KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s shilling extended losses on Wednesday as banks sought to cover short dollar positions amid uncertainty before next month’s presidential election and traders also cited an excess in local currency liquidity.
By 0948 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,475/3,485, compared with Tuesday’s close of 3,450/3,460. The shilling has lost nearly 3 percent of its value against the dollar so far this year.
“There’s general uncertainty being generated by the coming election so there’s a lot of speculation-driven demand by banks to cover short positions,” said Shahzad Kamaluddin, a trader at Crane Bank. He also noted a lot of shilling liquidity.
The presidential election is due on Feb. 18, and some analysts are concerned about possible vote-related violence.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Edmund Blair)
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Faster growth in the construction, mining and transport sectors pushed Tanzania’s growth higher in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the same period a year earlier, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The economy grew 6.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter compared with 5.4 percent in the same quarter in 2014, the state-run National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
“Sectors that drove GDP growth in Q3 2015 include construction, mining and quarrying and transport,” Albina Chuwa, director general of NBS, told a news conference.
Tanzania’s total exports of goods and services during July-September 2015 rose by 3.3 percent, Chuwa added. Gold accounts for 89 percent of Tanzania’s mineral exports.
(Reporting by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala; writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Heavens)
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s state-backed AMCON “bad bank” said on Tuesday it plans to sell its majority stake in Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited, a local joint venture with the major French automaker, and is seeking bids from investors.
Peugeot Citroen is the technical partner to the Nigerian assembly plant, which has capacity to assemble 240 cars a day, PAN said on its website.
In a statement, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said it owned 79.3 percent of PAN Nigeria Limited, having acquired the stake four years ago after purchasing the company’s debt and taking some as equity.
PAN Nigeria Limited was set up in 1972 as a joint venture between the Nigerian government and France’s Peugeot, with an annual production of 90,000 cars by the 1980s.
But operations nosedived and the company accumulated bad loans shortly after the government sold its stake via a privatisation to local core investors in 2006.
AMCON said PAN Nigeria had assets totalling 24.96 billion naira ($125.43 million) as of December 2014 and equity of 11.98 billion naira, and was seeking investors with experience in automobile manufacturing to buy the stake on offer.
Bids will close on Jan. 26 at 1600 GMT, it said.
President Muhammadu Buhari is keen to promote a “Made in Nigeria” industrial policy. In November, he met Peugeot’s executive vice president for Africa and the Middle-East, Jean-Christophe Quemard, to discuss the revival of local production.
The government under a National Automotive Industry Development Plan has ordered local car distributors to come up with plans for new assembly plants, along with threats of imposing prohibitive import duties.
U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co’s partnership with a local car dealer has built its first model in Nigeria at a new assembly plant in November and said it will produce an initial 10 vehicles a day for the domestic market.
The auto market in Africa’s biggest economy has huge potential but only a small number of new vehicles are sold annually because the sector is dominated by imported used vehicles, and the absence of an industrial policy that would encourage suppliers to set up in Nigeria has stunted growth.
AMCON was set up to absorb bad loans from banks after a $4 billion bailout in 2009 rescued nine lenders from collapse. AMCON then bought bad loans at a discount in exchange for government-backed bonds and has since been selling off collaterals against those loans to pay bondholders.
(Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The new head of the African Development Bank says his top priority is to develop the continent’s energy infrastructure to spur economic growth.
Akinwumi Adesina, known for his reforms and anti-corruption efforts as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nigeria, became president of the bank on September 1, 2015. The bank is one of Africa’s largest lending institutions and finances projects to improve electricity, water and transportation.
“My top priority will be to focus the Bank to deliver on “power-for-all” – a universal access to electricity for Africa. Nothing is more important to Africa than access to power,” Adesina said in his vision statement for his candidacy for president.
Lack of energy slows development
Adesina said lack of energy is the greatest obstacle to the development of the continent.
“The development of the energy infrastructure for Africa will drive more rapid economic and social development of the continent, by reducing the cost of doing business, powering industrial growth, unlocking entrepreneurship of millions of small and medium size enterprises, improving educational and health systems and deepening financial services, driving agro processing to create jobs,” he said.
He noted that Africa’s total energy capacity is only 147 GW – similar to that of Belgium. He wants to expand that to 700 GW by 2040 with development of renewable resources.
“Africa has 50% of the world’s renewable energy (wind, hydropower and solar) but they remain largely untapped,” he said.
Plans to fund large and small projects
He proposes a mix of large, regional projects and smaller local ones that can be developed quickly.
“The Bank cannot afford to put all its focus on large regional power projects alone, as they are very complex, have high capital exposure and risk profiles, will take time to achieve, even though they are critical,” he said.
“Under my leadership, the Bank will pursue a twin track approach: build success in the short term, deliver successful investments in power and then scale up based on success. To show quick successes, build momentum on execution and delivery for countries, the Bank will also focus on providing support for the piloting of decentralized integrated power systems within countries.”
Corruption is an obstacle
Another obstacle, he said, is corruption.
“The cost of corruption is massive; it turns the whole continent into darkness,” he said, estimating that corruption costs Africa $148 billion a year.
Africa looks to reduce carbon emissions
Adesina was a prominent voice for a unified African agenda at the recent Climate Conference in Paris and that agenda also stressed development of renewable energy sources in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
At the time, he said Africa needs an international investment of $55 billion a year through 2030 to create an efficient energy sector that uses more renewable resources. He said the bank would contribute $5 billion in financing, 40 percent of its total investments.
Increased investment in private sector
In addition to pledging to make investments in the energy infrastructure, Adesina said the bank would increase its investments in the private sector.
He said private sector lending by the bank was $2.1 billion in 2013.
“Given that the private sector accounts for 70% of all investments in Africa, 70% of all output and 90% of all employment, there is need for the Bank to be more expansive in its private sector operations,” he said.
Adesina also said the bank will embrace an “activist” posture in support of infrastructure developments.
“The Bank will increasingly take on a transactional approach by helping countries and the private sector to resolve legal and regulatory environments that will unlock bottlenecks to project development and execution. The role of the Bank will be more of an “activist financier” that will be more engaged in driving the execution of infrastructure projects, not just ideas and master plans,” he said.
Known for agricultural reform in Nigeria
Adesina is a respected economist and agricultural expert.
Before joining the bank, he had been Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria since 2011. He was known for implementing bold reforms in the country’s agricultural sector, including anti-corruption efforts and infrastructure improvements. Agriculture had been long neglected as the West African country’s reliance on oil revenues grew.
During his tenure, domestic food production increased by 22 million tons while food imports decreased significantly.
In 2013, Adesina won the Forbes Africa Person of the Year award for his reforms in Nigeria’s agriculture sector. In 2014, he was selected as Anti-corruption Man of the Year and Most Transparent and Accountable Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Foundation for Transparency and Accountability.
He holds a master’s degree and a PhD in agricultural economics from Purdue University.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand remained on shaky ground against the dollar on Tuesday after tumbling as much as 9 percent in the previous session over concerns about both the Chinese and local economies.
The JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index was down 0.97 percent, suggesting the local bourse would open more than 420 points lower at 0700 GMT.
At 0653 GMT, the rand traded 0.51 percent softer at 16.8850 per dollar compared with Monday’s close.
The rand had fallen to a record 17.9950 during Asian trade on Monday, on fears that China wants to weaken its currency aggressively and boost its export competitiveness.
It fared worse than most of its emerging market peers, reflecting additional concerns about the direction of policy in Africa’s most advanced but struggling economy after President Jacob Zuma inexplicably fired the finance minister in December.
“One can only hope that in the shorter term, the market has become a little stretched from all this negativity so far this year and that we get a bit of a relief rally,” Standard Bank trader Warrick Butler said.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond maturing in 2026 added 5.5 basis points to 9.74 percent compared to Monday’s close. It was however still far off the previous session’s four-week high of 9.89 percent.
(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Anand Basu)
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria said on Monday it will sell 80 billion naira ($402.92 million) worth of bonds denominated in the local currency at an auction on Jan. 20, its first debt auction of the year, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said.
The debt office said it will issue 40 billion naira each of bonds maturing in 2020 and 2026, using the Dutch auction system.
The 2020 debt is a reopening of a previously issued bond. The 2026 debt is a fresh issue. Results of the auction are expected the next day.
Nigeria has proposed a plan to issue 260 billion to 390 billion naira in 5-, 10- and 20-year naira bonds in the first quarter of the year. [L8N14V1QE]
Nigeria said it will borrow about 900 billion naira locally to finance part of the 2.2 trillion naira deficit in its 2016 budget.
($1 = 198.5500 naira)
(Reporting by Oludare Mayowa, editing by Larry King)
A passion for freedom has led Guillaume Soro from command of rebel forces in Ivory Coast’s brutal civil wars to the highest echelons of government in the West African nation. But Soro also faces accusations of inhumane treatment during the country’s civil war in 2011.
Soro, now President of the National Assembly, was briefly subject to an arrest warrant in Paris in December. His accuser is Michel Gbagbo, the son of Soro’s archrival, the former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo.
Michel Gbagbo has filed claims in a Paris court accusing Soro and other senior leaders in the rebellion of “kidnapping, false imprisonment, and inhumane and degrading treatment” before he was released in 2013. Soro denies the charges, saying Michel Gbagbo was arrested legally along with his father in 2011.
Michel Gbagbo
Former president faces charges in international court
Gbagbo’s father, the former president, meanwhile, stands accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, charges Laurent Gbagbo has denied.
The younger Gbagbo sought to have Soro arrested and compelled to testify in December when Soro was in France attending the Paris Climate Conference. Gbagbo has dual French-Ivorian citizenship, which enabled him to bring the case to the French court in 2012. But a judge lifted the warrant after the government of Ivory Coast protested that Soro was in Paris on official business and thus had diplomatic immunity.
Soro, Gbagbo are key figures in civil war
The enmity between Soro and Laurent Gbagbo is woven into a tapestry of civil unrest in Ivory Coast that dates back nearly 15 years.
Soro, now 43, was a leader of student uprisings against Gbagbo’s predecessor from 1995 to 1998 and did six stints in prison. After studying law in France for a time, he lived in exile in neighboring Burkina Faso before civil war erupted at home in 2002.
Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, an opposition group that rebelled against Gbagbo, who became president in 2000. The movement combined with two other rebel groups to form New Forces, which seized northern Ivory Coast and accused Gbagbo of discriminating against northerners and Muslims.
“I have taken up arms to (help) my country to find its true face: peace, freedom and prosperity,” Soro wrote of his decision in his 2005 book, “Why I Became a Rebel.” He said he feared the country was on the brink of genocide.
Peace agreement brings rebel leader to power
As part of a 2003 peace deal, Soro joined the Gbagbo government as Minister of Communications. But fighting continued until a 2007 power-sharing deal elevated Soro to the post of prime minister. Gbagbo and Soro participated in a disarmament ceremony, burning their weapons to symbolize the end of the conflict.
In a speech, Soro apologized “to everybody and on behalf of everybody” for the harm done by the war.
That didn’t end the violence. Rockets were fired at a plane carrying Soro in June 2007, just two months after he was named prime minister. Soro was not hurt but three other passengers were killed in the attack on the plane as it landed in Bouake. Several arrests were made and there was speculation at the time that the attackers might have been members of Soro’s own New Forces, unhappy that he had joined the government. Soro also survived five previous assassination attempts.
Dispute over 2010 election
Long-delayed elections in 2010 sparked further violence after Gbagbo refused to concede the election to Alassane Ouattara, who ultimately became president with the backing of the French and the United Nations. Soro resigned from the government and joined opposition forces in support of Ouattara, who won 54 percent of the vote.
The post-election conflict left about 3,000 people dead, displaced tens of thousands, and gave rise to accusations of war crimes on both sides.
Soro with President Alassane Ouattara
Soro gains high post
Soro rejoined the Ouattara government as prime minister and then was elected in 2012 to his current post as President of the National Assembly, the second highest post in the government. Soro is also Ouattara’s designated successor.
While Soro had many supporters in Ivory Coast as well as in West Africa and Europe, some questioned how national reconciliation could go forward with a divisive figure in a top post.
“This cannot bring things forward because there are people who are still aggrieved. Moreover there are people who have complaints against him, they are talking about reconciliation. We end up having this reconciliation and they put someone at the head of state, the number two, whilst people are aggrieved by him,” says Omer Blet, a student.
Soro is one of only a few on the Ouattara side of the conflict who have been accused of crimes during the war while hundreds on the Gbagbo side have been investigated, prompting complaints of imbalance by human rights groups.
Meanwhile, Ouattara was re-elected by a landslide to a second five-year term as president in 2015, spurring hopes that the country has reached political stability. But echoes of the long conflict continue to reverberate in French and international courts.
(Reuters) – Sudan’s annual inflation rate eased to 12.58 percent in December from a revised 12.8 percent in November, a monthly report from Sudan’s Central Statistics Office said on Monday.
Prices soared in Sudan after South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country’s oil output, the main source of foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound and to pay for food and other imports.
As an oil importer, Sudan has benefited from the fall in global oil prices since last year.
Sudan expects a budget deficit of 1.6 percent of GDP for the coming year, up from 1.2 percent for 2015.
The government said last month it expected growth to increase in the coming year as lower oil prices reduce the burden of its oil import bill.
It projects a growth rate of 6.4 percent, up from an expected 5.3 percent for 2015.
(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Ola Noureldin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s shilling was stable against the dollar on Monday but traders said they expected it to come under modest pressure during the week due to increased importer demand.
At 0728 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.20/30, the same as Friday’s close.
“Going into this week, we expect there will be some pressure on the shilling. The demand (for dollars) should pick up. Most corporate clients have come back to work,” a senior trader at one commercial bank said.
Typically demand for dollars comes from the energy sector, manufacturers and telecoms firms.
Uganda’s Ashish J. Thakkar, 34, founder and executive chairman of the Mara Group parlays a small computer business into a multinational conglomerate.
His life story reads like a sweeping epic of tragedy, adventure and success.
He was born to parents expelled from their native Uganda by Idi Amin. He became a refugee from the genocide of Rwanda. He left school at age 15 to start a computer business. Nineteen years later, that tiny business has mushroomed into a conglomerate that employs 11,000 people in 25 countries.
Meet Ashish J. Thakkar, founder and executive chairman of the Mara Group. At only 34 years of age, Thakkar’s net worth is estimated at $260 million.
Real estate, shipping, manufacturing among holdings
Mara Group, now headquartered in Dubai, operates in telecommunications, manufacturing, real estate, shipping financial services, communications technology, renewable energy and manufacturing with revenues of $100 million.
His latest venture is agriculture, large-scale maize cultivation in Africa.
The secret to his success? “It’s difficult to identify one specific reason or catalyst, but above all other things, I believe a strong sense of perseverance, always thinking big and aiming high, and of course positivity, has allowed me to realize my vision,” he said.
“Always be down to earth and approachable,” he added. “The day your arrogance or ego kicks in, it’s all over. Always remember, no matter how big you become you will still always be a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things.”
Foundation supports entrepreneurship
He also founded the Mara Foundation, which mentors budding entrepreneurs.
In his book, “The Lion Awakes: Adventures in Africa’s Economic Miracle,” (Palgrave: August 2015), he chronicles the economic awakening of Africa that he has seen and benefitted from first-hand.
“The West is definitely investing more in Africa — or wanting to invest more in Africa — but they’re still investing a lot in Asia as well, specifically India and China. [The] nice thing is that India and China’s investing in Africa, so the ultimate destination is us,” he says. “People do want to come to Africa; people realize that we’re the next big thing — India and China have had their time, it’s now ours.”
He also wants to be the first East African in space through Virgin Galactic, the Richard Branson-backed space tourism project. “I’m taking quite a few of flags into space, as a way to kind of send a strong message that ‘look, we as Africa have the vision and the ability as well’,” he said.
Expelled from Uganda, fled Rwanda
His super star status belies difficult beginnings.
Thakkar’s family is of Indian descent but had lived in Uganda since the 1800s until 1972, when Idi Amin expelled Asians from the country. The family lived in England for more than a decade; Ashish Thakkar was born in Leicester. The family returned to Africa and lived in Rwanda until they were forced to flee the genocide and return to England in 1994.
“From being top entrepreneurs, my parents were reduced to waking up at the crack of dawn to sell women’s clothes and drive vans to markets all around England,” he said.
From England, the family moved to Burundi before returning to Uganda when he was 14.
Started computer business with a $5,000 loan
Thakkar dropped out of school at age 15 and borrowed $5,000 to start a small computer business, traveling to Dubai regularly to bring back equipment including keyboards and mice.
“Education is good. However, informal education is much more important and valuable in life than formal education. Mentorship and vocational skills training build up an individual,” Ashish said.
Growing the business
He said he focused on growing his business rather than on taking profit.
“I reinvested everything in my business. The only way you are going to grow is if you keep on planting.”(source)
He is sometimes referred to as Africa’s “youngest billionaire” because his estimated $260 million net worth translates into more than one billion South African rand. Thakkar resists that label.
“Money should never be a measurement for anything,” he said. “I like to see myself as an entrepreneur that’s being disruptive — I like to be the underdog in a lot of cases.”
