The Senate will this morning commence the third reading of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) after it deferred deliberations last week. The postponement last week was due to the failure of senators to form a quorum, apparently as a result of the ongoing political campaigns. Last Tuesday, only 23 of 109 senators, 10 short of the required minimum to form…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Bureau de Change (BDCs) operators against failure to make timely report on its operations to the regulator. Director of Trade and Exchange of the CBN, Batari Musa, in his message in the 2011 annual general meeting of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) held in Lagos emphasised the…
Cyril Agbele, Accountant General of Delta State has advised that the three tiers of government should be fully involved in the utilisation of the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). When established by law, the SWF would over-ride the Excess Crude Account into which the Federal Government currently deposits excess crude oil revenue and shares with other tiers of government as…
Nigeria and Canada are set to improve their trade and investment relations, Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia, has said. Mr. Ajumogobia spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend in Washington D.C. after a one-day visit to Canada on Wednesday.He described trade relations between both countries as ‘‘not significant'', compared with a ``very good'' political and diplomatic…
Ethiopia's currency devaluation boosted exports in the past six months and helped narrow the burgeoning trade gap, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said. The Ethiopian birr was devalued by 16.7 percent in September last year to bolster competitiveness, the fourth such move since 2009. Ethiopia's export revenue reached $1.11 billion during the first half of this year, while first-quarter revenue rose…
Egypt will reopen its stock exchange before March 28 so the bourse is not removed from global indices, the finance minister was quoted as saying on the prime minister's Facebook page on Saturday. Samir Radwan said one of the reasons for the continued closure of the stock exchange was that the situation in Egypt had not "not reached the improvement…
The U.N. Security Council may consider a proposal to set up an escrow account for Cote d' Ivoirecocoa revenues to keep them out of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's hands, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. Amid fears of a new civil war in Ivory Coast, Gbagbo rejected an African Union proposal at a summit on Thursday offering him a safe exit in…
Construction work on silo projects in various parts of the country will soon be completed, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Najeem Awodele, has assured. Mr Awodele gave the assurance in Ilesa, Osun State, when he inspected the N1.5 billion silo-project under construction in the town. He reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to develop agriculture,…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The naira dipped further against the United States dollar on the interbank market on Wednesday after the Central…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Royal Dutch Shell is about to complete the sale of its stake in four onshore oil blocks in…
Higher fuel prices pushed inflation in Ghana higher in February for the second month in a row, according to data on Wednesday that heightened speculation over a possible monetary tightening. Annual inflation rose to 9.16 per cent from 9.08 per cent in January, the second monthly rise after 19 months of falls. It was expected after the government implemented a…
Zimbabwe will effectively nationalise half of the country's key resources sector by setting up a sovereign wealth fund to own 51 percent stake of mining companies, a government minister said on Wednesday. Saviour Kasukuwere, minister of youth empowerment and indigenisation, said the government in the resource-rich country will publish guidelines on mine ownership regulations on Friday and the rules take…
The Federal Government has said it is making steady progress towards achieving the target of the Roadmap it set last year for the power sector. Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, who presided over the meeting of the Presidential Action Committee (PAC) on Power on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, told reporters in Abuja that government effort so far resulted in…
A move by Cote d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbagbo to take the cocoa sector into state hands triggered an alarm on Tuesday, as industry officials feared a huge financial hit if it meant their stocks in the country would be seized. Exporters said they were seeking urgent clarification on whether a late-night decree issued on Monday covered 475,000 tonnes of unexported beans…
Libyan oil trade has been paralysed as banks decline to clear payments in dollars due to U.S. sanctions, trading sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The move follows a decision by major U.S. oil firms to halt trade with Libya and will complicate deals for European firms to buy Libyan oil. Around half of Libya’s oil output, or more than one…