WTO cuts global trade forecast

The World Trade Organisation Tuesday downshifted its global trade forecast, warning that anti-globalisation rhetoric and Brexit were pushing trade growth to its slowest pace since the financial crisis.
The warning comes as talks on a landmark free trade deal between the European Union and United States battle stiff opposition and as Britain’s EU exit causes jitters.
The WTO said that global trade was now estimated to expand by just 1.7 percent this year, compared to its April projection of 2.8 percent.
The new figure is also a far cry from a projection a year ago that trade would swell by 3.9 percent this year.
Describing it as “wake-up call”, the Geneva-based global trade body said growth had fallen to its slowest pace in around seven years when the global financial crisis hit.
“With expected global GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 2.2 percent in 2016, this year would mark the slowest pace of trade and output growth since the financial crisis of 2009,” the trade body said in a statement.

Shell shuts down pipeline in Ogoniland after fire

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Monday shut down a major pipeline in southern Nigeria after fire broke out in its supply lines, a spokesman for the company said.
“A fire has been observed on the right of way of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) at Gio in Ogoni land,” said spokesman Joseph Obari.
“SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) has shut the TNP as a precautionary measure pending the investigation,” he added.
The TNP has been repeatedly attacked by vandals and oil thieves, and Shell said it would investigate whether the fire was the result of an attack by one of the armed groups that operate in the region.

Tokyo stocks gain after Clinton gets nod in debate

Tokyo shares rose on Tuesday as investors gave Hillary Clinton the nod against rival Donald Trump in the first US presidential debate.
The Japanese market had opened lower following declines on Wall Street ahead of the highly anticipated showdown between the pair who are locked in a neck and neck race for the White House.
But Tokyo ended into positive territory after a confident Clinton bested Republican candidate Trump in the 90-minute debate — pushing down the yen, which investors buy as a safe asset when they are jittery.
A weaker yen is a plus for Japan’s exporters shares as it boosts their overseas competitiveness and profitability.
“Markets were very anxious before the debate,” Andrew Sullivan, managing director of sales

Three refineries produce 44m litres of petrol in July

Despite the efforts to increase local refining capacity to conserve foreign exchange Nigeria’s three refineries could only produce 43,743,273 million litres of petrol in July.
This means, the country’s forex request for imports of petroleum products, which currently stands at 35 percent will further increase in the coming months, unless something drastic was done about the state of the refineries
The refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, has a combined daily refining capacity of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day
The latest production statistics contained in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), monthly report for July 2016, released at the weekend show that the approximatly only 44 million litres of petrol was produced in July is was far below the 211,562,865 million litres of petrol produced by the three refineries in June this year and slightly above the country’s daily consumption figure of 40 million litres.

Oil price rises more than 3% as OPEC meet in Algeria

Oil prices rallied nearly 4 percent at their peak yesterday as the world’s largest producers gathered in Algeria to discuss ways to support the market, with nervous trade driving volatility to its highest since exporters met in April.
Brent crude futures rose $1.58, or 3.4 percent, to $47.47 a barrel having rallied from a session low of $45.74, while U.S. crude prices rose $1.64, or 3.7 percent, to $46.12 a barrel. Skepticism about any deal being reached has prompted money managers to cut their bullish bets to a one-month low last week, when prices fell by nearly 5 percent, dented by signs Saudi Arabia and Iran were making little progress in achieving a preliminary agreement to freeze production. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, are meeting informally on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria from Sept. 26-28, where they will discuss a possible deal to limit output.

Access Bank plan to issue fresh Eurobond

Access Bank Plc is set to issue the first Eurobond from Nigeria in almost two years after choosing banks to arrange a new deal.
Nigeria’s fourth-largest lender by assets will meet investors in the United States and Europe from Tuesday through October 3rd, and plans to sell five-year debsetups Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Wigwe told Bloomberg.
Barclays Plc, Citigroup Incorporated and JPMorgan Chase & Co would arrange the deal, he said.

Emirates rejects naira in payment for flight

Emirates Airlines has rejected the Nigerian currency, naira, for payment by travellers to Brazil.The Dubai-based airline is rather demanding a credit card mode of payment from passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The development, which caught many passengers unawares, caused some of them to be left behind, despite having bought tickets weeks earlier.
It was observed that while some passengers were turned back by the airline’s officials at the counter for already buying tickets in naira, they also ensured that a passenger who had earlier checked in for the 5:55 p.m. Lagos-Dubai Sunday flight never boarded the plane.
The Emirates office in Lagos yesterday confirmed that the credit card mode of payment is indeed the company’s policy, though it would not explain the rationale.
An official of the airline, Babatunde Yahaya, who explained the new policy to angry passengers on Sunday said the action was in line with a memo issued to them, demanding that any ticket

Dangote to invest $20bn in petrochemical, fertiliser projects

A fresh investment worth $20 billion targeted at the downstream petrochemical and backward integration in agriculture is in the offing.
Africa’s richest man, and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who made the pledge, said his group is set to deploy funds in multi-faceted projects.
The projects include fertiliser, gas pipeline, and backward integration in sugar and rice production.
These, he said, will create over 250,000 jobs and provide foreign exchange earnings and savings of $16 billion for the country and help diversify the economy. Besides, in recognition of his immense contribution to human capital development in Africa through the establishment of businesses across the African continent, a United States of America based Organization, Africa-America Institute (AAI), honoured Dangote with the “2016 African Business Leader Award.”
The business mogul was named and presented the award at a ceremony held on the side-line of the United Nations Congress in New York city, United States.