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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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