No need to worry about health of Nigeria's Buhari -spokesman

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's doctors have advised him to take things slowly as he recovers from an undisclosed illness, and there is no need to worry about his health, his spokesman said on Thursday.
Buhari did not attend a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, choosing to rest and work from home. That triggered speculation about his health and his ability to run Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation.
Wednesday's was Buhari's second consecutive absence from the weekly meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Garba Shehu said Buhari's decision not to attend the meeting was last minute, otherwise, he would have notified his cabinet and Nigerians.
Buhari, 74, returned home in March after nearly two months' medical leave in Britain and said he would need more rest and health tests. Details of his medical condition were not disclosed.
"President Buhari himself, on his return to the country, made Nigerians aware of the state of his health while he was in London. Full recovery is sometimes a slow process, requiring periods of rest and relaxation," Shehu said in a statement.
"Despite his lack of visibility, Nigerians should rest assured that President Buhari has not abdicated his role as Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria."
Shehu said the president received daily briefings on activities of government and met regularly with his vice president.
Osinbajo, a lawyer who is seen as more business-friendly than Buhari, has played an active role in driving policy changes, chairing cabinet meetings during the president's medical leave.
Shehu said Buhari was spending most of his time in his private residence which is equipped as an office, adding that he had gone through the worst period of his recovery in London.
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Nigeria lawmakers aim to pass 2017 budget next week - Senate leader

Nigeria's upper house of parliament aims to pass the government's 2017 spending plan next week, Senate leader Ahmed Lawan said on Thursday.
Lawan said parliament had wanted to pass the budget in March and April but could not, adding that it was doing everything possible to make up the lost time.
"By next week ... we should be able to finish our own work and pass the budget to Mr. President to sign," he told reporters after a meeting with the president.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who has faced rising disenchantment over his handling of Nigeria's economy, presented his record 7.298 trillion naira ($23.24 billion) budget to lawmakers in December. It must be agreed by lawmakers before the president can sign it into law.
Nigeria is in its second year of recession, brought on by low oil prices, which have slashed government revenues, weakened the naira and caused chronic dollar shortages.
Buhari has asked lawmakers to approve a borrowing plan of $6.93 billion from China and the World Bank to upgrade its rail network and help rebuild the insurgency-torn northeast.
This year's budget lays out plans to pull Africa's largest economy out of recession with a focus on boosting infrastructure spending.
Senator Danjuma Goje, who chairs the senate committee on the spending plan, in March said the budget was likely to pass before May.

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Nigeria naira's new investors rate eases for second day

The value of Nigeria's latest naira exchange rate -- this one for portfolio investors -- eased for a second day on Wednesday despite the central bank supplying $25 million to boost liquidity.
The naira was quoted at 378.54 against the dollar on the new foreign exchange trading window introduced by the central bank for investors, data from market regulator FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange showed.

It closed at 374.96 naira in its previous session. On the main, official interbank market the currency was quoted at 305.90 naira. It was 388 naira on the black market on Wednesday.
The central bank said on Monday it will allow investors to trade the naira at market determined rates -- a move intended to improve the dollar supply.
This did, however, introduced yet another exchange rate to the five existing ones.
"The new window reflects the true value of the naira," one trader at a major Nigerian bank, told Reuters. "Once the central bank reduces intervention on the interbank market the naira will trade closer to the new window."
Nigeria is battling a currency crisis brought on by low oil prices, which has tipped its economy into recession and created chronic dollar shortages.
It has created multiple exchange rates to help mask the pressure on the naira -- including for Muslim pilgrims and for paying school fees -- but wants to attract foreign investors with the new market determined exchange rate and at same time maintain a strong currency to ward off import-induced inflation.
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Nigeria's government revenues rise in March due to higher oil royalties

Nigeria's distributable government revenues rose to 467.81 billion naira ($1.53 billion) in March from 429 billion naira in February due to higher royalties from oil production, a government statement said on Tuesday.

Distributable revenue is government income that is shared at various levels of state including the federal government, state governments and local government councils.
The revenues were boosted by "a noteworthy increase in revenue from oil royalty," said the statement.
However, the rise was slightly offset by low levels of crude oil production, despite prices rising from $44.74 to $52.86 per barrel in March, the statement said.
Revenues from crude exports fell by $6.4 million due to a "decrease in crude oil export volume," said the statement, adding that production fell largely due to sabotage to pipelines causing leaks and the shutdown of major terminals such as Forcados.
OPEC member Nigeria, which last year entered its first recession in a quarter of a century, relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of its government revenue but has been hit hard by the fall in global crude prices since mid-2014.
Militants have carried out attacks on oil and gas facilities in the southern Niger Delta energy hub for a year, cutting oil production - which stood at 2.1 million barrels per day at the start of 2016 - by as much as a third, though output has since mostly recovered.
Attacks have halted in recent months with talks between the government and Delta community leaders to address the grievances of militants, who want the oil hub to receive a greater share of the country's energy wealth.
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Nigeria weakens naira for investors but may struggle to draw inflows, analysts say

Nigeria has weakened the naira for investors but it may still struggle to attract dollars unless it scraps its system of multiple exchange rates, analysts said, doubting funds will flow back after central bank's latest currency moves.
The central bank said on Monday it would allow investors to trade the naira at rates determined by the market - a move intended to improve the supply of dollars, but one that introduced yet another exchange rate.

Nigeria already had five rates: the official rate, the black market, a rate for Muslim pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia, a retail rate set by licensed exchange bureaus and a rate for foreign school fees.
The naira eased 18.3 percent to 374.25 to the dollar for investors on Tuesday compared with the official interbank rate of 305.90 and black market rate of 385.
"The move ... is unlikely to ... attract sizeable inflows until there is harmonisation between the different markets," said Razia Khan, Africa chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank.
The stock market which has languished as foreign investors fled, welcomed the move, gaining 0.4 percent Tuesday after rising more than 2 percent the previous session.
However, the new policy will mask pressure on the naira as the central bank tries to avoid a currency devaluation.
The International Monetary Fund has urged Nigeria to scrap its multiple exchange rate regimes to revive its economy, which is in its second year of recession.
"The central bank is seeking to fine-tune its FX policy without a fully fledged devaluation, (but) the proof will be in the pudding," said Aly-Khan Satchu, head of Nairobi-based Rich Management.
Nigeria is battling a currency crisis brought on by low oil prices, which has tipped its economy into recession and created chronic dollar shortages. It wants to attract foreign investors and at the same time maintain a strong naira to ward off inflation.
The central bank last year removed a temporary peg to float the currency, but to protect its precariously low foreign reserves it introduced the convoluted exchange rate system that sees different buyers paying various rates for dollars.
The bank has been using the forward market to meet dollar demand, making only tiny volumes available on the spot market and using those sales to influence the naira's official value in a bid to narrow the currency spread with black market rates.
"The segmentation of forex demand through the adoption of multiple FX arrangements impedes the exchange rate from reaching true equilibrium," said Cobus de Hart, senior economist at NKC in Johannesburg. "Weak central bank credibility will unfortunately not help matters much, with the bank backtracking on previous decisions on numerous occasions in the past."
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Nigeria's Lagos State redeems 57.5 bln naira from bondholders

Nigeria's commercial hub, Lagos State, has redeemed 57.5 billion naira ($183 million) worth of local currency bonds it issued seven years ago, it said on Tuesday.
Finance Commissioner Akinwunmi Ashade said the state was paying off its debts to create space for new issuance to raise funds for infrastructure investment. He said the state has saved more than 103 billion naira in a sinking fund to redeem bonds maturing in 2019, 2020 and 2023.

Lagos State, which accounts for around a third of Nigeria's economic output, sold the bonds in 2010 to fund badly-needed infrastructure projects, Ashade said.
Nigeria is in its second year of a recession brought on by lower oil prices, which have slashed government revenues, weakened the currency and caused dollar shortages, frustrating business and households.
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has said the government needs to invest in infrastructure as a way to spur economic growth.
The state government redeemed 167.5 billion naira in bonds last year.
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Ghana Cocobod needs $400 mln to finance rest of cocoa season -CEO

Ghana's Cocobod requires around $400 million in bridge financing from the central bank to cover its operations for the remainder of the cocoa season after a $1.8 billion loan ran out early, the industry regulator's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Each September, the regulator secures an international syndicated loan that enables licensed buyers to purchase cocoa from smallholders for export. But Cocobod's new chairman Hackman Owusu-Agyemang said in March the loan had been used up.
"We are looking for about $400 million now to finish with our operations. We're going to the central bank, the Bank of Ghana, to take out some cocoa bills," Cocobod CEO Joseph Boahen Aidoo told Reuters in an interview in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
"This is a bridge financing arrangement. We should be able to pay it back before the next crop season."
Aidoo said much of the missing loan money had gone to road construction contracts.
"A lot of money was committed to cocoa roads at the expense of other operations, and that is what has brought about the difficulty we are having now," he told Reuters.
"This was because it was the time of elections, and normally the president goes around promising roads."
Authorities in Ghana have launched an investigation into how the loan money was used, and Aidoo declined to say if there had been any wrongdoing.
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US president 'is set to extend laptop ban aboard passenger planes to flights from EUROPE including the UK to America'

President Trump is considering banning allowing laptops in aeroplane cabins between US and some European airports in addition to the several Muslim majority countries already restricted.

Passengers flying to the US from some European airports face being banned from taking laptops and iPads in their hand luggage. In late March, the ban was imposed on 10 airports in the Middle East.

Western countries may join the list that includes Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

President Trump’s administration is considering extending its ban on large electronic devices being carried in aircraft cabins to flights from Europe, according to The Times. 

Last month both the US and British governments barred passengers from bringing large electronic devices on board incoming flights from eight Middle Eastern countries.

The ban, which followed concerns terrorists had perfected a new type of airline bomb, means travelers have to stow gadgets larger than a mobile phone – including laptops, tablets and kindles - in the hold.

The US may be planning to extend these security restrictions to incoming flights from some parts of Europe and have been put on alert that Britain could be one of those affected.

The newspaper reported that the move could be implemented within weeks but that no final decision had yet been taken as to whether Britain would be included in the ban.

One Whitehall source is reported as saying: ‘As with everything from Trump’s America, there are conflicting reports about where, when and what.’

A US official confirmed to The Times that Britain was on the list of countries being examined for extended security restrictions. 

The US Department of Homeland Security said: ‘We will continue to evaluate the threat environment and make determinations based on that assessment but we have not made any decisions on expanding the current restrictions against large electronic devices in aircraft cabins from selected airports.’ 

(C) dailymail.co.uk

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New central bank forex window helps Nigerian stocks higher

Nigerian stocks rose more than 2 percent on Monday after the central bank adopted a new policy allowing foreign investors to engage in foreign exchange trading at rates the buyers and sellers set.
The market all-share index closed at 2.21 percent to 25,747 points, lifted by Dangote Cement which accounts for a third of the market capitalisation.
A central bank circular seen by Reuters said all people or businesses, local or foreign, who need dollars to repay loans, pay dividend, repatriate capital or settle trade-related obligations will be eligible for the new trading system. 

Traders said investors were optimistic that the rolling out of more efforts by the central bank to ease foreign exchange pressure on businesses would help the economy rebound.
"We hope to see some foreign investors retuning to the market in the wake of the implementation of the central bank new forex policy, which allows foreign investors to participate in trading in the fx market," one stockbroker said.
Shares in local unit of Lafarge Cement rose 10.24 percent to close at 50.71 naira, which Diamond Bank was up 5.56 percent to 0.95 naira and Dangote Cement rose to 3.77 percent to close at 165 naira.
The Nigerian naira traded weaker at 390 to the dollar on the black market compared with 385 per dollar on Friday, while it gained marginally to 305.95 to the dollar on the official window from 306 a dollar previously.
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General Electric Power division signs $3 bln services deal in Algeria

General electric Power, a division of General Electric Co has signed a services deal with a subsidiary of Algerian utility Sonelgaz valued at more than $3 billion, the largest such agreement ever for GE Power, GE said on Monday.
Under the 20-year contract with Sonelgaz SPE, GE will provide long-term maintenance and operations services for 10 power plants in Algeria, which produce 11 gigawatts of power, about 70 percent of Algeria's electricity, GE said.

The agreement is expected to save Sonelgaz $2 billion in gas costs over 20 years, GE said.
GE will install gas technology upgrades that increase the plants' power output by 420 megawatts and will deploy its industrial internet software applications using its Predix operating system, GE Power's second-largest such agreement, it said.
GE was able to expand the deal after its acquisition of Alstom's  power and grid businesses last year. "The service agreement, and digital, will cover the total plant, everything from the gas turbines to the rest of the equipment," Steve Bolze, chief executive officer of GE Power, said in an interview.
The agreement builds on GE's growing footprint in Algeria, where it has had a presence for four decades. GE Power, based in Schenectady, New York, signed a $2.7 billion deal with Sonelgaz SPE in 2013 to supply large gas turbines and related technology to nine power plants in the country.
In 2014, GE signed a $400 million agreement to build an industrial complex to produce gas and steam turbines under a joint venture with Sonelgaz called General Electric Algeria Turbines. The complex is due to come on line next year, instead of 2017 as originally planned, Bolze said. It is due to deliver its first turbine in 2019.
The agreement also includes specialized training for 1,000 field technicians, and positions GE for possible work with Sonelgaz on maintenance and operations services in other parts of Africa.
The company will use its existing ALGESCO joint venture with Sonelgaz to repair turbines and set up a repair center. GE will also use Sonelgaz affiliate MEI to make replacement parts for GE turbines, GE said.
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Kenya's Safaricom resumes some services after network outage

Kenya's Safaricom said it had resumed some of its services, including voice calls, after a network outage on Monday knocked out services at the country's biggest telecoms operator.
The firm, which is 40 percent owned by Britain's Vodafone, operates the M-Pesa mobile-phone cash platform, used to transact billions of shillings in transfers, payments and loans by customers, businesses and banks. 
Safaricom said its network suffered an outage at 0930 local time (0630 GMT).
"Data, SMS, M-Pesa and Enterprise services will be available intermittently until the issue is fully resolved," Safaricom said in a statement.
Services, such as calling and text messaging, were being restarted by noon local time.
The company last suffered a major outage two years ago when the network went down in the capital Nairobi, a source at the company said, declining to say when it last had a national outage.
Safaricom, which is biggest company on the Nairobi bourse by value, has 27.7 million subscribers, or 71.2 percent of the market. Its users struggled to communicate or make transactions when the network went down.
"Our businesses suffered because our customers couldn't reach us," said Peter Njoroge, a taxi driver in downtown Nairobi.
At 1200 GMT, Safaricom's shares were down 0.3 percent at 19.00 shillings ($0.1841) each on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
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Nigeria central bank to sell $150 mln at currency forward

Nigeria's central bank will offer $150 million in currency forwards at an auction on Monday, part of its efforts to narrow the spread between official and black market exchange rates and improve foreign exchange liquidity.
Traders, citing a notice from the central bank, said settlement will be between one week and 45 days. The sale will be through a wholesale auction to meet the forex demand from businesses.
The central bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency's spread with the black market rate. It has sold around $4 billion since intervention began in February, analysts say, a pace they doubt it can sustain.
In a circular cited by Reuters on Monday, the bank also said it will now allow investors to engage in foreign exchange trading at rates the buyers and sellers set, a move it hopes will increase the amount of dollars available in Africa's biggest economy.
The president of Nigeria's association of bureau de change said its group has already commenced consultations with some foreign investors with a view to increase dollar supply in the parallel segment of the market.
Aminu Gwadabe said retail currency bureaus are trying to attract more foreign capital with the cooperation of the central bank, to boost dollar liquidity and provide support for the local currency.
On the official market, the currency was quoted at 306 per dollar, while it was quoted at 381 per dollar. 

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Nigeria central bank introduces FX trading window for investors

Nigeria's central bank will now allow investors to engage in foreign exchange trading at rates the buyers and sellers set, a move it hopes will increase the amount of dollars available in Africa's biggest economy.
People or businesses who need dollars to repay loans, pay dividends, repatriate capital or settle trade-related obligations will be eligible for the new trading system, according to central bank circular seen by Reuters on Monday.

Trading will take place by phone, at rates set by willing sellers and willing buyers. The central bank will not provide the funds, but it will step in to buy or sell to keep the market orderly.
Dollars have been in short supply in Nigeria since the price of crude oil, the country's main source of hard currency, plunged three years ago.
"The Central Bank of Nigeria, in a continuing effort to deepen the foreign exchange market and accommodate all FX obligations, hereby announces a special window for investors, exporters," the bank said in the circular.
The purpose of this window is to boost liquidity in the FX market and ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions."
Nigeria has at least five exchange rates: the official rate, the black market, a rate for Muslim pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia, a retail rate set by licensed exchange bureaus and a rate for foreign travel and school fees.
The central bank last year lifted a temporary peg on the currency, but to protect its precariously low foreign reserves it introduced a convoluted exchange rate system that sees different buyers paying various rates for dollars.
The policy has masked pressures on the naira and stunted hard currency inflows as investors struggle to price naira assets, according to analysts.
The bank has been using the forward market to meet demand for dollars, making only tiny volumes available on the spot market and using those sales to influence the naira's official value.
It said FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange will poll buying and selling rates to help with price discovery.
The naira was quoted at 306 to the dollar on the spot market on Monday and 385 on the black market.
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Nigeria's interbank rate rises as banks pay for dollar purchases

Nigeria's interbank lending rate climbed by around 20 percentage points on Friday after the central bank's sale of dollar forwards to offset a backlog of forex obligations drained cash from the money market.
The overnight lending rate stood at 50 percent against 29.33 percent the previous day because commercial lenders scrambled for cash on Friday to pay for dollar purchase at a central bank foreign exchange intervention auction targeting certain sectors.
The bank said on Friday it would offer dollar forwards to offset foreign exchange obligations for manufacturers, airlines and fuel importers as part of measures to improve dollar liquidity and support the ailing naira.
The central bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency's spread with the black market rate and this has also put pressure on naira liquidity in the money market causing cost of borrowing among banks to jump.
The lending rate among commercial lenders opened at 70 percent on Tuesday, bu fell to around 29.33 percent on Thursday after the injection of cash from matured treasury bills repayment by the central bank boosted liquidity.
Traders said market liquidity had opened at a 206.96 billion naira deficit on Friday, compared with a deficit of 239.53 billion last week, putting the money market under pressure to seek funds to finance their forex and treasury bill purchases from the central bank.
"The money market is in repo because of the sales of open market operations treasury bills and funding for special foreign exchange auctions by the central bank, putting the market in a tight position," one senior currency trader said.
The naira closed at 206 to the dollar on the interbank market on Friday, the same level as the previous day, while it traded at 385 to the dollar on the black market.
Traders said the cost of borrowing in the interbank money market was likely to fall next week because of expected cash injections from the next round of monthly budgetary allocations to government agencies and repayment of matured treasury bills.

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How Alan Greenspan slams President Trump's dollar comment

Remember when the leader of the free world said last week that the US Dollar was getting too strong? And remember how what he said put the USD into an immediate (albeit short-lived) nosedive? And remember feeling that maybe our new president's macroeconomic thinking felt eerily similar to a tween in her bedroom debating which member of her favorite boyband is the hottest one?
Well, you know who only kind of vaguely remembers it? Alan Greenspan, and not just because the memory is the first thing to go.

In an interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen , Greenspan was asked his thoughts on Trump's sudden fear of an all-powerful greenback.
EISEN: What did you think when you heard President Trump warn about the dollar? Saying that it's too strong and that it's hurting America?
GREENSPAN: [comic beat] I turned off my hearing aid.
Daaaaaaaamn, Alan! You are THEbaddestnonagenarian anti-regulation economist with actual Randian stank on his hang low.
But Greenspan was not done throwing shade at Trump's (big scare quotes) "monetary policy."
EISEN: You don't think that's healthy to hear?
GREENSPAN:[sly grin] No, I think it's healthy to hear everything.
EISEN: Do you think he can achieve that? Talking down the dollar?
GREENSPAN:Let's put it this way; The dollar isTHEinternational currency in which all the forces of global finance converge and set the price. Nobody's going to talk it up or down, whether it's the president of the United States or any person you want to choose.
Alan Greenspan is sticking around to kick ass and eat apple sauce….and he's all out of apple sauce.

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Nigerian central bank to sell dollars to offset fx demand

Nigeria's central bank said on Friday it would offer dollar forwards to offset a backlog of foreign exchange obligations for manufacturers, airlines and fuel importers.
Traders said the dollars would be sold directly to businesses and were strictly for matured letters of credit obligations related to specific sectors.
"Authorised dealers' accounts with the central bank will be debited in full for the naira equivalent of the dollar bid amount on a spot basis," the central bank said in a statement to commercial lenders.
"The central bank will settle the bids through forward settlements of 7 to 45 days," added the bank. It did not specify the amount of dollars to be sold.
The central bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the naira currency's spread with the black market rate.
The naira was quoted at 315 per dollar on the official market on Friday, and at 385 on the black market. It traded at 410 a week ago.
The central bank has sold around $4 billion since it started intervening in the currency market in February, say analysts, who have expressed doubts the cash injections can be sustained.
The bank on Tuesday reduced the amount of paperwork that small and medium-size businesses must provide to buy dollars as part of an effort to improve liquidity and attract them away from the black market.

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Tunisia will restrict some imports to tackle trade deficit-PM

Tunisia will restrict the import of some goods to tackle its widening trade deficit and protect foreign reserves as the local dinar currency slides to historic lows against the euro and dollar, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Friday.
Praised for its successful democratic transition after a 2011 uprising, Tunisia has struggled to progress with tough economic reforms to reduce public spending as demanded by the IMF and its international partners. 
"The fall of the dinar reflects this enormous trade deficit but there is no need to panic. We will take some decisions. We will limit some random imports. We have a lot of unnecessary imports," he told reporters at an event in Sfax city.
The dinar traded at 2.64 against the euro and 2.46 against the dollar on Friday for the first time, traders told Reuters.
Chahed said a cabinet meeting next week would decide on the details of the restrictions. Tunisia's trade deficit expanded by 57 percent to reach $1.68 billion in the first quarter of this year because of a jump in imports.
"We will reduce imports of many luxury goods," a government official told Reuters.
The local currency has continued its sharp decline since Finance Minister Lamia Zribi said last Tuesday the central bank would reduce interventions so that the value of the dinar gradually declines, though she said it would prevent a dramatic slide.
The IMF agreed this week to release a delayed $320 million tranche of Tunisia's $2.8 billion in loans. It called for a tighter monetary policy that would counteract inflationary pressures, and said: "greater exchange rate flexibility would help narrow the large trade deficit".
The UTICA industry and business employers' association, one of the country's major economic lobbying groups, urged the government to tackle the dinar's drop. It warned that the sharp decline of currency will increase economic pressures and hit companies that import raw materials from abroad.
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Bill Gates tells how he BANNED his kids from having mobile phones until they turned 14, loves McDonald's and wears a $10 Casio watch

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, says that he did not permit his children to own a mobile phone until they turned 14.

Gates made the revelation during an interview on Thursday with the British newspaper The Mirror.

Not only does Gates force his kids to wait until age 14 to get a smartphone, but he also limits the amount of time they could use them before going to bed.

Smartphones are also banned from the dinner table.

'We often set a time after which there is no screen time and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour,' the tech titan told The Mirror.

Gates and his wife, Melinda, are parents to Jennifer, 20; Rory, 17; and Phoebe, 14.

Despite the irony of Gates playing a pivotal role in the technological revolution of the digital age, he still thinks limits need to be in place for children.

'You're always looking at how it can be used in a great way – homework and staying in touch with friends – and also where it has gotten to excess,' the Microsoft founder said of smartphones and social media.

'We don't have cell phones at the table when we are having a meal, we didn't give our kids cell phones until they were 14 and they complained other kids got them earlier.'

Gates, whose current net worth is estimated to be approximate $87billion, appears to have become more rigid with age.

In 2013, the 60-year-old tech mogul told NBC's Today show that 13 was the appropriate age for children to begin indulging in digital screen gadgets.

'We've chosen in our family that it's 13 where you get a phone,' the self-made billionaire explained at the time.

Despite their vast wealth, the Gates family, who lives in Lake Medina, just outside Seattle, Washington, has said they want to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible.

It was previously reported that their youngsters have to complete household chores and are given a modest amount of pocket money.

And in 2010 Gates said that he intends to give most of his $61billlion fortune away rather than hand it down.

Gates, who has become an active philanthropist since resigning as Microsoft chairman in 2014, is in many ways just a regular guy. 

The Mirror reports that during its interview with Gates, he was wearing a Casio watch worth $10. 

He also insists that he's 'big on pretty mainstream American hamburgers, McDonald's, Burger King.' 

(C) dailymail.co.uk

 

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Nigerian finance minister says country needs to tap its non-oil revenues

Nigeria plans to get out of recession by boosting government revenues and cracking down on corruption, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday, and will also issue more international debt to pay for infrastructure projects.
The country is in its second year of recession, brought on by lower oil prices, which have slashed government revenues, weakened the currency and caused dollar shortages frustrating business and households.

World Bank chief economist for Africa, Albert Zeufack, on Wednesday said fiscal adjustments in Nigeria would be "extremely challenging" and that the country needs to reform its finances to ensure it can hedge against any future currency crisis.
Nigeria also ranks well in the bottom third of Transparency International's global corruption index. On Wednesday, for example, more than $43 million found in an apartment complex in Lagos was said to be related to an investigation into the handling of humanitarian aid.
Adeosun said her aim was to get the non-oil sector of Nigeria's economy which accounts for around 90 percent of GDP to contribute to government revenues.
"Improving non-oil revenues is something we are working hard on. We are rolling out measures to get more people into the tax net," Adeosun told CNBC Television.
"We are getting out of recession because we are following the right type of policies. We are improving our revenues, we are improving our efficiencies in how we spend money.
"We are investing in the infrastructure that is needed, power, rail, road, the big enablers of growing sustainable economies."

Adeosun said liquidity on currency markets has been improving as the central bank has boosted dollar supply, thanks to recently rising oil prices. She added that government was harmonising fiscal, monetary and trade policies to get the economy growing again.
However, the central bank, worried about the currency effects on inflation, has so far resisted calls to lower interest rates to 14 percent to enable the government to borrow cheaply to spend its way out of recession.
Adeosun said Nigeria plans to issue long-term debt in the international markets more regularly for infrastructure projects, taking advantage of the country's debt to GDP ratio of 13 percent. But the interest burden is rising due to low revenues.
©Reuters News

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Rwandan man jailed for life for genocide crimes

A Rwandan man accused of leading and coordinating attacks on minority Tutsis during Rwanda's 1994 genocide has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the mass slaughter, Rwanda's high court said on Thursday.
In the genocide, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in just 100 days.
Bernard Munyagishari, who headed a government-allied militia known as the Interahamwe in Rwanda's west, was convicted of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Lawyers for Munyagishari said they would appeal.
Timothée Kanyegeri, one of the three judges who convicted him, said Munyagishari had trained the militia in how to distinguish the Hutu from Tutsis. He also "told them that to kill as (for a) snake, you have to hit hard the head, otherwise it will sneak away", the judge said.
Kanyegeri said Munyagishari had transported members of the militia in buses as they went to kill the Tutsis in Rwanda's former district of Gisenyi and had personally helped to distribute guns, machetes, axes and clubs used in the killings.
Munyagishari was arrested in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011. His case was transferred to Rwanda in 2013 from Arusha, Tanzania, where the now-closed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was based.
Munyagishari is being held in Kigali's central prison and was absent during Thursday's sentencing.
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Black market naira firms as Nigerian central bank boosts dollar sale

Nigeria's naira firmed strongly on the country's black market on Thursday as traders prepared for the central bank to increase the dollar supply for exchange bureaux to keep the official retail rate higher.
The black market rate strengthened 1.27 percent to 395 naira to the dollar.

The central bank plans to sell $20,000 each to bureaux de change operators on Thursday, the operators' association president, Aminu Gwadabe, told Reuters. It sold $20,000 each earlier this week to boost liquidity.
The bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency's spread with the black market rate. On the official market, the currency was quoted at 315 on Thursday.
The spread has become far narrower thanks to central bank intervention. It was 520 to the dollar on the black market in February after the bank devalued the naira for retail customers to 375.
February's move effectively created multiple exchange rate, including official, black market and one to pay for education.
On Tuesday, the bank cut the amount of paperwork small and medium-size businesses must provide to buy dollars, also among to improve liquidity and attract them away from the black market. It also said it will sell $20,000 per quarter per business.
Gwadabe said the increase in currency sales to exchange bureaux would help take out pressure from the black market, adding that some importers were no longer bringing forward dollar demand as liquidity continues to improve.
© Reuters News

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Emirates grounds a fifth of its flights to the U.S. due as demand falls after Trump's laptop ban and immigration order

Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, slashed its flights to the United States by 20 percent Wednesday, blaming a drop in demand on tougher U.S. security measures and Trump administration attempts to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority nations.

The Dubai government-owned carrier's decision is the strongest sign yet that new measures imposed on U.S.-bound travelers from the Mideast could be taking a financial toll on fast-growing Gulf carriers that have expanded rapidly in the U.S.

Dubai was one of 10 cities in Muslim-majority countries affected by a ban on laptops and other personal electronics in carry-on luggage aboard U.S.-bound flights.

Emirates' hub at Dubai International Airport, the world's third-busiest, is also a major transit point for travelers who were affected by President Donald Trump's executive orders temporarily halting entry to citizens of six countries.

The latest travel ban suspended new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and froze the nation's refugee program. 

Like an earlier ban that also included Iraqi citizens, it has been blocked from taking effect by the courts.

Emirates said the flight reductions will affect five of its 12 U.S. destinations, with the first cutbacks starting next month.

The recent actions taken by the U.S. government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the U.S.,' the carrier said in a statement.

Emirates does not provide financial data for its U.S. operations or individual routes, but said it had seen 'healthy growth and performance' there until the start of the year.

Since Trump has been in office, however, there has been what it called 'a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our U.S. routes, across all travel segments.'

It said it is responding as 'any profit-oriented enterprise would' and will use the capacity freed up by the culled routes elsewhere on its network.

The Americas region, which also includes routes to Canada and Latin America, accounted for 14 percent of the $22.75 billion in revenue Emirates pulled in during the fiscal year through the end of March 2016.

Emirates' half-year profit fell 75 percent to $214 million in the last period the company has disclosed, through last September - before the U.S. election.

Executives cited increased investments including aircraft purchases and the repayment of bonds, and said a 'bleak' economic outlook in many parts of the world was reducing travel demand.

Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in Port Washington, New York, said business travel between the U.S. and the Middle East has clearly been hurt by the ban on gadgets, while the attempted visa bans have put a damper on leisure travel from the countries targeted.

'Neither factor is a good thing for the Middle Eastern carriers who are primarily affected,' he said.

The cuts will reduce the number of U.S.-bound flights from Dubai to 101, down from 126 currently.

Twice daily Emirates flights to Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle will fall to once a day. Daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando will be pared to five per week.

Andrew Lannon, a Canadian attorney based in Dubai, arrived in Fort Lauderdale for vacation on an Emirates flight Wednesday and said passengers had to check their electronics, which made the 18-hour flight difficult because he couldn't work.

Passengers were then told upon landing they would have to wait on the plane for an hour while their bags were checked, but were then let off after 20 minutes, Lannon said, adding that it took another hour for most passengers to clear customs.

Kevin Mitchell, head of the Business Travel Coalition in the U.S., said all the Gulf carriers are probably losing business because of the security measures and attempted travel bans, and that will hurt consumers.

'For consumers it means higher prices, fewer choices, less connectivity,' Mitchell said.

Like its smaller Gulf rivals Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Emirates has ramped up its U.S. presence and recently launched a new service to Newark via Athens.

Several big U.S. carriers and their pilot unions have bristled at the Gulf airlines' U.S. push, accusing them of flooding the market with capacity while receiving billions of dollars of unfair government subsidies.

Emirates and its Gulf rivals deny the allegations.

Despite a vigorous lobbying and public relations campaign, the U.S. carriers were unable to persuade the Obama administration to block further expansion by Gulf airlines. 

But U.S. airline executives made a personal pitch to restrict their access during a White House meeting with Trump earlier this year.

Jill Zuckman, a spokeswoman for the 'Partnership for Open & Fair Skies' campaign opposing more U.S. routes for the Gulf carriers, was quick to seize on Emirates' decision.

'The fact is, market demand has never played a role when the Gulf carriers decide where to fly. It is well known that the Gulf carriers, including Emirates, lose money on most of their flights to the United States and are propped up by billions of dollars in government cash,' she said.

The U.S. travel industry, already fretting that the ban on travelers from a number of Muslim-majority nations is affecting foreign travel generally to the United States, expressed fresh concern after Emirates' announcement, however.

'The aftermath of 9/11 taught us that we can't take either global understanding or U.S. market share for granted,' said Jonathan Grella, executive vice president the U.S. Travel Association. 

'Every limiting security message needs to be offset by a sincere welcome to legitimate, lawful travelers.'

(C) dailymail.co.uk

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Malawi cracks down on food smugglers seeking more profit

Malawi has tightened its border controls to stop profiteers smuggling much-needed maize out of the country in search of higher prices.
Months of drought had left more than a third of the population reliant on food aid, and the government last month invoked the Special Crops Act, which bans the export of some crops.
The government deployed soldiers to seal its porous borders with Tanzania and Zambia, and impounded trucks that are smuggling out the staple crop in pursuit of more profit.
Malawi police have also been searching vehicles on roads that lead to the borders.  

The size of the trucks stopped by the police suggests that large-scale traders may be involved.
“Over a period of two days, we impounded 26 trucks loaded with white maize as they were heading to Chitipa (a district bordering Zambia and Tanzania)," said Enock Livasoni, a police spokesman in Karonga district, which borders Tanzania.
Police in Chitipa detained at least 17 similar trucks carrying white maize last month, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Severe floods in 2015, followed by major drought in 2016, left 6.7 million Malawians out of a population of 17 million in need of food aid, according to U.N. agencies.
This year's harvest has recently begun and has eased the situation, although the World Food Programme said updated hunger figures were not yet available. Its emergency food aid operations ended last month, as planned.
CHASING THE MONEY
International aid agencies in Malawi say maize smuggling has increased as traders seek the higher prices paid in Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Severe drought in Kenya has left some 2.6 million people in need of food aid, and a protracted crisis in war-torn Congo means some 6.7 million rely on food aid.
Local groups question whether corrupt police officers have been involved in the smuggling, particularly in Chitipa and Karonga districts.
"The way things are happening is as though the police are complicit in this act," said Grecian Mbewe, district coordinator for Chitipa and Karonga at the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, a non-governmental organisation.
Deputy spokesman for the northern region police headquarters, Maurice Chapola, denied the corruption claims.
"If those making the allegations have evidence, let them come forward with names of the corrupt officers and we shall forthwith investigate and prosecute these officers,” Chapola said in a telephone interview.
DWINDLING SUPPLIES
Malawian farmers are required to sell their surplus to local vendors and traders. Traders resell it across the country, or to the National Food Reserve Agency, which stores maize and releases it mainly in response to humanitarian crises.
Traders can only export maize, the country’s main staple crop, if they have special clearance from the government. Such clearance has not been granted since 2008, when Malawi started experiencing a downturn in its harvests.
Maize smuggled to Zambia and Tanzania - from where it can be sold to other countries - fetches higher prices than at home.
A 50kg bag of white maize sells on average for 11,000 Malawian kwacha ($15) in towns and cities in Malawi.
Journalists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, meanwhile, say that the same amount fetches the equivalent of 17,000 kwacha ($23).
“If such smuggling continues, local (maize) supplies will continue to dwindle," said Mbewe.
“As a result, the poor will not be able to afford the price of (maize) which will rise with any increase in demand,” he added. 

©Thomson Reuters Foundation

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Ivory Coast budget hits by low cocoa price

Ivory Coast has cut planned spending for 2017 by 10 percent due to a sharp drop in world prices of cocoa, its leading export, President Alassane Ouattara said, according to Thursday's edition of the national newspaper Le Patriote.
The move is a major concession by a government that has prided itself on its stewardship of the West African country - the world's biggest cocoa exporter - during its recovery from a 2011 civil war.
It has since emerged as one of the world's fastest growing economies, drawing the interest of international investors.
Ouattara, in a speech at the presidency, said the decision to cut spending was taken during a visit this month by an International Monetary Fund delegation, according to excerpts published by the newspaper.
"Excluding salaries, we were obliged to reduce spending by 10 percent. All the ministries will tell you their budgets have been reduced by 5 to 10 percent," Ouattara said.
The investment budget was included and would be reduced by 10 percent, or about 200 billion CFA francs ($320 million).
Cocoa futures have plummeted since last year on the back of bumper crops around the world and stagnant demand.
New York cocoa futures slumped to a 9-1/2-year low on Wednesday, and the London market dropped to its lowest since 2013.

© Reuters News

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Nigeria's central bank cuts red tape for small firms seeking dollars

The Nigerian central bank cut the amount of paperwork small and medium-size businesses must provide to buy dollars on Tuesday, to improve liquidity and the ease of doing business and help narrow the gap between official and black market exchange rates.
Faced with a shortage of dollars and numerous requirements to fulfil when buying hard currency from the central bank, most small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) use the black market instead, even though the naira currency is much weaker there.
To address this, the central bank said it was switching to a new application form for those seeking to buy forex at its official window that would require only an invoice and account details of the suppliers providing the goods to be bought with foreign currency.
Its previous system had required more detailed supporting documents, it said.
"The objective of this new guideline is to ease the obstacles encountered by the SMEs and improve retail business access to the foreign exchange market," the bank said in a statement, adding that the changes were taking immediate effect.
Nigeria is grappling with a currency crisis in the wake of low oil prices that have tipped its economy into recession, hammered its dollar reserves and created chronic dollar shortages, frustrating businesses and individuals.
The local currency closed at 306 to the dollar on the official interbank market on Tuesday, while it was quoted at 407 per dollar on the black market.
Last Tuesday, the bank sold $100 million in spot sales to SMEs to inject liquidity into the official market.
The bank has said it aims to offer SMEs up to $20,000 each per quarter to prop up businesses whose access to foreign currencies has been overshadowed by larger companies.
© Reuters News

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World Bank sees sub-Saharan Africa GDP growth up in 2017 after poor 2016 performance

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is seen rising between this year and 2019, helped by better commodity prices but the continent needs to do more to boost per capita income and create jobs, World Bank chief economist for Africa said on Wednesday.
Sub-Saharan African economies have been hit by lower commodity prices which has slowed growth, slashed government revenues and weakened several of the currencies on the continent.
The World Bank said in its latest "Africa's Pulse" report that economic growth was seen expanding to 2.6 percent this year and further to 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent a year later.
Sub-Saharan African growth was an estimated 1.3 percent in 2016, the lowest for two decades, the World Bank said.

World Bank chief economist for Africa Albert Zeufack said the economies of Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa -- which make up 60 percent of GDP -- was recovering but at a weak pace and per capita income was growing in negative terms.
"We are pleased that Africa is back to growth but we are not out of the woods yet. That's why we need to strengthen reforms to make sure stability is maintained," Zeufack told reporters in Africa via webcast.
He said the upturn in economic activity is expected to continue in 2018-19, reflecting improvements in commodity prices, a pickup in global growth, and more supportive domestic conditions.
The bank said the 2016 growth was the worst for the region in more than two decades, hurt by poor performance in Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa. Though Mali and Ivory Coast grew more than six percent.
Zeufack said Nigeria needed to reform its finance to ensure it can hedge against any future currency crisis, adding that making fiscal adjustments would be "extremely challenging".
Nigeria contracted in 2016, Angola slowed due to a fall in oil production while South Africa's expansion slowed due to contractions in the mining and manufacturing industries and the effects of drought on agriculture, the bank said.
"Excluding these three countries, growth in the region was estimated to be 4.1 percent in 2016," the report said.
Zeufack said tackling infrastructure was key to stability. Only 35 percent of Africans have access to electricity which is the lowest among developing countries and that road density on the continent was also the lowest in the world.
Risks to growth could occur if there is a slippage on reforms, heightened security concerns and policy uncertainty, leading to a sudden stop in investments, Zeufack said. He also added that the growing protectionism in the West could pose a risk for sub-Saharan African economies but it could also present opportunities for the continent to be self-sufficient and create jobs.
"(Africa) needs political will, technology and the right kind of regulatory reforms. The pay-offs would be amazing," Zeufack said.

(C) Reuters News

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