Britain’s Export Finance Agency will add the Naira to its list of “pre-approved currencies”, allowing it to provide financing for transactions with Nigerian businesses denominated in the local currency.

The Naira will become one of three West African currencies that UK Export Finance has pre-approved for its programme of funding transactions that promote trade with Britain, it said.

Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, which has forced London to rethink its trade ties with the rest of the world. It has said it would start preliminary talks with India about an eventual bilateral trade deal.

The United Kingdom and the EU struck an agreement in December that opened the way for talks on future trade ties.

“This is a clear indication of how much value the UK places on its relationship with Nigeria. It will provide a firm foundation for a significant increase in trade and investment between both countries,” Reuters quoted the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, to have said in the UK’s credit agency statement. The statement said the UK would provide up to 85 per cent of funding for projects containing a minimum of 20 per cent British content.

“The Naira financing will follow the same structure as someone buying in sterling, except that Nigerian firms taking out a loan in local currency can benefit from a UK government-backed guarantee.

“This can enable businesses to manage foreign exchange risks and, many times, to negotiate better terms with local banks.”

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) once more intervened in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) yesterday to the tune of $325.64 million.

Figures obtained from the bank indicated that the amount released was for requests in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.

The figures were confirmed by the bank’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who noted that the continued intervention were in line with the assurances made by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade.

According to Okorafor, the feedback from the wholesale and retail segments of the Nigerian Forex markets showed that customers were satisfied with their level of access to foreign exchange.

He said the degree of optimism displayed by all players underscored the fact that everyone was happy with the level of transparency in the market. Speaking further, Okorafor assured that, with the recession now over and foreign reserves now standing at $42 billion, the CBN had enough in its arsenal to maintain the international value of the Naira as well as guarantee access to forex by those requiring it to meet genuine needs.

He also reiterated that the desire of the bank to ensure that all, particularly low end users, had access to foreign exchange to meet genuine needs prompted the Bankers’ Committee, in its first meeting of 2018, to agree to sell United States dollars to those requiring it for invisibles at the rate of N360/$1, without any commission whatsoever.

It will be recalled that the CBN in its last SMIS, in January 2018, injected the sum of $304.4 million in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.

From a chaotic foreign exchange system in the first half of 2017, due to the activities of speculators, currency traffickers among others, which saw the naira dropping to as low as N525 to a dollar, the naira has since stabilised at N360 to a dollar across various segments of the forex market.

The stability was majorly driven by a raft of forex policies that were introduced by the Central Bank which included the I & E window.

The surge in activities at the window had been attributed to offshore investor interest in treasury bills and the primary market auctions (PMA) by the CBN, with the resulting inflows leading to a convergence between the parallel market exchange rate and the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) rate, also known as the I&E Forex window.

Most activities now occur on the I&E window, with Fitch Ratings recently acknowledging that the rate on the I&E “should now be considered the relevant exchange rate”.

Soiurce: Obinna Chima, allafrica.com

The Gambia will on Thursday at 11 a.m., rejoin the Commonwealth family, almost five years after leaving the 53-member organisation.

The Gambia’s readmission would be confirmed by 12. 01 a.m. on Thursday after which the Secretariat would announce that The Gambia is rejoining the Commonwealth.

A flag-raising ceremony, at the gardens of Marlborough House, the London headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, would mark its return, said Barnie Choudhury, Director, Media and Public Relations, Commonwealth Secretariat.

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland; Chair, Executive Committee of the Board of Governors, Norman Hamilton; members of the Committee; and The Gambian High Commissioner-to be, Francis Blain, would attend the ceremony.

The decision to begin the process of applying for readmission was made in February 2017 by President Adama Barrow, who came to power following elections in December 2016.

In December 2017, the parliament of The Gambia unanimously affirmed the country’s desire to rejoin the Commonwealth, thereby fulfilling one of the final steps in the organisation’s membership process.

Its application was unanimously supported by the current 52-member states and The Gambia would now be invited to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April in London.

The secretary-general said when The Gambia left in 2013, the heads of government expressed their regret in its leaving the Commonwealth family.

Scotland said: “We’ve looked forward to The Gambia’s return and were delighted when, after his election victory last year, President Barrow pledged to return.

“The Gambia’s application to rejoin has been unanimously accepted by all 52-member states, who welcome back their brothers and sisters to again play their full part in the Commonwealth family.”

Blain, the High Commissioner-to be, also expressed joy that his country was rejoining the Commonwealth.

“I am thrilled to represent my country as it formally rejoins the Commonwealth after an absence of several years – and to become High Commissioner rather than Ambassador.

“The Gambia looks forward to being able both to contribute to and benefit from the collective wisdom of the Commonwealth family of countries.

“And to playing an active role in supporting the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the many other organisations and initiatives that flourish as expressions of Commonwealth connection.

“The Government and people of The Gambia will also draw on all that the Commonwealth collectively has to offer, assisting in practical ways to address a wide range of pressing issues.

“These include protecting the environment and tackling climate change, and the empowerment of women and young people,” Blain said.

The Gambia first became a member of the Commonwealth in 1965, when it gained independence from Britain.

There are now 53 members of The Commonwealth, representing more than 2.4 billion people.

The ceremony takes place just two months before the CHOGM.

CHOGM is taking place in London for the first time since 1986, and for the first time in the United Kingdom since the 1997 Edinburgh summit. (NAN)

Source: allafrica.com

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said it drew down as much as $1,1 billion from nostro stabilisation facilities last year extended by the Afreximbank as it sought to stabilise the foreign exchange market.

This sustained the financing of critical imports such as fuel, electricity, medicines, fertilisers, cash imports and raw materials, RBZ governor John Mangudya said yesterday. Zimbabwe is facing a critical shortage of foreign currency as imports continue outweighing exports.

The country has also not been receiving significant foreign direct investment – a major source of hard currency in a dollarised economy like Zimbabwe. The shortage of the US dollar, the country’s major trading currency, has spawned significant exchange rate disparities with other forms of currencies, mainly the bond notes.

“Draw-downs from these facilities together with the utilisation of bond notes in an amount of $290 million as at end December 2017 went a long way to stabilise shortages of cash in the country. The worst could have happened especially in September 2017 had it not been for the positive impact of the nostro stabilisation facilities on the economy,” Dr Mangudya said in the 2018 Monetary Policy Statement yesterday.

Zimbabwe experienced massive price increases in September triggered by unsubstantiated reports that there was a looming price hike and widespread shortage of basic commodities.

The reports also alleged the RBZ had released huge amounts of bond notes to mop up the US dollars. As a result, there was panic buying, which also caused some shortages.

Dr Mangudya said many companies involved in production of food products, packaging, fertilisers, agrochemicals and fuel distribution benefited from the facilities. Meanwhile, Dr Mangudya said the central bank has continued to use Aftrades as its lender of last resort window for promoting interbank finance facility.

The Aftrades facility, which was established in 2015 at a limit of $200 million, has helped alleviating liquidity shortages and will run for another two years until February 2019.

Total trades amounted to $399,5 million in 2017. Dr Mangudya also said $165 million had been raised through Savings Bonds, which was introduced in September last year to mop up excess liquidity in the market and to provide investors with a platform for increasing savings within the country.

Source: allafrica.com

Nigeria is said to be an attractive investment destination in sub-Sahara Africa despite the fast changing landscape of the global oil and gas industry.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, at the BHGE 2018 Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy, while fielding questions at the Ministerial Panel, said Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry is still very attractive to investment, regardless of various challenges facing the global oil industry since 2014.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Baker Hughes a GE (BHGE), Lorenzo Simonelli, had highlighted the various challenges, including market volatility, threat of emerging technologies and digitalisation, energy transition to cleaner fuel sources, and the demands of energy affordability, security and sustainability.

Conceding that these challenges are real and enormous, Wabote contended that from an African perspective, “the concern for me is the emergence of artificial intelligence and robotics, and how these impact on people.”

He enjoined international oil companies to pay close attention to this fact as well as environmental stewardship, and charged operators and service companies to avoid the mistakes of the past, and conduct their businesses with transparency.

The Panellists agreed that “meeting the world’s energy needs isn’t going to be easy,” adding that the “changing market realities and constant uncertainties mean that the industry will continue to face pressures from all directions,” making the case for investing smarter ways.

The theme of the Annual Meeting is – “AM 2018 Investing Smarter Ways”, and is one of the most anticipated event in the industry. It brings together global industry leaders to debate key issues, and learn about latest technologies and innovative solutions to operational challenges.

This year’s Ministerial Panel featured: Carlo Calenda, Minister of Economic Development, Italy, Dr. Dawood Nassif, Advisor to Bahrain Oil Minister, and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB.

Source: Roseline Okere, Allafrica