Daily Watch

15th July 2015

    • A deal was reached between negotiators representing six world powers, and the Islamic Republic of Iran on Tuesday, which could see sanctions lifted and Iran re-engaged with world commerce. Although the deal was hailed as landmark, it has been received with mixed reactions from observers. The biggest concern among sceptics is that Iran continues to be the lead sponsor of terrorism in the world, and relieving sanctions would make the its regime flush with cash and create a more dangerous threat to the United States and its allies. For Nigeria, the deal can only mean less income in the short to medium term as Iran’s re-entry into world commerce means that there will be more oil in a global market already experiencing a glut of the product. Iran will be the world’s seventh largest oil producer, Nigeria is twelfth.
  • Nigeria’s inflation continued creeping upwards according to latest statistics. It rose to 9.2 percent year-on-year in June, in line with expectations but above the central bank’s target upper limit, from 9.0 percent in May. This marks the highest rate since February 2013, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Food inflation rose higher to 10 percent year-on-year in June, up by 0.2 percentage points from May, as a result of disruptions in fuel distribution which impacted on food prices.
  • Stanbic IBTC is looking to raise N20.4 billion ($102.6 million) in a rights issue this year. It is also going to seek shareholders’ vote to distribute a scrip dividend to boost its capital base, the bank said on Tuesday. According to the bank’s CEO Sola David-Borha, there is the expectation that increased regulatory pressure will weigh on industry profits this year. The bank has revised its loan growth expectations lower to 10 percent. Its loans have grown by 4 percent in the first six months of the year.
  • Shell has lifted a force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Forcados crude oil stream that had been in place for more than two months, the company said on Tuesday. This follows the completion of repairs on the NPDC-operated Trans Forcados Pipeline. The company declared force majeure on the evening of May 5 following a series of leaks in the Trans-Forcados pipeline that conveys the oil to the export terminal.