475.58 billion naira last Friday.
  The open buy back rose to 10.50 percent on Friday, compared with 10.25 percent last week, 1.50 percentage points below the central bank's benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.
  Overnight placement closed at 10.75 percent, against 10.5 percent last week, while call money closed 11 percent, same level last week.
   "We expect the liquidity level to increase next week due to anticipated disbursement of November budget allocations to government agencies," one dealer said.

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Nigeria's Niger State to issue 12 bln naira 5-yr bond

Nigeria's Niger State plans to issue a 12 billion naira ($75.8 million) seven-year bond to fund infrastructure projects, the securities regulator said on Thursday.

Niger Governor, Babangida

   The northwestern region, one of Nigeria's 36 states, is home to around 4 million people. It plans to use the proceeds from the bond sale to fund road projects and the construction of 500 housing units.
   "The application has gotten regulatory approval and is currently at the stage of book building," Obi Adindu, spokesman for Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission, told Reuters by text message.
   Nigeria is growing as an investment destination with foreign holdings of its bonds swelling nearly fivefold in the last year to an estimated $5.4 billion after the country's inclusion in a JP Morgan local currency bond index.
   Niger State issued a 9 billion naira seven-year bond two years ago, under a 30 billion naira debt issuance program at 14 percent, to fund road projects.
   One fund manager who is considering investing in the Niger bond told Reuters he had put in a bid for the debt and was looking for a yield of 14 percent to buy the paper. He added that he expected Niger to be priced above Lagos State.
   Rival Lagos State, Nigeria's commercial capital, issued 87.5 billion naira seven-year bond last week priced at par to yield 13.5 percent.
   The book building closes on Friday, the fund manager said.

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REUTERS EXCLUSIVE-Nigerian drive to end fuel subsidy fraud mired in confusion

 Nigeria's drive to clean up a gasoline subsidy scheme that soaks up a fifth of federal spending is mired in confusion, with the government, anti-graft investigators and fuel importers at odds over attempts to root out massive fraud.

President Jonathan

   President Goodluck Jonathan has promised that importers will be prosecuted if either of Nigeria's two anti-corruption bodies finds evidence they are defrauding the scheme, the total cost of which was 1 trillion naira ($6.3 billion) last year.
   Yet some firms under investigation by anti-graft officials are still receiving cash, even though Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said that only those whose subsidy claims are proven legitimate will be paid. A parliamentary inquiry said last year that it had found evidence of huge fraudulent payments in the fuel subsidies, provoking a public outcry.
   Under the scheme, importers apply to the government for subsidy payments. If successful they buy gasoline on the international market which is then sold in filling stations at the heavily subsidised price of about 60 U.S. cents a litre.
   Last year's inquiry by the lower house of parliament found that dozens of importers had claimed up to $6.8 billion between 2009-11 for fuel that was never delivered or diverted to neighbouring countries where prices are unregulated.
   Subsidies were being claimed for almost twice as much gasoline than Nigeria consumed, it reported. A separate presidential inquiry produced similar findings.
   Okonjo-Iweala has since tried to bring transparency to the scheme by withholding payments for claims until they are verified, and periodically publishing what Nigeria pays to fuel importers. She acknowledged that some firms felt unfairly treated but said they had to prove their claims genuine.
   "Some people thought they were being witch hunted and the government said: 'no, if you produce evidence to exonerate yourself, you'll be cleared and can claim'," she told Reuters.
   Yet late last month the finance ministry announced subsidy payments to three importers that anti-graft officials are investigating for fraud. While such payments don't break any rules, they are contrary to the ministry's own policy of not paying firms under suspicion.
   Estimates show the gap between subsidy claims and likely actual consumption is shrinking, but discrepancies remain.
   Nigeria plans to import 3.5 million tonnes of gasoline in the fourth quarter of this year from nearly 50 companies, up from 30 used last year, say industry sources.

   UK-based consultancy CITAC estimates Nigeria's gasoline demand at 30,000 tonnes a day, or only 2.7 million a quarter, and industry sources were unable to explain the discrepancy. The petroleum regulator did not respond to a request for comment. 

   Buying more gasoline than the country needs from a large number of small companies was partly what enabled fraud in 2009-2011.
         
   THIRSTY ECONOMY
   Nigeria is the biggest African importer of motor fuel even though it is also the continent's top crude oil producer. This is because its refineries, which are decrepit if they are operating at all, meet only about a fifth of gasoline demand.
   The subsidies which are supposed to protect Nigerians from global market prices have become a huge drain on the economy, consuming 20 percent of the 2012 federal budget.
   Jonathan and Okonjo-Iweala tried to scrap them in January 2012 but a jump in pump prices to market rates provoked strikes and protests. These forced the government to back down, although it managed to raise the regulated fuel price by half.
   Reuters has reviewed details of inquiries into importers being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an independent anti-corruption agency, and the police Special Fraud Unit (SFU).
   Attempts by Reuters to get to the bottom of payments under the scheme led anti-graft officials, Okonjo-Iweala and importers to contradict each other over who is under criminal investigation and who has been cleared.
   The firms that agreed to speak to Reuters all denied wrongdoing. Some said they had been cleared, contradicting the investigating authorities. Others declined to comment.
   In an announcement published in newspapers on Nov. 26, the finance ministry said it had approved subsidy payments totalling 5.5 billion naira to importers Pinnacle Contractor, Somerset Energy Services and Top Oil & Gas.
   EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren told Reuters in an email that the anti-graft agency is investigating Pinnacle and Somerset. He gave no details, but last year the presidential inquiry referred Pinnacle to the EFCC over claims amounting to 8.7 billion naira and Somerset over 2.7 billion of claims, in both cases for fuel it suspected may not have been delivered.
   Pinnacle told Reuters the transactions had been cleared by the EFCC, contradicting what Uwujaren said, while Somerset did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
   
   CONFUSION OVER PROBES
   The third company, Top Oil, is being investigated by the police's SFU for suspected fraudulent transactions, two senior police investigators told Reuters.
   Top Oil said its transactions had been cleared as non-fraudulent, but did not provide any proof.  
   Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters that to her knowledge the three companies were not under investigation. She said by telephone that she had received a letter from the SFU clearing Top Oil. She did not respond to an emailed request to see that letter.
   She added that she had had no communication from the separate EFCC agency on the other firms.
   "How I'm I supposed to know? I have nothing from the EFCC saying that these people are being investigated ... I have nothing from SFU saying they (Top Oil) have been investigated on another charge," she said by telephone.
   Reuters later tried to contact the EFCC to ask whether it had communicated the Pinnacle and Somerset cases to the finance ministry, but officials were not available for comment.
   The finance ministry has tightened the scheme with 359 billion naira paid out so far this year, little more than a third of the 2012 total. However, this reflects delayed payments which may be made eventually as back pay.
   
   DEBT OFFICE REQUEST  
   Reuters has also reviewed a letter from Nigeria's Debt Management Office (DMO) requesting that the finance ministry make subsidy payments to a number of importers.
   In the letter dated Nov. 6, DMO chief Abraham Nwankwo asked the ministry to pay firms including three that are subject to criminal prosecution cases brought by the EFCC - Downstream Energy, Fargo Petroleum and Ontario Oil & Gas - with total claims of 4.3 billion naira between them.
   He gave as a reason in the letter that the police SFU was not investigating them, making no mention of the EFCC. Fargo declined to comment. Ontario did not respond to requests for comment. Downstream could not be contacted for comment.
   Nwankwo told Reuters that the firms in the letter were either not being investigated by the SFU or had been cleared.
   "We have no communication from EFCC that they are investigating any oil marketers based on the report," he said, adding that he had requested a list from the agency. He also noted that the three firms had not been paid.
   The EFCC did not respond to a request for further comment.  
 
   The police declared Fargo director Seun Ogunbambo a wanted man on Nov. 27 in a criminal case brought by the EFCC, which accused Fargo of fraudulently claiming 976 million naira.
   "We went to immigration to put him on a watch list," SFU lead investigator Martin Nwogoh told Reuters in Lagos.
   Ogunbambo was not available for comment and it was not possible to track down his lawyer.
   A senior police source said the SFU was investigating potentially fraudulent subsidy claims by another company, Imad Oil and Gas, which has been given a licence to import gasoline in the fourth quarter, according to an unpublished allocation list reviewed by Reuters. Imad said it has been cleared of all wrongdoing, contradicting the police.

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Ghana hits Fitch for doubting its deficit-reduction plan

Ghana's finance ministry criticised the Fitch ratings agency on Thursday for saying a deficit-reduction plan outlined in last week's annual budget was not aggressive enough and risked missing its target.

Ghana President

   Fitch downgraded Ghana's sovereign rating on Oct. 17 to B from B+ over concern the country was not doing enough to tackle a budget deficit that surged to 11.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2012.
   Ensuring macroeconomic stability is vital for President John Mahama's government as it seeks to bolster the West African country's reputation as one of the continent's most dynamic economies. Ghana has outlined a multi-year plan to reduce the deficit to 6 percent but acknowledges it is likely to overshoot its first target, which was to reach 9 percent in 2013.
   "We disagree with Fitch Rating's position that the consolidation measures announced in the budget will not effectively address the Ghana fiscal challenges experienced in the past two years," a finance ministry statement said.
   "The view by Fitch Ratings that Ghana's credit-worthiness has been eroded is questionable. Ghana does not have any debt- servicing problems. All debts are honoured whenever they fall due," the statement said.
   A shortfall in non-oil imports and a domestic energy crisis were the main reasons Ghana's finances were expected to slip in 2013, the government statement said. It added that medium-term Ghana's prospects for fiscal stability were good.
   Fitch's statement on Monday said it did not think the budget plan to reduce the deficit to 8.5 percent in 2014 would effectively address the deterioration in government finances over the past two years.
   Ghana produces gold, cocoa and oil, but Fitch also cast doubt on the government's ability to expand its revenue base. The agency noted that Finance Minister Seth Terkper's budget pushed back by one year to 2016 the date for consolidating the deficit to 6 percent.

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Asia Rice-Vietnam prices jump, Thai price widens on weaker baht

 Rice prices in Vietnam stand near their highest in nearly a year, fed by hopes the country could win contracts to supply 500,000 tonnes of the grain to the Philippines, while prices in Thailand have widened as political protests took a toll of its currency, traders said on Wednesday.

A Rice plantation

   If Vietnam wins Manila's rice tender, prices in Thailand could soften as its harvest gathers pace. But Vietnam's higher prices may prevail only briefly, since the entire Philippine volume will not have to be delivered this year, traders said.
   Vietnam's 5-percent broken rice rose on Wednesday to $415 to $425 a tonne, free-on-board Saigon Port, nearing a one-year high after its bid was below rival offers from Thailand and Cambodia in the Philippine tender.
   The variety was last offered at $440/tonne on Dec. 5, 2012.
   The 25 percent broken rice also increased to $385 to $390 a tonne, FOB basis, from $375 to $380 last Wednesday. This week's price is the highest since Jan. 2, 2013 when the variety stood at $390 to $395 a tonne, based on Reuters data.
   "Prices have been rising after the tender, while warehouses have sold much of their stocks to China, leaving litte grain available," a trader at a European firm in Ho Chi Minh City said.
   The first shipment to the Philippines must be at least 120,000 tonnes and arrive by Dec. 31, though the rest could be delivered early in 2014, Manila's grain procurement agency, the National Food Authority, has said.
   "We will have to wait until early December, when the market realises the actual need for loading, and then prices can stabilise," the trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.
   Rising prices have prompted other buyers to hold back on purchases, traders in Vietnam said.
   Vietnam's exports of rice in the period from January to November have dropped 16 percent from a year ago, to 6.3 million tonnes, the government said on Tuesday.
   But the export volume excluded a figure of 1.2 million tonnes sold across the land border to China, according to Vietnamese industry officials' estimates.
   Last year Vietnam shipped a record volume of 8.02 million tonnes of rice, retaining its rank as the world's No. 2 exporter, while India took the top spot, dislodging Thailand to third place.
   Thailand's common grade 5 percent broken rice widened to $410 to $420 per tonne this week, due mainly to a weaker exchange rate, against $420 a week ago, before grain harvested in the country's main 2013/14 crop floods the market this month.
   Thailand's central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, saying political tension was affecting investor confidence and there was no sign of exports recovering. The baht fell after the move to 32.10 per dollar, its weakest since Sept. 11.
   "The protests have caused the exchange rate to become weaker, so it looks as if the prices will continue to be cheaper at this point," a Thai trader said.
   He said sales of parboiled rice to Africa also provided support to Thai rice prices.
   Last week traders said 10,000 tonnes of Thai parboiled rice were sold to Benin and Nigeria. They said the demand would not boost prices in the long run, due to rising supply.

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Foreign holdings of Nigerian bonds surge nearly fivefold in a year

Foreign investors' holdings of Nigerian bonds swelled nearly fivefold to an estimated $5.4 billion in the year after the country's inclusion in a benchmark JP Morgan local currency bond index, according to figures obtained by Reuters.

DMO director, Nwankwo

   Africa's second-biggest economy joined JP Morgan's Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) on October 1 last year, becoming the second African country after South Africa to be included in the index, which has $220 billion in assets under management benchmarked against it.
   At the end of September 2012, offshore investors held approximately $1.2 billion in Nigerian bonds, which jumped to around $5.4 billion as of September 30 this year, according to figures provided by a market source who asked not to be named.
   Foreign holdings of Nigerian Treasury bills, already popular before the inclusion, increased during the same period to $6.2 billion from $3.9 billion.
   Five Nigerian bonds are part of the GBI-EM, which does not include Treasury bills, up from three initially.
   Africa's top crude oil producer now has a weighting of just under 2 percent in the index. It also joined the Barclays Emerging Market Bond Index in April this year.
   The inclusion of Nigeria in global bond indices has raised the visibility of one of the continent's most developed debt markets among offshore investors. Increased foreign inflows have helped stabilise the naira while enabling the country to diversify its investor base and reduce its borrowing costs.
   But growing foreign participation could also heighten Nigeria's vulnerability to changes in international investor sentiment, especially once the U.S. Federal Reserve begins tapering its quantitative easing programme.
   FIXED INCOME OVER EQUITIES
   While foreign inflows into the equities market have traditionally exceeded fixed income inflows, the data indicates that the latter now dominate.  
   Foreign bond and T-bill holdings, at $11.6 billion, now represent around a quarter of Nigeria's debt stock, more than double the proportion in September 2012. Nonresident equity holdings stood at $10.3 billion as of September 2013.
   In South Africa, nonresident holdings of government bonds reached 38 percent of its debt stock this year, a threefold increase since 2007.  
   Analysts at FBN Capital quoted Nigeria's Debt Management Office (DMO) last week as saying foreign holdings of government debt, including T-bills, had reached $5.1 billion at the end of 2012, compared with $500 million at the start of that year.
   Senior officials at the DMO did not respond to requests for comment on what the latest figures were.
   JP Morgan said its prediction that Nigeria's inclusion in the GBI-EM index would attract at least $1.5 billion into its bond market will have been easily surpassed.
   "With $220 billion benchmarked to the GBI-EM and a Nigeria weight of 2 percent, we estimate about $4 billion in benchmarked investor money in Nigerian bonds at the moment," said Giulia Pellegrini, JP Morgan strategist for sub-Saharan Africa.
   Investors have been attracted to Nigeria's bond market due to the country's improving macroeconomic fundamentals and high yields relative to other GBI-EM members, said Pellegrini.
   The average weighted yield on Nigerian bonds was 12.74 percent as of October 31, according to JP Morgan, while those of index peers Mexico and South Africa were 6.01 percent and 7.9 percent respectively.
   But Nigeria was also touched by the market volatility after the Fed indicated in May it would begin scaling back its bond buying stimulus.
   Foreign bond and Treasury bill holdings fell to $11.8 billion in June from a peak of $13.7 billion the previous month, the data indicates, though they have since risen.
   Fears of increased spending ahead of presidential elections in 2015 and the likely departure next year of central bank governor Lamido Sanusi at the end of his term may moderate demand for Nigerian debt in the coming months, Pellegrini said.
   "Looking into 2014, international investors' appetite for Nigerian local bonds may further moderate on the expectation of Fed QE-tapering and, domestically, a possibly looser fiscal stance, the expected change in leadership at the central bank and the 2015 elections coming closer," she said.

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Ecobank in row over anonymous email, hacking allegations

 Pan-African lender Ecobank has sued a top executive who left the company this month, naming him in a civil complaint in Togo as the author of an anonymous email accusing Chief Executive Thierry Tanoh of mismanagement.

Ecobank CEO, Tanoh

   The executive, David Lawson, denied to Ecobank that he wrote the email and said he had been unfairly dismissed. He accused Ecobank executives including Tanoh of hacking his phone and email account in a fruitless search for evidence against him. The company denies wrongdoing.
   The row comes as Ecobank tries to shore up confidence in its governance after a Nigerian industry watchdog began investigating the way it reported financial results. The bank's chairman quit last month, saying it wasn't appropriate for him to stay given the company's ongoing reviews of governance.
   Ecobank has been viewed by investors as an African success story for its strong growth and expansion beyond its Togo base into 33 African countries. It made record profits last year.
   One member of Ecobank's board told his colleagues in an email seen by Reuters that Lawson's hacking allegations were a cause for concern and could get the bank into trouble.
   Lawson, who left as head of strategy on Nov. 8, was a member of the Group Executive Committee that runs Ecobank and reports to its board.
   A spokesman for Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), as the bank is officially known, declined to discuss the circumstances of Lawson's departure.
   Lawson told Reuters on Monday: "In the panel's attempt to implicate me in this affair ...(it) resorted to the illegal acts of phone tapping, email hacking, stalking and invasion of privacy".
   He said that at a disciplinary hearing about the email, fellow executives pressed him repeatedly to name board members who they suspected of being his accomplices in the matter. He called the hearing an "illegal kangaroo court".
   Lawson said he had emailed Ecobank's executive committee and board on Nov. 11, stating that he had a recording of the disciplinary hearing that showed the committee discussing details about him and his communications that it could only have obtained by hacking his email and bugging his phone.
   
   LAWSUIT SAYS EMAIL TRACED TO GHANA CYBERCAFE
   The bank's suit says Lawson wrote the anonymous email to senior executives on Aug. 31 accusing Tanoh of paying himself an inflated bonus for work done in the months before he took office at the start of this year.
   CEO Tanoh, a former vice president of the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, said in September he was forgoing any bonus as part of efforts to restore confidence given the Nigerian investigation.
   The Aug. 31 email, which is entitled "Major corporate governance issues at Ecobank" and has been seen by Reuters, said Ecobank was "at risk" because of poor leadership.
   It was sent from a cybercafe in Ghana and police there have identified Lawson from a security video at the cafe at the time the email was sent, Ecobank said in its lawsuit.
   The First Class Tribunal of First Instance in Togo's capital, Lome, has adjourned the case until Feb. 14.
   A South African member of Ecobank's board, Sipho Mseleku, contacted other board members on Nov. 11 to express concern over Lawson's hacking allegations against the company.
   "Such invasion of privacy is not only illegal but also criminal. This reminds me of Apartheid days in South Africa," Mseleku said in an email seen by Reuters.
   "This is likely to put the institution in further trouble. The institution cannot solve problems through illegal means," Mseleku said. He did not respond to a request for comment and his email did not state explicitly that he believed Lawson's hacking allegations were accurate.
   The Ecobank spokesman, Jeremy Reynolds, confirmed Mseleku's email and said: "I can give you a categorical denial that there has been any phone tapping or email hacking". Reuters was unable to determine how other board members responded to Mseleku's email.

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