THE NATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013
11
BUSINESS THE NATION
E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net
Naira weakens oncorporate demand
New policy on cement coming From Franca Ochigbu, Abuja
T
HE naira depreciated for a second day as de mand for dollars increased after the end of Christmas and New Year festivities. According to Bloomberg report, the currency weakened 0.2 per cent to 157.0375 a dollar and had lost 0.4 per cent last week. “We expect to see a build-up in demand for foreign exchange as businesses resume” operations, analysts at Lagos- based Cowry Asset Management Ltd., led by Edgar Ebinum, said. “We expect to see pressure on the naira.” The Central Bank of Nigeria, which sells dollars to lenders to stabilise the naira, resumed twice-weekly foreign-currency auctions yesterday after a break since December 19. It sold $150 million, compared with $300 million disbursed at the previous sale, it said in an emailed statement. Yields on the nation’s $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 slid two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 3.906 per cent. The rate on 10-year naira debt fell 15 basis points to 11.52 per cent, according to January 4 prices compiled on the Financial Markets Dealers Association website. Central bank policy makers left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 12 percent last year. Nigeria’s inflation rate rose for a second month in November to 12.3 per cent from 11.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said Dec. 17. Ghana’s cedi weakened 0.1 per cent to 1.8975 per dollar in Accra, the capital. It depreciated 16 per cent last year, the most since 2008.
To underline the commitment of this administration to transparency and accountability, especially in the extractive industries, we willingly initiated and submitted ourselves to public scrutiny through several factfinding panels. So, my administration has no intention whatsoever to cover up any ascertained misdeeds revealed by these exercises. - President Goodluck Jonathan
• Aganga
T
HE Federal Govern ment will review the Backward Integration Policy in the cement sector with a view to consolidating on the tremendous success so far recorded, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has said. Aganga, who spoke during a meeting with stakeholders in the cement industry in Abuja, yesterday said a new cement policy would be unveiled soon. In attendance at the meeting were, Managing Director/CEO, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc, Joseph Hudson; Chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu; Group
Managing Director, Flour Mills Plc, Chief Emmanuel Ukpabi ; Chairman Ibeto Group, Chief Cletus Ibeto and Group Representative, Dangote Industries Limited, Isa Tata Yusuf. The Minister said: “Following the tremendous success recorded through the introduction and rigorous implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry, we are planning to review the entire policy to consolidate on the gains so far recorded. We have achieved everything we set for ourselves 10 years ago when the Backward Integration Policy was introduced. We want to thank all stakeholders and investors in the sector for the success story recorded so far. “However, we want to take the next step as part of our strategy on the way forward. We are forming a group of people that will look at the cement policy in detail and come up with the policy response that we need to have in place to take that next step that will make us a major exporter and user of cement.
“In 2002, the major priority of the country’s Backward Integration Policy was about cement production from limestone. I am delighted to say that after 10 years of implementation of BIP, the good news is that we started with 2 million tons capacity, but today, we have about 28 million tons capacity of cement, investment of about $6billion; which provides direct and indirect employment for about 2 million people. And because of what we have done together, we have been able to save about N210billion in foreign exchange per year. “For the first time ever, this ministry did not issue any import licence in 2012. This is a remarkable achievement and a major economic success for our country. However, we want to carry out a deeper review of the cement sector to ensure that it is more competitive not just locally but internationally because we are at a point where we should be thinking about exporting some of our products. “This means that we need to look at the overall structure including the current
pricing, availability, affordability, in addition to developing an export strategy for the sector.” Aganga said that the ministry would work with all the stakeholders in the sector to ensure its sustainable growth and development. He said, “At the end of the day, this is one of the sectors that Nigeria should, and will be rightly known for as one of the greatest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product of the country. This is the key message that I want to pass across in terms of where we are today and what our plans are in terms of where we want to be going forward. I want to carry everyone along in terms of what we are looking at and incorporate your inputs into what we are planning to do so that at the end of the day, it will be a win-win situation for all the manufacturers, consumers and the Nigerian economy at large. “Hopefully, before the end of this week, the committee will be set up. There is no industrial policy that has been as successful as the BIP in the cement industry. So, we have a duty to make sure that we protect the sector and continue to see it grow.”
DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE
-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES
Inflation -11.7% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $43.5b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472
• From left: Head, Legal and Regulatory Services, Starcomms PLC, Mr Bosun Hambolu; interim CEO, Mr Olusola Oladokun, and CEO Designate, Mr Dem Eleso at Starcomms Shareholders’ Forum in Lagos.
Oil price falls as uncertainty hits energy markets
O
IL prices fell yester day following uncer tainty about future action from the U.S. Federal Reserve and data showing the U.S. unemployment rate unchanged. Benchmark crude for February delivery fell 43 cents to $92.66 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed up 17 cents at $93.09 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday after the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration reported a much bigger drop in the nation’s crude supplies than analysts expected. Separately, crude stocks fell by about 12 million barrels for the week ending December
• .1m bpd greenfield refinery for Ogun From Dele Anofi, Abuja
28, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Monday’s decline in oil prices follows the release of a transcript of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting showing that policymakers disagreed over how long to keep a bond-purchase program in place. Traders inferred the Federal might shorten the program, which could send U.S. interest rates, and therefore the dollar, higher. That in turn would hurt the price of oil. Oil, which is priced in dollars, tends to fall as the dollar strengthens and makes crude
more expensive for investors holding foreign currencies. Meanwhile, a 100,000 barrels per day greenfield refinery is to be built in Ipokia, Ogun State. The project followed the successful completion of a joint venture financing agreement with Eton Group, Eton Finance Private Ltd of Singapore and Eton’s subsidiary, Niger Delta Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Ltd. Under the agreement, Eton Group is to finance the refinery with a total of N304.2b ($1.95b) in the joint venture funding with both companies working together to re-
alize the goals of the project. At the signing ceremony held in Abuja, the Executive Chairman of Badagry Petroleum Refinery , Alh. Razak Awayewaserere signed on behalf of his company while Alan Rennie, the Managing Director of Niger Delta Petrochemicals Company, who is also a Director of Eton Finance Private Ltd signed for Eton Group. According to Alh. Awayewaserere who explained that the project received Approval in principle in 1993, financial and administrative formalities would be concluded within four months after which the project would move to the next phase of Feed, approval, fabrication and construction.
‘Why we want 13% oil fund’ From Shola O’Neil, Warri
T
HE leader of Ijaw oil producing communi ties in the Niger Delta, Chief Favour Izoukumor, has described on-going agitation for direct payment of the 13 per cent oil derivation fund to communities as a no confidence vote on Governors of the Niger Delta region. Izoukumor, National President of Izon-Ebe Oil Producing Communities Forum (IOPCF), joined prominent Ijaw leader and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, on the call to remove control of the fund from the region’s Governors. He told The Nation yesterday in Warri, that the people of the host communities want to be the deciders of their destinies. “We no longer have confidence in the state governors. So we want to manage our fund and be in charge of our development since they have failed us.” He suggested that the role of state governments should merely be supervisory and overseeing of how the fund is utilised, stressing that “We intend to consistently agitate until we get what we want.” Besides, he clarified that the agitation is not to deprive non-oil bearing communities, but to ensure that public officers who feed fat to the detriment of owners of the wealth are checked. Meanwhile, the IjawLeader said there is nothing wrong with the position of northern leaders who are opposed to the Petroleum Industry Bill. He said as elected leaders of their people, they are only doing what they think is right for the north. “The North is not our problem; our problem is our elected officials who are only interested in what they can benefit and not in the interest of our people. If the northern leaders see what they think will benefit the South/South to their own detriment, they have a right to oppose it. “Unfortunately, our own leaders are not interested in issues that will affect us; they are interested in their own interest. What I expected them (South/south politicians) to do is to engage in the politics of give and take, lobbying to get lawmakers from other zones on their side but they have not done this. “So, we should stop blaming the north for what is going on now because they (north) have accused our governors of not using the funds they have gotten so far to the benefit of their states. Instead they are amassing wealth for themselves and this is not in the interest of national security. You cannot have individuals richer than their states like we presently have, it is just not ideal,” he stated.