Economy
AfDB Woos Indian Investors for Africa’s Development
By Adedapo Adesanya
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has assured Indian investors considering Africa that the groundwork has been laid to accelerate the continent’s development.
The regional lender, at a virtual conference hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its partners, called for Indo-African partnerships to go beyond government-to-government cooperation and extend it to private sector participation in order to speed up development.
The Conference on Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Doing Business with Africa took place on July 30, 2020, and attracted more than 600 participants from over 45 countries.
Besides Africa and India, there were also participants from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, representing businesses, governments, financial institutions, and business promotion agencies.
At the conference, the Acting Senior Vice President and CFO of the Bank, Mrs Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, highlighted the business potential in Africa, noting that the continent had great prospects for investors, with a growing consumer market that Indian firms cannot afford to miss.
“The positive outlook for Africa is reinforced by the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which seeks to deepen regional integration across the continent and allow the free movement of people and trade across borders,” Mrs Tshabalala said.
Mrs Tshabalala said there was a tremendous opportunity for Indian industry to work together with the bank in sectors such as power generation and transmission, energy, agricultural transformation, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, technology, transportation, and industrialization.
The bank is seeking to expand the number of bankable projects in Africa and has set aside $100 million for project preparation activities in low-income countries. It is also keen to mobilize greater private sector participation in these projects from all countries, she added.
Also speaking, Mr Akhilesh Mishra, India’s Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, urged the private sector to consider investing in youth and startups because those sectors have enormous potential for employment generation.
He noted that, aside from the long-term funding traditionally provided as official development assistance, African countries will require more targeted short-term financing.
Buttressing the point, Mr David Rasquinha, Managing Director of the Export-Import Bank of India, underscored the need to expand Indian financial inflows to Africa by expanding the Indian banking network.
He said India and Africa could work together in areas such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, the financial sector and infrastructure development.
Ms Nana Spio-Garbrah, the chief financing analyst from AfDB’s syndications, co-financing and client solutions department, spoke on the Bank’s capacity to mitigate risk for foreign investors, especially during this era of COVID-19.
Ms Spio-Garbrah also talked about the Bank’s Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) and Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG), which has been upgraded to meet client needs better. She mentioned the Bank’s syndication services, particularly the A/B loan product, which allows B-lenders to benefit from the Bank’s Preferred Creditor Status.
She also mentioned the Co-Guarantee Platform – a new cooperative of four risk mitigation providers and the African Union, which collectively pools their capacities to de-risk African projects.
AfDB and India have a long-standing strategic partnership dating back almost 40 years to 1982 when India first joined the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the Bank Group and in 1983, the country became a shareholder of the Bank.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange dropped 0.37 per cent on Thursday, January 9 as investors booked profit in Geo-Fluids and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc.
The sell-offs in the two securities brought down the value of the bourse by N4.13 billion at the close of business to N1.052 trillion from N1.056 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made a loss of 12.05 points to wrap the session at 3,069.86 points compared with 3,081.91 points recorded at the previous session.
There were two price losers and three price gainers at the Thursday session, indicating a weak investor sentiment.
Geo-Fluids depleted by 25 Kobo to close at N4.60 per unit compared with midweek’s price of N4.85 per unit and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc went down by N1.78 to trade at N38.22 per share versus Wednesday’s value of N40.00 per share.
Conversely, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc appreciated by 2 Kobo to end at 24 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding day’s 22 Kobo per unit, UBN Property Plc gained 2 Kobo to close at N2.00 per share versus N1.98 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc expanded by 1 Kobo to N16.01 per unit from N16.01 per unit.
The volume of trades recorded yesterday increased by 82.9 per cent to 6.6 million units from 3.6 million units, but the value of transactions declined by 24.8 per cent to N27.5 million from N36.6 million, and the number of deals went up by 157 per cent to 36 deals from the 14 deals.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, 11 Plc came next with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc was in third with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc came next with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc occupied the third spot with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pressure eased on the Naira on Thursday, January 9, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment of the currency market.
It was the first time the local currency was appreciating against the United States Dollar in the official market this week.
The value of the Naira improved against the greenback yesterday by 0.03 per cent or 47 Kobo to sell for N1,541.23/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.70/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency gained against the Pound Sterling in the spot market during the trading session by N41.11 to quote at N1,858.51/£1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N1,899.62/£1 and improved its value against the Euro at NAFEM by N5.78 to trade at N1,589.29/€1 versus N1,584.96/€1.
As for the black market, the Nigerian Naira was stable against the Dollar on Thursday as it remained unchanged at N1,650/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking continued after a major fourth-quarter 2024 rally spurred by Donald Trump’s November victory and the hope of a friendlier regulatory environment out of Washington DC.
Also supporting the market was the US Federal Reserve having cut its overnight interest rate by 100 basis points since September. However, that has been cut out after a series of economic reports showed the US economy and inflation have been far stronger than markets and the US central bank expected.
Bitcoin (BTC) went down yesterday by 0.03 per cent to finish at $94,130.63, Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value depreciation of 1.9 per cent to sell at $0.3314, Ripple (XRP) also slumped by 1.9 per cent to $2.30, Solana (SOL) fell 1.7 per cent to trade at $190.50, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.5 per cent to end at $3,268.93, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south 0.9 per cent to settle at $692.52.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) increased its price by 1.9 per cent end at $104.26 and Cardano (ADA) leapt by 0.6 per cent to close at $0.9359, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose more than 1 per cent on Thursday as cold weather affected some parts of the United States and Europe, boosting winter fuel demand.
Yesterday, Brent crude futures were up by 76 cents or 1 per cent at $76.92 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures grew by 60 cents or 0.82 per cent to $73.92 per barrel.
In some US states like Texas and Virginia, there were reports of winter storm warnings on Thursday and this has led to diesel futures trading at their highest levels since early October 2024.
Analysts estimated that for the US, Europe and Japan, for every degree Fahrenheit, the temperature drops below its 10-year average, it translates to an increase of 113,000 barrels per day in demand for heating oil and propane.
Extreme winter conditions can lead to disruptions in oil supplies as freezing temperatures may cause temporary freeze-offs and production cuts.
Meanwhile, in his last days as US President, Mr Joe Biden will announce new sanctions targeting Russia’s economy.
The administration is trying to bolster Ukraine’s war effort against Russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. A key target of sanctions so far has been Russia’s oil industry.
The second coming of Mr Trump to the White House has sparked crude oil traders are buying more oil futures due to possible sanctions on Iran and tariffs.
The President-elect has made no secret of his attitude toward Iran, and he demonstrated that during his first term when he withdrew the largest oil producer from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal, and slapped back sanctions that the JCPOA had put an end to previously.
The Biden administration that took over in 2020 did not pay as much attention to Iran and sanction enforcement.
As a result, Iran boosted both its production of crude oil and exports, with the latter jumping by over 10 per cent in 2024 to a total of 587 million barrels.
With sanctions in place, the majority of Iran’s barrels went to China, a move that suggests that whatever way Mr Trump chooses to tighten sanction enforcement, it would have an impact on US-Chinese relations.
Pressure came as the US Dollar strengthened further on Thursday.
A stronger makes oil expensive for holders of other currencies, making prices weaker.
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