Economy
Morocco Hosts 14th US-Africa Business Summit
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
After several negotiations, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) has finally launched its 14th US-Africa Business Summit from July 19 to July 22 under the theme ‘Building Forward Together’ and will be held in Marrakech (Morocco) in partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco and Africa50 (the pan-African infrastructure investment platform).
United States investors are looking forward to exploring several opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a policy signed by African countries to make the continent a single market. The market, with an estimated 1.3 billion population, requires all kinds of consumable products and new legislations stipulate localizing production inside Africa.
Thus, the summit will further explore a renewed commitment by both public and private sector stakeholders to building stronger United States and Africa trade, investment, and commercial ties, emerging from unprecedented health and economic challenges for the past two years.
With AfCFTA which aims at boosting Africa’s trade, the United States investors are prepared to adjust their initiatives and pursue agreements that go beyond African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The Corporate Council on Africa is facilitating for potential investors in pursuing public-private partnerships that support the United States and African businesses, including women-owned and led Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises.
The three-day summit will include plenaries and panel sessions highlighting key economic recovery strategies and focus on a range of sectors and issues, including health and vaccine access, trade, digital transformation, infrastructure, financing, small and medium scale enterprises, tourism, women’s leadership and investment opportunities in various African countries.
The high-level dialogue is expected to set the scene for reviewing the opportunities for the United States and African public and private sector leaders, how to strengthen the economic partnership between the United States and Africa related to large-scale investments in key sectors such as oil and gas exploration, new trade agreements, and reviewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The 14th US-Africa Business Summit, the first major in-person US-African gathering will attempt to re-engage and collaborate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Corporate Council on Africa has an exciting line-up of high-level and panel discussions, networking opportunities, and activities that will allow attendees to meet face-to-face to engage on key US-Africa economic issues and re-establish important business contacts that were not possible over the past two years.
The African Heads of State, US government and African officials, top CEOs and senior executives from US and African companies operating in sectors contributing to Africa’s economic growth and relaunch including infrastructure, ICT, health, energy, mining, and creative industries.
The United States government report said the Biden-Harris Administration was prioritizing economic relationships with Africa. The United States government and private sector leaders, together with African political and corporate business leaders, have been working consistently over these years to share insights on critical issues and policies influencing the US-Africa economic partnership. It will drive billions of dollars of investment in Africa, build new markets for American products and create thousands of jobs for African and American workers.
According to information made available, the lined-up guest speakers include Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, President of Botswana; Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique and Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana. Attendees will participate in high-level roundtables, panels, and country forums, with ample opportunities to network with business and government leaders to develop new business partners. The exhibition centre will allow organizations to amplify their brand and showcase their business to leaders and the investment community.
During the summit, Africa50 in partnership with the Corporate Council on Africa will run a series of discussions dedicated to infrastructure investment in Africa. The sessions will include a presidential dialogue; a roundtable discussion on ways to mobilize institutional investors’ capital to fund infrastructure projects; a session on opportunities to increase public-private partnerships in the power transmission sector; and a panel on tech-enabled infrastructure.
Speaking about the partnership, CEO Alain Ebobissé said, “we are pleased to partner with the Corporate Council on Africa for this important event which comes at a crucial time, as the continent faces unprecedented external shocks and is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a need for strong, innovative, and bold responses to accelerate the recovery while driving climate-resilient and sustainable growth and infrastructure will play a key role.”
The Kingdom of Morocco, the host organizer, reassured facilitating, as part of the corporate summit, group visits and tours of Marrakech and other Moroccan cities for special guests. As the only African nation with a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, a major investor in sub-Saharan Africa and successes to showcase in penetrating key global manufacturing ecosystems (including aviation, agribusiness, and automotive), Morocco has much to showcase around the areas of increased intra-African trade as well as enhancing the US-Africa trade, investment, and commercial relationship.
With more than 1,000 US and African private sector executives, international investors, senior government, and multilateral stakeholders expected at the summit during Marrakech’s high season, it is strongly encouraged that attendees register early.
The Corporate Council on Africa is extremely grateful for the excellent partnership of the Kingdom of Morocco as the summit host, and partner Africa50 as well as summit sponsors including Royal Air Maroc (the summit official airline), Axxess, Jean Boulle Group, Pfizer, Visa, USP, Amazon, Gilead, Trimble, IHS Towers, Trade and Development Bank, Acrow Bridge, Trinity Energy, Citi, Flutterwave Inc., P&G, DLA Piper LLP, Attijariwafa Bank, Maroc Telecom, Creative Associates, Google, CrossBoundary and Frontier Bridge.
The summit media partners 35°Nord, All Africa, Jeune Afrique, and the African Media Agency. Without their collaboration, support and generosity, this year’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit would not be possible. The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), a leading reputable American business association, continues facilitating the growth and enhancement of US-Africa trade, investment, and commercial engagement that supports the prosperity of the United States, its African partners, and American and African businesses and people.
By Dipo Olowookere
About 0.04 per cent was recovered on Friday from the loss recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) the previous due to profit-taking.
Yesterday, investors were in the market with renewed vigour, mopping up stocks trading at relatively cheaper prices.
According to data, the insurance counter gained 0.41 per cent, the banking sector appreciated by 0.38 per cent, and the consumer goods index grew by 0.14 per cent.
The gains achieved by these three sectors were enough to lift Customs Street at the close of business despite the 0.26 per cent decline printed by the industrial goods segment and the 0.14 per cent loss suffered by the energy industry. The commodity counter was flat during the session.
A total of 43 equities gained weight on the last trading day of this week, while 26 equities shed weight, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Red Star Express increased its share price by 10.00 per cent to N13.20, NCR Nigeria grew by 9.97 per cent to N128.55, SCOA Nigeria inflated by 9.96 per cent to N14.90, Omatek appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, and Deap Capital expanded by 9.85 per cent to N4.46.
On the flip side, McNichols decreased by 8.81 per cent to N6.00, Legend Internet crumbled by 7.56 per cent to N5.50, Cornerstone Insurance crashed by 6.48 per cent to N6.35, C&I Leasing contracted by 6.29 per cent to N8.20, and Austin Laz slipped by 5.78 per cent to N3.75.
Yesterday, 539.9 million shares valued at N16.7 billion were transacted in 48,023 deals versus the 1.0 billion shares worth N31.6 billion executed in 51,227 deals in the preceding day, implying a shrink in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 46.01 per cent, 47.15 per cent, and 6.26 per cent apiece.
Zenith Bank was the most active for the day with 54.6 million stocks sold for N3.8 billion, Jaiz Bank traded 41.5 million units worth N359.4 million, Secure Electronic Technology transacted 37.7 million units valued at N39.2 million, Access Holdings exchanged 30.5 million units for N699.2 million, and Lasaco Assurance transacted 27.2 million units worth N68.3 million.
When the market closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 72.21 points to 166,129.50 points from 166,057.29 points and the market capitalisation gained N31 billion to N106.354 trillion from N106.323 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a positive ending for the Naira this week after it further appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, January 16 by N1.33 or 0.09 per cent to sell for N1,417.95/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,419.28/$1.
The domestic currency also gained N2.41 against the Euro in the official market to close at N1,647.51/€1 versus the preceding session’s closing price of N1,649.92/€1, however, it suffered a N7.97 loss against the Pound Sterling in the same market window to trade at N1,901.32/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,893.35/£1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian Naira depleted against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to quote at N1,427/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,425/$1, but strengthened against the greenback at the black market yesterday by N5 to settle at N1,485/$1 versus the N1,490/$1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
Improved supply conditions helped keep the market within range as exporters’ and importers’ inflows in addition to non-bank corporate supply enhanced liquidity as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made no visible intervention.
Stronger external inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and improving current account dynamics, continue to align with structural support in the wider economy.
Nigeria has seen projections of a stronger economic or gross domestic product (GDP) growth and lower inflation in 2026, with these forecasts citing improved macroeconomic fundamentals and reform impacts.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was mixed following selloff in precious metals and lower US stocks appeared to be denting crypto sentiment.
Gold and silver, both of which also enjoyed big rallies earlier this week, tumbled 1.2 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively while key US stock indexes — the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average — all reversed from early gains to modest losses in Friday trade.
Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 2.2 per cent to $0.1370, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 0.8 per cent to $2.05, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 0.7 per cent to $3,228.56, and Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 0.6 per cent to $95,086.80.
Conversely, Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 3.2 per cent to $74.48, Solana (SOL) rose by 0.4 per cent to $143.70, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 0.2 per cent to $0.3942, and Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.1 per cent to $935.88, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices settled higher amid lingering worries about a possible US military strike against Iran, a decision that may still occur over the weekend.
Brent crude settled at $64.13 a barrel after going up by 37 cents or 0.58 per cent and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude finished at $59.44 a barrel after it gained 25 cents or 0.42 per cent.
The US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was expected to arrive in the Persian Gulf next week after operating in the South China Sea.
Market analysts noted that it doesn’t seem likely anything will happen soon. However, the weekends have become the perfect time for actions so as not offset the markets.
The market had risen after protests flared up in Iran and US President Donald Trump signalled the potential for military strikes, but lost over 4 per cent on Thursday as the American president said Iran’s crackdown on the protesters was easing, allaying concerns of possible military action that could disrupt oil supplies.
Iran produces approximately 3.2 million barrels per day, accounting for roughly 4 per cent of global crude production, so it was not a coincidence that markets rallied sharply through Tuesday and Wednesday as President Trump canceled meetings with Iranian officials and posted that “help is on its way” to Iranian protesters, raising fears of potential US military strikes that sent prices surging toward multi-month highs.
Weighing against those fears are potential supply increases from Venezuela.
The Trump administration is exploring plans to swap heavy Venezuelan crude for US medium sour barrels that can actually go straight into Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) caverns, since not all all oil belongs in the reserve.
According to Reuters, the Department of Energy is considering moving Venezuelan heavy crude into commercial storage at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, while US producers deliver medium sour crude into the SPR in exchange.
Analysts expect higher supply this year, potentially creating a ceiling for the geopolitical risk premium on prices.
Some investors covered short positions ahead of the three-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the US.
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