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BP approves investment in Egypt gas field 15 months after discovery

20 June 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

LONDON (Reuters) – British oil major BP has approved investment in the first phase of developing the large Atoll gas field offshore Egypt, only 15 months after it first announced its discovery.

BP, which declined to give an investment figure for the project, said the field was on track to deliver its first gas in the first half of 2018, set to pump 300 million cubic feet a day of gas to the Egyptian market.

BP decided in November to fast-track the development of Atoll, estimated to contain 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of condensates.

The company is in a tight race with other oil and gas explorers in the region to develop the Mediterranean’s huge untapped fossil fuel reserves.

Italy’s ENI discovered the Mediterranean’s largest gas field, Zohr, last year and plans to bring the field on stream by the end of 2017.

BP’s decision to invest in the Atoll field is one of only a handful of go-aheads the oil major is expected to give this year as it seeks to save cash amid weak oil prices.

 

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps)

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Egypt’s Al Ahly Bank raises depositor rates after central bank hike

20 June 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian Bank Al Ahly raised interest rates for account holders, an official at the bank said on Monday, becoming the first state-owned commercial lender to react to last week’s increase in benchmark borrowing costs.

Al Ahly – National Bank of Egypt’s retail banking arm – raised rates on deposits by 0.75 percent and on saving accounts by 1 percent, the official told Reuters.

Two of Al Ahly’s main competitors, Banque Misr and Commercial International Bank, are also expected to review depositor rates on Monday, officials at both banks said.

On Thursday, the central bank raised benchmark rates by 100 basis points to their highest levels in years, accelerating efforts to rein in surging inflation and ease downward pressure on the Egyptian pound.

 

 

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Amina Ismail; editing by John Stonestreet)

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IMF welcomes Nigeria’s decision to end currency peg

17 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it welcomed the decision by Nigeria’s central bank to abandon its currency peg and adopt a flexible exchange rate policy, saying this was important to reduce fiscal and external imbalances.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told a weekly news briefing the Fund wanted to see how effectively the naira exchange market functions once the new float system is put into effect next Monday.

Nigeria’s central bank governor said in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari the bank expects the naira to settle at around 250 to the dollar after it abandons the peg of 197 to the dollar it has supported for 16 months.

“I think the announcement yesterday to revise the guidelines for the operation of the Nigerian interbank foreign exchange market is an important and welcome step,” Rice told reporters. “It will provide greater flexibility in that market, the foreign exchange market.”

Senior IMF officials, including Managing Director Christine Lagarde, have urged Nigerian officials to allow the naira to fall to absorb some of the shock to the economy from a plunge in oil prices and revenues. OPEC member Nigeria is a major oil producer. IMF officials have said that Nigeria has not requested IMF financial assistance, but has been in consultation with the Fund on dealing with budget shortfalls.

“As we have said before, a significant macroeconomic adjustment that Nigeria urgently needs to eliminate existing imbalances and support the competitiveness of the economy is best achieved through a credible package of policies involving fiscal discipline, monetary tightening, a flexible exchange rate regime and structural reform,” Rice said. “Allowing the exchange rate to better reflect market forces is an integral part of that.”

 

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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Tunisia’s dinar hits record lows over tourism, economic data

16 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s dinar currency has fallen to record lows versus the euro and the U.S. dollar this week as weaker exports, lower investment and a plunge in tourism revenues have eroded the country’s foreign reserves.

The dinar traded at 2.47 against the euro and 2.13 against the dollar on Wednesday and on Thursday was at 2.43 versus the euro and 2.16 against the dollar, according to central bank figures.

The government was expected to announce new measures on Monday aimed at stabilizing the currency. The North African state’s tourism industry has been shattered by two major Islamist militant attacks on foreign visitors last year.

“The record drop in the value of the dinar is caused by lower exports and a lack of investment that have lowered foreign exchange reserves,” central bank director Chedli Ayari told reporters in parliament on Wednesday.

He said the central bank would not interfere to halt the slide in the dinar because “the level of reserves is still average… and reflects the reality of the Tunisian economy.”

Exports fell 2.6 percent during the first five months of the year while foreign direct investment dropped 5 percent to $268 million in the same period compared to a year earlier, according to government statistics.

Tourism, which comprises 8 percent of GDP and is a key source of foreign revenue, has been struggling.

Islamic State gunmen attacked the Tunis Bardo museum and a Sousse beach hotel packed with tourists within a 3-month period last year, prompting many tour operators to suspend visits to the North African country.

Tunisia’s government is currently trying to push through reforms and some austerity measures to curb its deficit, among the measures demanded by international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Government spokesman Khaled Chaouket said officials would next week announce measures meant to arrest the fall of the dinar including commerce ministry initiatives. Some analysts expect these to include restrictions on luxury imports.

The weakened dinar may boost smaller local exporters by making their products cheaper abroad, but could also make debt service payments tighter and widen the deficit if the government does not act, said local financial risk expert Mourad Hattab.

“The dinar has never been at these levels against the dollar and the euro,” he said. “But there is a tendency for the financial authorities not to interfere because it is part of the reforms the IMF is demanding.”

 

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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European stocks, oil slide as growth fears add to Brexit pressure

16 June 2016 Comments (0) Business, Europe, Latest Updates from Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – European shares hit a four-month low on Thursday as banks dropped sharply, while oil prices headed for a sixth session of losses after the Bank of Japan refrained from further stimulus and the U.S. central bank struck a cautious note.

U.S. stock index futures were down around 0.4 percent, indicating a lower Wall Street open.

Sterling hit a two-month low against the euro, underscoring worries that Britain, the world’s fifth-largest economy, will vote to quit the European Union on June 23.

According to an Ipsos MORI survey, British support for Brexit hit 53 percent, the highest for the “Leave” campaign recorded by the pollster in more than three years.

A vote to end Britain’s 43-year-old EU membership would spook investors, undermining decades of European integration and placing a question mark over the future of the United Kingdom and its $2.9 trillion economy.

Concerns over Brexit, in combination with dimmed expectations on global growth, have driven investors towards safe-haven assets such as German bunds and gold, and out of oil and stocks.

Euro zone banking stocks dipped to near four-year lows, with Deutsche Bank, down 2.8 percent, and Credit Suisse touching record lows.

“The global economic and political outlook is dark,” said Chirantan Barua, an analyst with Bernstein. “Brexit is fuelling uncertainty and will have ripple effects across Europe. With so much uncertainty, why would you buy a bank stock now?”

Brent crude prices, which last week hit their highest this year, have fallen every day since June 8, dropping more than 8 percent in all.

Germany’s 10-year bond yield fell to a record low as fading expectations of U.S. rate hikes this year provided further fuel to a global bond market rally.

Spot gold climbed 1.4 percent, close to a two-year high.

Earlier in the day Asian markets were firmly in “risk-off” mode, with the yen surging to a 20-month high against the dollar and the Nikkei down more than 3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2 percent.

Benchmark equity indices across Europe followed suit with Italy’s FTSE MIB down 1.6 percent. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 fell 0.7 percent.

Shares of UBS and Credit Suisse fell 1.3 percent and 2.8 percent respectively after the Swiss National bank said both banks were likely to need to raise an extra 10 billion Swiss francs to meet new leverage requirements.

 

 

(By Vikram Subhedar Additional reporting by Atul Prakash in London and Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by Keith Weir and John Stonestreet)

 

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Nigeria to abandon naira peg in favour of open market trading

16 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s central bank said on Wednesday it would begin “purely” market-driven foreign currency trading next week, abandoning its 16-month peg and setting the stage for the naira to fall sharply.

Nigeria’s central bank previously pegged the naira at 197 to the U.S. dollar but the currency trades at about half that on the black market as slump in oil revenues has hammered public finances and foreign currency reserves. The new trading rules begin on Monday, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said.

The change of tack is a “managed float” and puts Nigeria in line with most central banks, including the Bank of England, a senior central bank official told Reuters. Nigeria’s central bank has no target for the naira, he said.

The latest interbank level will be posted on the central bank’s website daily from Monday, the official said, adding: “The old rate of 197 does not exist anymore.”

Following the announcement, three economists estimated the fair value of the naira between 280 and 300 against the dollar, although the black market rate is around 370.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude exporter, has resisted devaluing its currency for more than a year despite other major oil producers, including Russia, Kazakhstan and Angola, allowing currences to fall amid lower crude prices.

The central bank will still be able to inject dollars into the market, giving it some control over the exchange rate within the limit of its foreign reserves which fell to $26.7 billion in June, from $42.8 billion in January 2014.

Emefiele hopes opening up trading will ease severe U.S. dollar shortages caused by a slump in oil revenue.

With a likely sharp fall for the naira, Nigerian products will become relatively cheap and imports more expensive, which should stimulate the domestic economy but also lift inflation.

“To improve the dynamics of the market, we will introduce foreign exchange primary dealers who would be registered by the CBN (central bank) to deal directly with the bank for large trade sizes on a two-way quote basis,” Emefiele told reporters.

Nigeria’s stock market gained 3 percent following the announcement.

“This is a major about-turn. The central bank has traditionally favoured a managed rate and preferred a strong currency to contain inflation,” said Gregory Kronsten, head of macroeconomic and fixed income research at FBN Capital in Lagos.

“It seems the CBN is eager the market captures forex from remittances (international money orders) as well as FDI (Foreign Direct Investment),” he said.

 

PRIMARY DEALERS

The central bank said eight to 10 primary dealers would supply the interbank market with dollars, handling minimum volumes of $10 million.

The primary dealers will be allowed to sell back 70 percent of any dollars bought from the central bank on the day of purchase. Sales must be backed by a specific customer order to avoid currency speculation, the central bank said.

Nigeria’s currency dealers will meet on Thursday to discuss new forex guidelines, two bankers.

Retail currency operators will not be able to buy from the interbank market, meaning dollars will remain in scarce supply for private individuals and small businesses.

Emefiele also said the central bank would open a foreign exchange futures market to ease demand on spot trading, reduce volatility and give businesses the opportunity to hedge risks.

Africa’s biggest economy, which contracted by 0.4 percent in the first quarter, faces its worst crisis in decades after the decline in oil prices and last year’s introduction of a currency peg that prompted a large-scale capital flight.

Nigeria’s cabinet agreed on Wednesday to borrow more abroad in foreign currency to lower lending costs and raise funds to support its ailing economy.

“Over the long run, a weaker currency will help Nigeria’s economy by encouraging import substitution and attracting foreign investors, who have shunned the country for fear of a devaluation,” Capital Economics’ John Ashbourne said.

“But the move will be painful over the short term. Higher import prices will add to inflation … This will probably force the authorities to tighten monetary policy.”

 

(By Ulf Laessing and Joe Brock Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram, Chijioke Ohuocha, Sujata Rao and Camillus Eboh; Writing by Joe Brock and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

 

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Steinhoff buys Poundland stake ahead of possible takeover bid

15 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) – South Africa’s Steinhoff has bought 23 percent of Poundland and is considering a full cash bid for the British no-frills homeware chain in its latest attempt to expand in Europe.

Steinhoff, a $22 billion furniture conglomerate which has lost out in two high profile takeover battles already this year, said on Wednesday it had acquired 22.78 percent of Poundland, which sells every item at a single price point of 1 pound.

Under UK takeover rules, Steinhoff has until July 13 to announce a firm intention to bid for all of Poundland, whose main shareholder had been private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which said on Tuesday it had sold down its 15 percent stake.

Steinhoff, which has lost out to rivals in two battles for Britain’s Home Retail and France’s Darty in the last three months, bought just over 61.2 million Poundland shares, which would be worth around 120 million pounds at the closing price. Poundland has a market capitalisation of around 537 million pounds ($761 million).

Poundland shares closed up 2.2 percent higher at 200 pence, after rising around 25 percent on Tuesday. The stock is still down about 7 percent so far this year.

News of the South African company’s latest move raised questions about its approach to expansion in Europe, where it already runs chains such as white goods retailer Conforama in France and furniture chain Harveys in Britain.

“There’s seem to be no obvious strategic fit but it might just be a matter of adding discounted chains to its stable because that’s essentially what they are: a discount retailer,” said Vestact’s Sasha Naryshkine in Johannesburg.

South African retail mogul Christo Wiese, Steinhoff’s chairman and biggest shareholder, told Reuters he was interested in Poundland because it would be a “good fit” for Steinhoff, adding it had a disciplined approach to acquisitions.

 

POUNDLAND PRESSURE

Steinhoff, which sells beds and cupboards to lower-income shoppers in Europe, southern Africa and Asia, is keen to expand further in Europe, where pressure on consumer income has made German’s Aldi the continent’s fastest growing supermarket chain.

Poundland, which is due to report annual earnings on Thursday, would give Steinhoff a company with more than 900 shops in Britain, Ireland and Spain but also one whose 1 billion annual sales have been under pressure.

Poundland’s 2015 purchase of rival 99p Stores for 55 million pounds has raised questions over its price model.

“Although Steinhoff has a proven track record of integrating businesses and improving their margins over time, we would see this acquisition as higher than average risk given the increasingly crowded UK variety discount space,” said RBC Europe Ltd’s analyst Richard Chamberlain.

Poundland, which competes with B&M, Home Bargains and Wilko and Bargain Buys, told shareholders to take no action, noting that there was no certainty an offer would be made.

Warburg Pincus originally listed Poundland in March 2014 at 300 pence per share.

($1 = 0.7059 pounds)

 

(By Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Freya Berry. Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Editing by Jane Merriman and Alexander Smith)

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South African rand on shaky ground after current account gap widens

15 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand stayed on the back foot against the dollar early on Wednesday a day after central bank data showed a wider-than-expected current account deficit.

By 0711 GMT the rand was at 15.2850 against the greenback, little changed from its New York close at 15.3040 in the previous session.

The local currency had fallen as much as 1.5 percent to its weakest in more than a week on Tuesday after the South African Reserve Bank said the current account deficit widened to 5 percent of GDP in the first quarter of this year 4.6 percent.

Government bonds edged higher, and the yield for the benchmark instrument maturing in 2026 eased 3 basis points to 9.17 percent.

South Africa relies heavily on portfolio flows to plug its current account shortfall, making the rand more vulnerable than its emerging market peers when risk appetite wanes.

“Local data this week has not provided any comfort for the local unit and this, long with markets bracing for a number of significant events, has seen the rand remain firmly under pressure,” Nedbank said in a market commentary.

Traders and analysts said markets were focused mainly on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later on Wednesday while the prospect of Britons voting to leave the European Union at a June 23 referendum had dampened risk appetite.

On the equity market, the JSE exchange’s All-Share index was up 1 percent in early trade, while the benchmark Top-40 index added 0.9 percent.

 

(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

 

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IMF says Angola needs fiscal prudence in run-up to 2017 elections

14 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

LUANDA (Reuters) – Angola needs to maintain fiscal prudence in the run-up to the 2017 elections, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said on Tuesday after a two-week visit to the oil producing country.

Angola’s economy grew fast after a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at growth of 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing.

Oil output represents 40 percent of Angola’s gross domestic product and more than 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue in sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest economy.

The IMF team said the outlook for 2016 remained difficult, despite the increase of oil prices in recent weeks.

The global lender also warned that economic activity will likely decelerate further, adding that a modest recovery could be expected in 2017 if shortages of dollars are tackled.

“The significant fiscal effort carried out last year was a very important step to assuage fiscal and public debt sustainability concerns,” Ricardo Velloso, who led the team, said in a statement.

“However, further steps are still needed to reduce vulnerabilities, and maintaining fiscal prudence in the run-up to the 2017 elections will be critical.”

The IMF team arrived in Angola on June 1 to discuss options on how to diversify the economy and reduce the dependence on the oil sector, Angolan authorities have said.

 

(Writing by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia)

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South Africa’s current account deficit widens, fuels likelihood of rate hikes

14 June 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

By Mfuneko Toyana

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa’s current account deficit widened in the first quarter of 2016 as exports of platinum and coal slumped as miners cut production after global commodities prices tumbled, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The wider deficit, a sharp contraction in growth and the weakness of the currency led analysts to predict the bank would begin raising interest rates again after a pause at its last policy meeting in May.

The current account deficit widened to 5 percent of GDP in the first quarter from a revised shortfall of 4.6 percent in the final quarter of 2015, the central bank said.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected a 4.25 percent gap For the first quarter.

“We expect that this will force the South African Reserve Bank to hike its key interest rate, even in the face of very weak economic growth,” analysts at research house Capital Economics said in a note.

The central bank has raised lending rates by 200 basis points to 7 percent since over the past two years in a bid to keep inflation within its target band of 3 to 6 percent.

Lending rates in South Africa now sit at levels as high as during the 2008/9 financial crisis, and with more hikes in the offing as the worst drought in decades stokes inflation, a consumer-led growth recovery now looks unlikely.

In its June quarterly bulletin, the central bank said spending growth slowed by 1.3 percent in the first quarter as consumers cut down on purchases of big ticket items due to rising interest rates.

“One of the explanations for this rather sharp decline is that previously people were still buying, preempting that prices would go up quite a bit,” said head of economic reviews and statistics at the central bank Johan van den Heever.

The rand is down nearly 25 percent against the dollar since the second quarter of 2015, and fell more than 1 percent after the current account data.

Van den Heever said the bank saw a reversal in the moderation of inflation as climbing food prices and the higher cost of fuel were exacerbated by the weak rand.

“That’s kind of the double whammy of drought conditions, forcing us to import rather than export maize, at the same time as the weakish exchange rate is pushing up the prices of food.”

Headline inflation slowed to 6.2 percent in April from a peak of 7 percent in February.

Economists at Nedbank Capital said the data made the central bank’s policy choices difficult despite the breathing space provided by a delay in rate hikes in the United States.

“Much will depend on the rand as the year progresses. For now we anticipate one more hike of 25 basis points in the second half of the year,” the economists said in a note.

(Editing by James Macharia and Angus MacSwan)

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