Nigerian interbank rate eases on matured T-bills repayment

Nigeria's overnight interbank lending rate held steady over the week at an average of 1 percent, traders said on Friday, after an injection of cash from retired matured treasury bills into the banking system by the central bank boosted liquidity.Traders said about 257 billion naira ($1.29 billion) had been put into the system in matured open market operations bills on Thursday - the usual day for any intervention.Lending rates at the interbank market had jumped to around 4.71 percent for overnight and 4.08 percent for secured open buy back on Wednesday...

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Ivory Coast, Ghana cocoa mid-crops to fall sharply

Ivory Coast and Ghana's cocoa mid-crops are expected to fall sharply this season due to dry weather and the impact of a severe Harmattan wind, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) and industry sources said this week. Cocoa beans The world's two top cocoa growers have been hit by a long Harmattan this year, a dusty wind that sweeps in from the Sahara and can sap soil moisture and reduce the size of cocoa beans."We do not expect the mid-crop...

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South African companies urged to invest at home to head off downgrade

The head of Liberty Holdings, South Africa's fourth-biggest insurer, urged local companies on Friday to invest at home to help the economy grow faster and stave off a sovereign credit rating downgrade.Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has said growth in Africa's most industrialised country will come in less than 1 percent this year - a pace rating agencies say might put the country's investment grade rating at risk. A Shoprite mall in Nigeria "Corporate...

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Ghana to keep tight grip on spending ahead of election -president

Ghana's government will not repeat mistakes made during the last election and will maintain strict fiscal discipline ahead of the 2016 vote, President John Mahama told parliament in an annual State of the Nation address on Thursday.Mahama, who is seeking a second term, faces a tough battle against opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo during presidential elections scheduled for November. Some economists are warning the government not to overspend in a bid to win victory.During the previous election in 2012, hikes in civil service wages caused the deficit...

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Nigerian naira weakens on sudden surge in dollar demand

Nigeria's naira weakened against the dollar on the parallel market on Thursday as speculators took advantage of recent gains to mop up dollars, creating fresh scarcity.The naira was quoted at 350 to the dollar on Thursday, weaker than its 300 per dollar close the previous day.The naira remains flat around the 197.50 peg rate on the official interbank market, where the central bank introduced curbs last year on access to dollars as a sharp fall in the value of Nigeria's oil exports triggered an economic and fiscal crisis.The currency of Africa's...

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A year on from Nigerian election victory, Buhari's reforms founder

Almost a year after winning an election on promises to fix Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari's grand vision of reform is fading, with power centralised in his increasingly remote presidency and the bureaucracy in disarray. President Buhari After axing almost 50 top civil servants and 40 ambassadors and shaking up ministries in a bid to excise endemic graft, the 73-year-old former military ruler has even started cancelling some weekly cabinet meetings.His...

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Nigeria seeks to abolish visa requirement among D-8 countries

 Nigeria on Wednesday called for abolishing visa requirement among the members of the Developing Eight (D-8) Countries Organization for Economic Cooperation to ensure free movement of both people and trade.Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's minister of information, culture and tourism, made the call when meeting with Seyed Ali-Mohammed, the D-8 secretary general, in Abuja on Wednesday.Noting that free movement of people will guarantee free movement of trade, Mohammed urged D-8 members to make sure "there is no barrier in term of visa" among them.The...

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Amnesty Internationa says impunity fuels instability, conflict, human rights violations

Amnesty International, or AI, said on Wednesday in its annual report that impunity continues to fuel instability and conflict in Africa, which overshadows the tentative progress of human rights in the continent. Adopting historic commitments such as Agenda 2063 of the African Union, or A.U., and the social and economic development of many African countries have been overshadowed by conflicts in Somalia, Nigeria and Central African Republic, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and millions others who were forced into displacement. "East Africa...

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South Africa's MTN withdraws case against Nigerian regulator - Reuters News

South African telecoms firm MTN Group has withdrawn its legal action against Nigeria's regulator over a $3.9 billion fine and paid $250 million towards a possible settlement, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.Africa's leading telecoms firm was fined by the Nigerian Communications Commission in October for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM users, prompting weeks of lobbying to reduce the fine.The original amount was based on fining the company $1,000 for every unregistered SIM card in use."MTN Nigeria has today made an agreed without...

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Nigeria to raise 329.93 bln naira in treasury bills

Nigeria plans to raise 329.93 billion naira in treasury bills with maturities range between 3-month and 1-year at an auction on March 2, the central bank said on Wednesday.The bank said it would issue 57.85 billion naira in the 3-month bill, 50 billion naira in the 6-month paper and 222.08 billion naira in the 1-year debt, using the Dutch Auction System.Nigeria issues treasury bills to help manage banking system liquidity and provide cash flow for government busine...

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Nigeria interbank rate eases on expected cash refund

Nigeria's overnight interbank lending rate dropped to an average of 1 percent on Friday from around 4.5 percent on Thursday as the market anticipated refunds of cash deposited by commercial lenders for foreign exchange purchases.Traders said liquidity dropped sharply in the week and the cost of borrowing climbed after commercial lenders moved cash to their naira accounts with the central bank to enable them to take part in the weekly forex intervention on Thursday.On Tuesday, banks deposited about 700 billion naira ($3.5 billion) to back their...

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EDITORIAL:The compelling reasons for naira devaluation now

The nation currency, the naira hitch is week hit its record low at the parallel market, trading shy of 400 naira to one dollar by Friday.The report showed that Nigerian currency is gradually going the way of the old Ghana cedi and Uganda shilling, which were worth less than the value of the paper they were printed upon.Nigeria found itself in this critical situation today because of the mismanagement of the economy by the successive administrations...

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South Africa's MTN shares slump 13 pct on profit warning

Shares in MTN Group slumped more than 13 percent on Friday, a day after the South African mobile company flagged it would report at least a 20 percent drop in annual profit.Shortly after the market closed on Thursday, MTN said the expected fall in profit was due to underperformance in Nigeria, where it faces a $3.9 billion fine for failing to cut off more than 5 million SIM card users by the set date.Africa's biggest mobile phone company said the profit warning did not include the penalty because it was still in talks with regulators about the...

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Improving European markets boost Coca-Cola HBC

Soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC's sales volumes in its established Western European markets rose last year for the first time in five years, it said on Friday, citing gains in Italy and Greece.The European company, which bottles and sells Coca-Cola drinks in 28 countries including Russia, Ukraine and Nigeria, also forecast 2016 volume growth and substantial improvement in revenue per case, excluding foreign currency effects exchange, for all three of its market segments -- established, developing and emerging.Credit Suisse analysts...

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Nigeria sets up committee to advise on first sovereign sukuk

Nigeria has set up a government committee to advise on issuing the country's first sovereign sukuk, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Thursday, citing the need to explore alternative funding sources. Africa's biggest economy plans to borrow as much as $5 billion to help fund a budget deficit worsened by the slump in oil prices that has slashed revenues and weakened the naira. SEC spokesman Nalf Abdusalam said the new committee, including officials from the Debt Management Office (DMO), would advise on the amount to be raised,...

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Nigerian scholars laud strong Sino-Nigeria cooperation

Scholars in Nigeria on Thursday hailed the strong partnership existing between China and the West African country while calling for more opportunities to further progress the partnership. The scholars, who delivered papers examining the mutual benefits so far enjoyed by both countries, gathered in Abuja to discuss the future of Sino-Nigeria cooperation. In his address, director of the Center for China Studies Charles Onunaiju said the discussions at the event proved that China-Nigeria bilateral cooperation has even more prospects. He urged Nigeria,...

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Ghana's cedi seen holding firm, Nigeria's naira on back foot

Ghana's cedi is seen holding firm in the coming week, buoyed by steady dollar sales by mining firms, while the Nigerian naira is expected to weaken in the parallel market on persistent greenback scarcity. GHANA Ghana's cedi is expected to hold firm on steady dollar sales by mining firms and offshore offers, analysts said. After weakening nearly 4 percent in January on seasonal dollar demand from importers and speculative buyers, the cedi has been stable in recent weeks. It was quoted at 3.92 to the greenback at 0954 GMT on Thursday, compared with...

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Nigeria auctions 142 bln naira treasury bills at lower yields

Nigeria sold 142.43 billion naira ($715.73 million) worth of three-month to one-year treasury bills on Wednesday, at lower returns than in its previous auction, the central bank said on Thursday.The bank raised 32.43 billion naira of three-month paper at 4.85 percent, down from 4.95 percent at a sale on Feb. 3.The bank sold 30 billion naira of six-month debt at 7.3 percent against 7.97 percent, while it sold 80 billion naira of one-year paper at 8.98 percent compared with 9.49 percent.Total subscription rose to 513.71 billion naira from 400.82...

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Nigerian stocks down on profit booking, naira concerns

Nigerian stocks fell almost two percent on Wednesday, hit by a major decline in cement companies' shares, including Dangote Cement, which accounts for the third of local bourse capitalisation. Stock brokers on NSE floor The local bourse index dropped 1.81 percent to 24,070 points at 1248 GMT as investors took profits from previous gains on the stocks."Due to the rapid decline of the naira's value, some offshore investors are booking profit and...

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West Africa oil projects face yet longer delays than rivals as prices languish

Oil firms have put major projects in West Africa on hold because of low prices - as they have across the globe - but when the market finally picks up, development is likely to recover much more slowly in the region than elsewhere.High costs bedevil the region, which includes established producers such as Nigeria and newer entrants like Ghana. Add to this long-standing problems of poor infrastructure, complex bureaucracy and politics, and West Africa may be well down the list for any investment revival.A dive in oil prices since mid-2014 has forced...

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Nigerian naira hits record low of 345 vs dollar

Nigeria's naira weakened to a record 345 to the dollar on the parallel market on Monday, increasing pressure on the government to devalue the official exchange rate to narrow the gap and spare Nigerians from huge bills for imported goods. The local currency eased 1.47 percent from Friday's close of 340 to the dollar, while the official rate remained at 197.50 to the dollar at the close of trading on Monday. Dollars Traders said the black market...

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Nigeria's 'bad bank' AMCON seeks to sell Keystone Bank

Nigeria's state-backed "bad bank" AMCON said on Monday it was seeking prospective investors to buy Keystone Bank, the last of the nationalised banks yet to be sold. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said in a public notice it had decided to divest its 100 percent interest in the bank and ask prospective buyers to submit their bids by March 4. AMCON appointed Citibank's local unit and FBN Capital as financial advisers to manage...

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OPEC members increasingly keen to end oil glut -Nigeria oil minister

The mood inside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is shifting from mistrust to a growing consensus that a decision must be reached on how to end the global oil price rout, Nigeria's oil minister told Reuters. Kachiwku Oil prices have slumped by more than 70 percent to near $30 a barrel over the past 18 months as OPEC, led by top producer Saudi Arabia, sought to drive higher-cost producers out of the market by refusing...

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IMF to start talks with Tunisia over new loan programme - official

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund will visit Tunisia on Thursday to begin talks on a new credit programme likely to be worth at least $1.7 billion, a Tunisian official said.Tunisia is seeking to revive an economy that has struggled since the 2011 uprising that sparked the Arab Spring revolutions across North Africa, with deadly attacks last year by Islamist militants hitting the tourism industry on which it relies for jobs and revenue.The country has been praised as an example of compromise politics and democratic transition since...

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Nigeria in talks with oil majors to repay debt, invest in refineries

Nigeria is in talks with oil majors and banks to raise capital for new drilling and to repay up to $4 billion in debt that the state oil firm has accumulated over years of mismanagement, the firm's head told Reuters. Kachikwu Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who is also the minister of state for petroleum, said he wanted to increase output to up to 2.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2016. Currently, the OPEC member pumps 2.3 million bpd. President...

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Nigerian interbank rate eases after liquidity rises

Nigeria's overnight interbank lending rate eased to an average of 0.75 percent on Friday from around 3 percent midweek after the central bank let cash flow into the market from matured treasury bills, traders said. The central bank injected around 234 billion naira ($1.2 billion) in matured opened market operations (OMO) bills on Thursday and additional refunds on cash deposited by commercial lenders for foreign exchange purchases by Friday, increasing...

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Lagarde faces quadruple challenge at IMF

By Swaha Pattanaik Lagarde IMF boss Christine Lagarde's second term as manager of the International Monetary Fund will be no more relaxing than her first. The French national already navigated a near-implosion of the euro zone. Now her challenges are fourfold.First, low oil prices are pushing the more fragile energy-producing countries into the IMF's arms. Lagarde said on Feb. 4 that help would be available if the likes of Nigeria and Azerbaijan...

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South Africa car industry faces tough 2016 as economy falters

South Africa's car sector, the country's largest manufacturing industry, faces a third successive year of declining sales as a weak economy and rising interest rates hit demand for vehicles, the head of its manufacturer' association said on Thursday.After four successive years of growth in new vehicle sales from 2010 to 2013, total sales in 2014 fell 0.7 percent, followed by a 4.1 percent drop last year. C-Class Mercedes South Africa's central...

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