Daily Watch – China makes demands before opening wallet, Northern guvs join search for oil

15th August 2016

  • The Chinese government has made key demands from the FG as a prerequisite for a $20 billion loan deal to be financed by the China EXIMbank. Some of the conditions include that the FG, through representatives from key ministries such as Finance, Budget and National Planning, Foreign Affairs, among others, fine-tune terms and agreements, including a possible repayment plan with the China Ministry of Commerce; fast-tracking the understudying of key areas Nigeria needs the concessionary loan for, as well as the appointment of key Chinese officials to closely supervise funds released to the Nigerian government.
  • MAN says the CBN policy of excluding 41 items from the interbank market has led to the shutdown of at least 50 companies. MAN president, Frank Udemba Jacobs, said the policy “is still a problem.” Jacobs did not mention the names of the affected companies. The CBN had excluded 41 items from accessing the foreign exchange market on the basis that the items they import can be manufactured locally.
  • Dangote Flour Mills’s saw operating profit for H1 2016 rise to ₦8.47 billion, a few months after the firm was reacquired from Tiger Branded Consumers Goods. The group posted a profit before tax of ₦2.64 billion in the half-year ended June 30, 2016, compared to a loss of ₦9.55 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2015. Dangote Flour Mills consists of Dangote Flour, Dangote Pasta, and Dangote Noodles. In a statement, the group described the financial performance as “heartwarming.”
  • The NEPC has said Nigerian exporters are losing out on the opportunities provided by the US African Growth and Opportunity Act. The agency’s Southwest Coordinator, Babatunde Faleke said exporters of non-oil products and commodities had been exporting with duties of between 16 and 25 percent, all of which could be removed if they export under the AGOA regime, noting that many exporters have not exported under AGOA because of improper information and documentation.
  • The Northern Nigeria Development Company, owned by the 19 northern state governments, say the company has hired a British company to commence oil and gas exploration activities in the Lake Chad and Benue basins. This comes a few weeks after President Buhari had directed the NNPC to increase the tempo of its exploration activities in the North-East; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, had earlier said that the Federal Government would begin drilling activities in the Chad Basin from the third quarter of this year.