ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria plans an “immediate large injection of funds” into the economy though asset sales, advance payments for license renewals and infrastructure concessions, its budget minister said on Monday.
Udoma Udo Udoma also told a business conference in Abuja that the government had almost finalized a bill asking parliament for emergency legislation powers to improve the business climate.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s agriculture ministry has formed a high level committee to try and resolve a trade standoff with Russia over agricultural commodities, the ministry said on Sunday.
Russia said on Friday it would temporarily suspend imports of fruit and vegetables from Egypt starting Sept. 22.
The Russian ban came shortly after Egyptian quarantine inspectors rejected a 60,000-tonne shipment of Russian wheat because it contained trace levels of the common grains fungus ergot, which Cairo recently banned.
Egypt is the biggest buyer of Russian wheat and Russia is a top export market for Egyptian fruits.
Moscow has a history of using threats and limiting imports in trade disputes, but Cairo’s policy over the ergot fungus has created a headache for all of Egypt’s wheat suppliers, who say guaranteeing zero ergot in shipments is impossible.
Egypt said it will send a team to Russia at the end of September to discuss the trade standoff, just ahead of the start of its citrus export season.
The ministry of agriculture’s committee will also meet with the Russian ambassador in Cairo to discuss Russia’s ban and to “avoid any obstacles” to solving the issue, the ministry said in a statement.
(Reporting by Eric Knecht; Editing by Susan Fenton)
ALGIERS (Reuters) – OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said the meeting of OPEC members and non-OPEC producers in Algiers this month would be an informal meeting for consultations and not for decision making, Algerian state news agency APS said on Satuday.
Algeria’s energy minister has said there is a consensus among OPEC and non-OPEC producers about the need to stabilise the oil market to support prices.
“It will be an informal meeting, it is not a meeting for making decisions,” Barkindo said during a visit to Algiers, according to APS agency, referring to an energy conference between Sept. 26 and Sept. 28.
“We met in June, it is September now and a lot of things happened between the two dates,” he said.
His comments appeared to play down suggestions of a major decision at the Algiers meeting where Russia, Iran and other major oil producers were due to meet on the sidelines.
Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed this month to cooperate in oil markets, saying they could limit future output. That pushed up prices on the view in markets that the two top oil producers would be working together to tackle oversupply.
Several OPEC producers have called for an output freeze to rein in the glut, which arose as supplies from high-cost producers such as the United States soared. A price collapse in the last two years has hit the revenues of major producers.
OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, has also signalled willingness to cooperate as it faces such pressures.
But any deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producer Russia would be the first in 15 years. Moscow agreed to cut output in tandem with OPEC at the turn of the millennium, although Russia never followed through on that promise.
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Louise Ireland)
NANTES, France (Reuters) – Egypt took delivery of a second French Mistral helicopter carrier on Friday, part of a $1 billion deal signed last year.
Egypt took over the ship at a ceremony in the Atlantic coast port of Saint-Nazaire. It was the second of two France agreed last year to sell to Egypt.
The two ships were originally built for sale to Russia, but that sale was cancelled after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“It has been a very complicated, uncertain period to manage, but thanks to the French government’s support, we were able to find a navy that needed it,” a spokesman for the state-backed shipbuilder DCNS told Reuters.
The French naval contractor had to strip out all the ship’s information systems and instructions written in Cyrillic script and replace them with Arabic and English lettering.
The “Anwar El-Sadat” will sail from Saint-Nazaire early next week for joint exercises with the French navy before setting off for Alexandria.
The Mistral is known as the “Swiss army knife” of the French navy for its versatility. Capable of carrying vessels and tanks, the will serve as command centres for the Egyptian fleet.
Cairo has tried to boost its military power in the face of a two-year insurgency in northern Sinai and fears that civil war in neighbouring Libya could spill over.
Egypt has also ordered four corvettes, 100-metres long, that will be built in two years, and negotiations are under way to order two more, the spokesman for DCNS told Reuters.
($1 = 0.8912 euros)
(Reporting by Guillaume Frouin,; writing by Maya Nikolaeva, editing by Larry King)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Building work has started in Ivory Coast on a 372-megawatt power plant worth 500 million euros financed mainly by China Construction Bank and set to open in 2018, Richard Amon, chairman of Star Energie 2073, said on Thursday.
The bank is providing 75 percent of funds for the Songon power station near the commercial capital Abidjan, while 25 percent will come from companies including General Electric and Star Energie 2073, which is an Ivorian firm and the project leader.
China Energy Engineering Corporation will lead construction of the plant’s three turbines, which are provided by General Electric. The plant comprises two gas turbines of 126 MW and one 120-MW steam turbine.
“Work has already started on the ground and the first megawatts will be online in the second half of 2018,” Amon told Reuters.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa grower, has emerged from a decade of crisis as one of Africa’s economic stars but rapid growth has placed a strain on its power sector.
Demand for power is rising by about 10 percent per year and the government is seeking investment to double output to 4,000 MW by 2020. Ivory Coast has reliable electricity and exports power to Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Mali, Togo and Liberia.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
By Ange Aboa
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – There will be no cancellation or reselling of Ivory Coast’s 2016/17 cocoa contracts, the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) said on Thursday, reacting to the sharp drop in prices early this week sparked by its demand for exporters’ paperwork.
The CCC in a memorandum distributed last week gave exporters in the world’s largest producer six days to supply documentation for export contracts. Failure to furnish the documents, which include proof of a counterparty, would see the contracts cancelled and resold, it said.
The news caused prices in London and New York to plummet to multi-month lows, as some traders believed that reselling the contracts would lead to the cocoa reaching the international market quicker.
“There will not be any cancellation of contracts or reselling of contracts,” Djibril Fadiga, the CCC’s deputy managing director responsible for sales, told reporters following a news conference in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
“There is no risk to the system,” he added.
Fadiga had earlier said there would be no impact on next season’s government-guaranteed farmer price, which is based on the average price of forward sold cocoa.
Exporters said last week that the CCC had taken the step after realising that small, domestic operators had purchased contracts for the 2016/17 season, which opens in October, without securing prices with off-takers.
World prices have since dropped and left those exporters unable to execute the contracts, they added.
A finance ministry official and five exporters last week told Reuters that 200,000 to 250,000 tonnes worth of cocoa contracts could be resold, and some international firms were already preparing to pick up bargains. [nL8N1BL2KE][nL8N1BP4CL]
Ivory Coast forward sells between 70 and 80 percent of its anticipated cocoa crop in order to guarantee a stable price for farmers. It had already auctioned 1.1 million tonnes of the 2016/17 crop by July.
The West African nation, which controls roughly 40 percent of global supply, produced a record crop of around 1.8 million tonnes of beans during the 2014/15 season.
(Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Jason Neely and Elaine Hardcastle)
By Geert De Clercq
LONDON (Reuters) – A massive nuclear tender in South Africa is open to all bidders prepared to manufacture locally and share technology, and Russia is not the frontrunner, the head of the country’s nuclear agency said.
After meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Jacob Zuma, Rosatom had been considered the leading candidate to build 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity in South Africa by 2030.
“Russia is not the frontrunner. It never was,” Phumzile Tshelane, CEO of South African nuclear state agency Necsa, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Nuclear Association conference.
South Africa wants to deepen its nuclear know-how, save costs and create jobs by making sure it picks a company that is happy to share the manufacturing and maintenance.
Stressing that the tender was an “open race”, Tshelane, a nuclear physicist said: “We do not want a Build, Own, Operate model.”
Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom has sold several nuclear reactors to developing countries, including Turkey, under the “BOO” model, whereby Russia finances, builds and operates the nuclear plant and sells power to its customer.
In countries with a strong nuclear tradition, Rosatom has also built reactors with a different model that involves more input from local companies.
ECONOMIC BOOTSTRAP
Tshelane said he wants between a third and half of the construction to take place locally, which would also help to keep the cost down.
“If you localise construction, money does not flow out of the country but circulates locally and creates jobs. Nuclear energy must help bootstrap our economy,” he said.
Tshelane said a “Build, Own, Transfer” model could work for South Africa. South Korea’s Kepco has used a similar model to build nuclear plants in Abu Dhabi.
“Ours is almost like the Korean model, where you work together and can have a partnership,” he said.
He said Necsa does not want a “turnkey model” under which a company builds a plant and then hands it over to the operator. This is a model French company Areva has used for its Olkiluoto project in Finland.
Neither does it want to replicate a model that has been used in China, under which the customer acquires intellectual property rights and then builds the plant itself. Areva and Toshiba-owned Westinghouse have signed such deals in China.
The South African government has signed memorandums of understanding about nuclear with Russian, Chinese, South Korean, French and American reactor makers.
All are hopeful of winning the business, estimated by some to be worth up to $100 billion, a boon for an industry still floundering after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
CRITICISM
South Africa, which has the continent’s only nuclear power station, wants to diversify away from mainly coal-based energy production, a move Zuma says is important for economic growth.
But critics say the government should spend more on renewables such as wind and solar rather than on one of the world’s largest and most expensive nuclear projects. They are watching the tender process – to be launched at the end of the month – carefully to make sure it is transparent.
The meetings between Zuma and Putin over the last two years had led to speculation that Rosatom had secured the deal before the launch of the public tender.
It also fueled criticism from the opposition, some analysts and domestic media, who said that Zuma was trying to use the tender process to secure contracts for business associates in his last two years in office. Zuma has denied that charge.
Tshelane, 54, said it was in any case unlikely that one company would get a contract to build all the reactors.
“Nobody will sign a deal for 9.6 gigawatt,” he said.
He said the first contract would likely be for between one and three plants out of a possible total of 10.
“If we are happy together, we can look at ordering more,” he said.
The existing nuclear power plant – run by domestic utility Eskom – generates five percent of the country’s power and uses two 1980s French-built Pressurised Water Reactors, the most common type of reactor. Tshelane said South Africa wants to stick with the PWR technology with which it familiar.
He said it was also important that the company building the power station had an existing plant of the same nature that can be used as a reference point.
Asked whether that meant South Africa would rule out France’s Areva – which has four European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) under construction but no operating ones yet – he said it would need to be working by the time the South African reactors are built.
NUCLEAR FUEL
Tshelane said that South Africa, which has large uranium reserves, also wants to build its own nuclear fuel manufacturing cycle but has no plans to start up the high-tech and politically-sensitive uranium enrichment process.
“Enrichment is embroiled in geopolitics,” Tshelane said. He said South Africa does not completely rule out enriching its own uranium eventually but is unlikely to do so in the next decade.
South Africa currently produces uranium as a byproduct of gold mining – but not enough to supply the new nuclear plants.
“Necsa wants to own a uranium mine in South Africa. We want to control our uranium resources from cradle to grave,” he said.
South Africa also wants to convert its own yellowcake milled uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride that is ready for enrichment and make its own nuclear fuel using uranium enriched abroad.
Tshelane said that a contract for a new research reactor would be part of the tender procedure. South Africa’s 50-year old 20 MW research reactor is used to produce radio isotopes for medical purposes.
He said a new research reactor would be crucial for the development of South Africa’s nuclear industry, both for producing nuclear fuel and for testing nuclear equipment.
(Editing by Ed Cropley and Anna Willard)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Moody’s may cut the ratings of five South African state-owned firms, including utility Eskom, it said on Wednesday, citing funding risks after some local institutional investors said they had stopped lending to some parastatals.
Asset manager Futuregrowth, which manages client assets of about $12 billion, and rival Abax Investments said this month they had reduced or stopped lending to several state-run firms due to political uncertainty and governance issues.
Moody’s said in a statement it was putting Eskom’s Ba1 rating on review for downgrade on the grounds that its funding needs were exacerbated by the rising cost of buying power from independent producers, as well as its spending to revamp and build new power stations.
Eskom is building new plants and transmission lines to augment a power grid that nearly collapsed in 2008 and forced the company to implement controlled blackouts, or load shedding, early last year that dented economic growth.
Chief Financial Officer Anoj Singh called the review “unfortunate” and said Eskom would meet Moody’s to resolve its concerns.
“The review by Moody’s is unfortunate given the progress made towards improving the company’s financial profile, successful implementation of the operations turnaround plan and Eskom’s healthy liquidity position,” Singh said in a statement.
Moody’s is also reviewing the ratings of four other state-controlled entities: the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Industrial Development Corporation, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) and Land Bank.
“Today’s review for downgrade … primarily reflects the increased risk of funding and liquidity challenges, following some signals of increased risk aversion by funding counterparties owing to market concerns regarding the governance of South African state-owned enterprises,” Moody’s said.
Many of South Africa’s 300-odd state-owned companies, including South African Airways, are a drain on the government’s purse and rating agencies have singled out some as threat to the country’s investment grade rating.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma last month defended plans to give his office supervision over state-controlled companies after allies of under-fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said it was a tool to limit his control.
Analysts have said Zuma’s team and the Treasury under Gordhan have disagreed about government spending, including on loss-making state firms, such as South African Airways.
Gordhan has pledged to rein in government spending to limit rising inflation, narrow a gaping budget deficit and appease ratings agencies considering cutting South Africa to “junk” status in reviews expected by December.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by David Clarke and Catherine Evans)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast has awarded a project to upgrade its second port of San Pedro to global shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the Bilal Group, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital Abidjan, Bruno Kone said MSC would invest 122 billion CFA francs ($209.14 million) and the Bilal Group 186 billion CFA francs ($318.83 million) under the build-operate-transfer deal.
($1 = 583.3300 CFA francs)
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Joe Bavier and Emma Farge)
By Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s economy is on track to expand by 7.2 percent in 2016, up from 7 percent in 2015, boosted by construction, an anti-corruption drive and better management of public resources, the central bank governor said on Wednesday.
President John Magufuli, elected last year, has launched a campaign against corruption and government waste, and promised to improve transport links and other infrastructure.
The International Monetary Fund told Tanzania in July to curb public spending, which has risen on the back of its infrastructure plans, and urged the government to implement structural reforms.
“Economic growth this year will be boosted by the government’s ongoing efforts to tackle corruption, strengthen the management of public resources and construction of infrastructure as part of the country’s industrialisation plan,” Bank of Tanzania Governor Benno Ndulu told a news conference.
Ndulu also said the shilling had been steady in the first half of 2016 thanks to growing exports of goods and services and a slide in import costs, largely due to weaker global oil prices.
The governor said the shilling had traded in a range of 2,180 to 2,190 to the dollar in the first six months of 2016. At 1257 GMT on Wednesday, banks quoted the shilling at 2,177.
“We expect the shilling to remain stable for the rest of the year,” he said, adding that inflation was expected to remain in single digits in line with the government’s mid-term target of 5 percent. It was 4.9 percent in the year to August.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Hugh Lawson)
