OPEC, Russia agree oil cut extension to end of 2018

OPEC and non-OPEC producers led by Russia agreed on Thursday to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018 as they try to finish clearing a global glut of crude while signalling a possible early exit from the deal if the market overheats.Russia, which this year reduced production significantly with OPEC for the first time, has been pushing for a clear message on how to exit the cuts so the market doesn’t flip into a deficit too soon, prices don’t...

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Nigeria's dollar reserves at $34.53 bln as of Nov. 24

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $34.53 billion as of Nov. 24, up nearly 3 percent from a month earlier, central bank data showed on Thursday.The bank did not provide a reason for the increase in reserves, which stood at $33.58 billion at the same date last month.Nigeria’s forex buffer has climbed 40.5 percent this year from a year ago but is still far off a peak of $64 billion hit in August 2008.Meanwhile, The naira is seen stable on...

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Nigeria's Seven-Up gets $60 mln takeover offer after losses

Nigeria’s Seven-Up bottling company has received an offer from its majority shareholder Affelka to buy out minorities for 19.33 billion naira ($60 million), in a takeover deal aimed at restructuring the struggling company.Privately-held Affelka, the investment firm of the Lebanese El-Khalil family, has offered to acquire 171.5 million shares from minorities at 112.70 naira per share, an 18 percent premium to Thursday’s share price of 95.50 naira.It...

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Fitch says Nigeria targets consolidation but revenues may fall short

Nigeria's 2018 budget aims to narrow the government deficit, but revenues are still highly dependent on oil, and non-oil revenues are likely to fall short of the budget projections, Fitch Ratings says. President Muhammadu Buhari presented the budget to parliament on 7 November. The "Budget for Consolidation" sees the Federal Government of Nigeria's (FGN) fiscal deficit narrowing to 1.7 percent of GDP in 2018, from the 2.8 percent that Fitch expects...

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Will OPEC extend its output accord?

OPEC’s output cap agreement has halved oversupply in the oil market, driving the average price up 23.2 percent from $43.8/barrel in 2016 to $54.0/barrel in 2017. This has supported economies of African countries like Angola as well as Nigeria and Libya, which have both ramp-up production while benefiting from an exemption clause.  This has also supported currency market liquidity and revenue buffers required to balance budgets in key oil exporting...

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How Nigerian SEC DG pays self 104.85 mln naira severance while still in service

Nigeria has suspended the head of its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo and set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of financial impropriety against him. In a statement issued by the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, Gwarzo was suspended from office allow for an unhindered investigation of several allegations of financial impropriety levelled against the Director-General. The minister, according...

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Nigeria hits 79 pct tax revenue target in 10-month

Nigeria has met about 79 percent of its revenue target from taxes within the first ten months of the year, and its geared to ramp up collection before the year runs to an end, says the chief executive of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).Tunde Fowler said the FIRS has generated a total of 3.23 trillion naira in the first ten months of the year through taxes, which represents about 79.35 percent of the amount projected for the whole year.Fowler...

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Nigeria's stock market seen closing the year higher, analysts express concerns

The Nigeria's stock market is growing in leap and bound, thanks to the increasing flows of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) into the country, aided by the introduction of the investor and exporter foreign exchange window by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) early in the year.The stock market has grown 39 percent year-to-date as FPIs are taking advantage of improved fundamentals in the capital market and the attractive yields on local fixed assets...

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Capital Importation into Nigeria: Hot money up, Cold money down -United Capital

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released Nigerian capital importation data for Q3-17, indicating total capital imported increased 127.5 percent y/y and 131.3 percent q/q to $4.1 billion. The bulk of these came in form of Foreign Portfolio (FPIs) and Other Investments (comprising of; Trade credits, Loans, Currency deposits and Other claims) which advanced 200.7 percent and 124.5 percent y/y respectively in contrast to Foreign...

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Nigeria attracts $4.2 bln capital inflows in Q3 -NBS

The total value of capital imported into Nigeria more than doubled in the third quarter to $4.15 billion, after the economy emerged from a recession, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.Nigeria’s economy grew in the second quarter, climbing out of its first recession in 25 years, as oil revenues rose. Last year the central bank imposed currency controls to prevent a collapse in the naira, which affected foreign capital inflows.The...

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Ghana slashes key interest rate to 3-yr low as inflation slows

Ghana cut its benchmark interest rate to the lowest in more than three years as inflation slows toward the central bank’s target.The Bank of Ghana reduced the rate to 20 percent, Governor Ernest Addison, told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Monday. Of the eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg, four forecast the move.Ghana will meet the inflation target of 6 percent to 10 percent “at worst” by the second quarter of next year, Addison said.West...

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Kenya seeks proposals for $2 billion Eurobond sale

Kenya’s government is seeking proposals from banks about a possible $2 billion Eurobond offering in the first quarter of 2018, according to two people familiar with the matter.The East African nation’s Treasury asked banks for pitches on how to structure the sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The deadline for proposals is Nov. 29, they said.Kenya’s return to international...

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Nigeria says devises fresh policy to achieve power reform objectives

Nigeria has assured the World Bank of its commitment to follow through power sector reforms to achieve its objective of stable and constant energy supply in the country. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo told the bank official on a visit to his office that the government was appreciative of the support by the World Bank to the implementation of the Power sector recovery programme of the government.The delegation of the World Bank (WB) and the International...

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Don't clean your ears with cotton buds, say experts

Cotton buds should not be used to clean ears, health officials say.Inserting a bud could damage the ear canal and eardrum and push wax further down, according to the health watchdog.The draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) also says that ear syringing, in which a large metal syringe is used to pump water manually into the ear to clear out wax, is potentially harmful and should no longer be used.Its committee...

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Nigeria… in need of bold reforms -United Capital

Suppressed by military rule, Nigeria’s GDP growth averaged 1.7 percent in the 90s amid extreme hostilities in the socio-political environment.  Nevertheless, democracy ushered in an era of fast GDP growth (averaging 8.6 percent) from 2000 to 2010. Over the last 7 years, growth in the Nigerian economy has slowed significantly, battered by mismanagement, insecurity and the collapse in oil prices.While bold reforms in the Banking, Telecoms, Capital...

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Nigeria plans to increase taxes on luxury cars, alcohol, others

Barely all unforeseeable changes in policy, Nigeria plans to impose taxes on luxury items, including cars, alcohol and some other products consume by the elites in a move to boost revenue and enhance its fiscal policy. The special tax, which is been contemplated by the government was designed to raise more revenue from non-oil sector and is targeted to generate additional one trillion naira in its quest to plug the ap in the 2018 budget.it was...

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Nigeria holds main lending rate, calls recovery "fragile"

Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 14 percent on Tuesday and said the recovery of Africa’s biggest economy from its first recession in a generation remained fragile.Governor Godwin Emefiele said eight committee members had voted to hold the main rate, while one voted for a cut. All other policy parameters were kept unchanged.“Inflation, in particular, requires very close monitoring to gain clarity on the medium-term optimum...

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African richest man, Dangote to commission $500 mln cement plant in Congo this week

African richest man, Aliko Dangote is poised to commission the Congo plants of its cement factory this week in his bid to expand production capacity and increase its share of the commodity market in the continent.  The plan, with a capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum is valued at $500 million, according to a statement by Dangote Cement Plc. The plant, described as the largest in Congo, rolled out its first bag of cement on August...

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How the whole world is leaving Nigeria behind in everything

In the last couple of days, the Ikeja Electric has been battling to restore power supply to my area, Journalists’ Estate, Arepo, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, simply as a result of a faulty transformer, which is as old as the estate itself. The transformer develops faults every other week while sometimes it will take the Ikeja Electric’s engineers days to rectify the fault. This was a localised problem and notwithstanding the general malaise plaguing...

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Nigeria says to raise $3 bln in Eurobond at 6.5 pct, 7.6 pct by Nov 28

Nigeria on Monday said it plans to close the deal of its fourth Eurobond issuance with a total of $3 billion in two tranches on or before November 28, as part of its $4.5 billion Global Medium Term Note programme, the Debt Management Office has said. In a statement on Monday, the debt office said it has priced the $1.5 billion naira 10-year debt at 6.5 percent while the $1.5 billion 30-year tenor debt will bear interest at 7.62 percent. “Successful...

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Nigeria welcomes Q3 GDP, says economy steadily improving

Nigeria has welcome the latest improvement in the country's economic growth and promised to continue to work diligently to ensure inclusive growth through pursuant to a raft of policy initiatives, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced 1.40 percent growth in the country's GDP for the third quarter of the year in its latest bulletin on Monday."The Buhari administration welcomes the new growth figures...

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Nigerian GDP accelerates to 1.4 pct in Q3 -NBS

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  1.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, extending the gains started in the second quarter when the Africa's biggest economy exited recession, according to the latest data from National Bureau Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The West African country returned to growth in the second quarter of 2017 but the recovery has been fragile due to the continuation of depressed oil revenues and a shortage...

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Ivory Coast to allow cocoa farms in protected reserves areas

Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, plans to legalize farming on almost 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of protected reserves to help balance the rebuilding of forests with the output of its most important export. Unauthorized farming has destroyed three-quarters of 66 identified reserves and the government wants to reclassify these areas as “protected agroforests” where existing farming may continue while new trees are planted, according...

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Saudi energy minister: see oil glut persists till March 2018

 Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has predicted that there would be oil glut in the global market till the end-March next year, signalling a willingness to extend output cuts when OPEC meets at the end of November to decide on whether to extend caps well into 2018. Khalid al-Falih said the exit from production cuts would be gradual to make sure market reaction is smooth. He expressed reservation on the rapid increase in the global oil price,...

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Ahead of MPC Meeting..to hold or cut, asks United Capital

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will hold its last meeting for the year on November 20 and 21, to consider possible rate-setting choices in view of recent developments and outlook of the Nigerian economy.  In its previous meeting, the Committee considered the options of tightening, loosening or maintaining the status quo. In the upcoming meeting, we believe the policy choices will now be limited to two - hold or cut rates. Between the last...

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Ghana plans to spend $13 bln in 2018

Ghana has proposed to spend  62 billion Ghana cedis ($13.9 billion) in the 2018 fiscal year, the country’s finance minister has said.Presenting the budget proposal to parliament, Kenneth Ofori-Atta, said the spending plans, with the theme “Putting Ghana Back to Work”, would continue and expand programmes that began in 2017 and initiate new strategic programmes in 2018.This expenditure, the minister said, would be financed from revenue and...

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Africa’s richest woman just got fired

Angolan President Joao Lourenco dismissed Isabel dos Santos as chair of state-owned oil company Sonangol as he takes aim at the family of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.Africa’s richest woman was relieved of her post along with the entire board of Sonangol, according to a presidential statement. Later Wednesday the government ordered the state television station to terminate contracts for the management of a local and an international state-owned...

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Experts says Kenya's economy could face a bleak 2018

Kenya could face dare economic storm in 2018 in the aftermath of its twice disputed presidential elections.Kenya now risks missing the government’s projection of 6 percent growth in the economy come 2018, according to top lenders as the East African country is saddled with the triple threat of austerity measures to pay for those votes, slowing credit growth and new accounting rules for banks. Nairobi-based Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd and Investec Bank...

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Factors to watch in Nigeria economy in 2018

The Nigerian economy has improved significantly so far this year. Although weak, GDP is on the path of recovery, inflation is moderating, and FX rate has been relatively stable over the last six months.  The four factors responsible for the above include, OPEC's output cap agreement, government peace deal with N/Delta militants, FGN's ease of doing business initiative/massive spending efforts and the currency market reform.Evidently, the factors...

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Decline in food index help slow down Nigerian inflation to 15.91 pct

The sudden drop in Nigeria food index has helped the Africa's biggest economy recorded moderate growth in its consumer inflation figure for the month of October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday in a report. The annual consumer inflation slowed for the ninth month in a row in October to 15.91 percent from 15.98 percent the previous month. However, the food price index slowed to 20.31 percent in October, compared with 20.32...

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Nigeria, others African countries owe airlines $1.2 bln

The global airline industry has $1.2 billion blocked in nine dollar-strapped African countries, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Monday. The global commodities price crash that began in 2014 hit economies across Africa hard, particularly big resource exporters such as Angola and Nigeria.  Low oil and mineral prices have reduced government revenue and caused chronic dollar shortages and immense pressure on local currencies. The...

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