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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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,...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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