A2 I NEWS Wednesday 25 July 20 12
BUSINESSDAY: www.buslnessdayonline.com
Petroleum marketers threaten to shut operations in 48 hours e DePOI and PetroProductJ MarkefenAssodadon of Nigeria (DAPPMA)
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00 Tuesday threalened 10 shut its apenlliaos within 48 hoW'S If govemmenl faUed to pay the subsidy da1rns to
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Capo Abiodun, the president of the association. gave the ultimatum In a telephone inlervlew with the New.
Agency of NIgeria (NAN) In Lap.
Ablodun said thai government failure to pay all verified and OlIl.5lBIK1lngsubsidy daim5 would lead to the member! suspending supply and dislribution of petroleum products nationwide. -We are not fighting gov-
ernment but what we ate sHying is that government
GovemorAdalrlf 0shi0rm0Ie (r) ofEdo Slate andAblolaA;imobl. his OyoStalecomlerpart. during OstIlomhote's ........ O*:::i108 visit to the Oyo governor 00 the death of his molhef, Slkllal Abebe Aflmobl, on Monday.
Indorama unveils N45bn PEr plant at Eleme
FG gets $980m agric loan from World Bank, IFAD
dorama yesterday un veDedAlricl• .seDJDdpolythylene lerephthaiate (PEl') plam in Berne. near Ptwt Harooun, built at about N45 bOWn (S300 mIllion). ThIs [s 11$ Gc.1YCT1Or ChIbuIke Rodtnl AmaechI of Riven.sald anY)'ollth invading companies and disrupting operations wvukl simply be
TONY AILEMEN, Abuja
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_ _ ,,-"'fine.
nle PET pla..'tt is capable or AYinB $ 140 million (NlI billion) to fO(efJo exchange mdMddhetphtumNigBia rromanetknpol'rl'rK)~
01 a:rtain ~ or resins.. The PFr pf:Jllt was buIlt by
lndonanaGrouiJattheirexblinK planl at dte EJeme Pf:uo-. cbemicalsCoeDlmryUmhec:L bbtbefimortlveenewplanl5 that would come on steam benfieen noW Del 2016 with -.N450 ....... (Sl .......). lbeocbm indl:de a SI.3 bfIlion fertilRI-plalllellpeCled to be the biGgest r::rtWser plant In the world and a gigantic ethanol. plant dwt wouk1 be oneof!be bblJ:er1 in theWOlkl Wlth the dm<e new planu, is ~ 10 be-come the wot\d 's bigg!:st petIndorama-EPa~
rochemical co~pll!& In the worki. and thel'ligs indus-
alai_pi..,..
At lhe corr.missioning. the Group Managing Oirec· tor of lndonIiDit CcHporation (worldwide). Amit Lohla. based In the United Stales, saki thai the n!W PET plant hascapadty t orroduceB6,OOJ meoic tonsofl'ET resins per
onnum.
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reSldeDt Goodlud: Jonathan's policy on agriculture is att.nICtin£ global suppon with World Bank investing S900 million and sao million from the International Fund for Agr1o.dtunoI "'-"""" (IFAD). Further boost haa a lso been give n by the Bill and Melinda Gales Foundation which has agreed to R( up an office to assist the Fed-
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profea.withBiUGmesseMng on the President Jonathan's Eminent Persons Advisory GrouponApicul~
MInister of AgrIcuJtUlII!:, AlciowumI Ade:sma. dbc::Iosed this at the Presidential Wi&. Tuesday while speaIdns on the 20 12 performaoa: his mlnlmy. Adesina, whodl!doJed dlal his minlsuyhas.su I'aneoJnJed about 6B pett:enI pai:Jnnanoc in impkmu iltttitAt 01 the lOll
or
~saldoftheN48. 1 1:A:Jn
budgeled rOf capital project in Ills mInisuy b 2Ol2. about N 13.8 billion has been dis-bunacd to hbn 10 larwhile N9.4 bi11mhas beeJ.~ -Imustrenhxl you thalthe budget waspassedoo the ISdl ofMard1,2JJI2.SoawicWture' s season Slllned in January, and N48.1 bUllon was bud· geted for capital pro;ect with NIJ.8 billion rdeased and so I'ar we hIwe speor N9_4 billion of the IlITM1ll1t released:'
should payall ouroutstanding subskfydaimswh.lch h~ af· fected our operations~ after 48 houn governlDCf1t Iidb to effect payment. ~ the membersoCDAPPMA are going to put our opera-
tlons on hold nationwide pending when it is paid; he
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Abiodun said that banks were charging marketers about N J.8Ok as {Illerest on a l1rreofpetrol~monthduelO
non-payment of d.e subsidy daimsby~enL
He said that It costs members aboul S30 million 10 import 3O.00J tOM of petrol. adding thai rKlll-paymelU of subskty had resuJlrd In hugt! debts from funds bonowed from banb. AaXKdingto him, thebank loans used to finance importation of peuoIeum products have continued to accrue imerest OYer and above the
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He said also dwt the decision of Federal ~nent to suspend Indefinitely all ~andoul5landingsub
sldy paymenlS since January
had exposed ilS members to finandal aisis.. "Our members haw: been exposed to harshefrecbofthe devalualion of the naira-
eBN moves to save Naira, raises eRR to 12% Another choice, accord-
T
he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday took liquidity tightenIng meas ures to suppon ti.eweabning nalr.!o by ralsing the cash reserve ratio to 12 petten! £rom the previous B percent. a move that [s IIkety to push banks' lending nile up, or reduce intel"ell rates on depos.lts, Of" a combination ofboth. The new ratio, for how much cash banks muse keep al the Ce.nu-al Bank. II the hIghea since October 20 11 and tdIects the CBN" worry about the European financial aislJ and contagion. depletingexcessaudeaccount wbkJl Sanusi Lam.ldo Sanusf. the apv.: bank governor, suggests [s mostly pressured by aU tien or ~ment. *ThIs wu the toughes t decision that the Committee has had 10 make, having been faced with three tough options of either lowering the MPR in dte face of lUll· lalned s lowing domestic output growth and concerns about global growth prospects: says. Sanusl. while brlefins on the outcome o r the twO-day Monettuy Puliey Committee (MPC) meeting on TUesday to Ahuja.
Ing to hIm was 10 leave the MPR unchanged agalnll the background of upward trending Innatlon Dgures while the lase was to reduce the Uquldlty to the banking system ustog a raiIe to 0tR. an option that the committee consld~ would have the least rtegative lmpaa on the wider eamomy_ T h e CBN's Monetary Polley Committee (MPC) also reduced the net open foreign adtange positions tQ one pe.n:ent From three percenl to suppon the naira, while leaving the lis bench· mark Interftt rate on hold at 12 percenl on Tuesday. as upected by most analysts. The naira has been hit by a faU In the price of oil, the nation', main eJ:porl, and global risk all'eRion and has weakened by almost J percent agalnS! the dollar slnceApril lndeed, It dosed all60,7 against the U.S_ doUar on 1\tesday, outside the oentrai bank'. 150· 160 target trad Inghand. llleweaknessorthenain has continued 10 aggravate Innatlon leading to con sumer Innatlon rising to 12.9 pen::ent year-on-)UJ" in June, u p linm 12_7 percent In JIo'lay. ~hls ls huge and a dear
statement o f resolve on the panolthe authorities on their detenninalion to support the nail1l de5pite considerable enema:J threats,· said Razla lChan. head of Africa research "S<andud<looon=d "We expect the naira to atrengthen 00 !he interbank market on the back of this.. We expect the NGN 10 be the b:nmedlare belefJdary of the policy measures announced today, with USO-NGN Ukeiy ID ttadelowa"on IheInterlJank market. falling again within tbeOlN'.offidal +/-lS band around 155.: Khan added· Sam lr Gadlo said. -On the nile skle, the immediate effect should be a signlficam jwnp in T· biU yields and to • lesser exlentin bond rales becaUlOe of I.hclrsen~r.itlvlty to market liquidity dynamlcs. On the FX front, we see the NGN strengthening in comIng sesstoru since the abUity of the hanks to play the rorex market will be contaLned. Although the risk is thai some foreign toveslon Iwv-. Ing faced large mark- Iomarket losses may initially decide to edt dle Nigerian fh£d income space, we do not actually e:q>eCt a major offshore-led sell off at this poinL Funhermore. theCBN ls lIkcly 10 exen::ise Increased SUf'Velllance and (If needed) Intervene In the Interbank
markel to sell USD_: The CBN boss acknowledged that monetary polley faces a dlfficull task in lerms of delivering price stabilIty particuI.ady as domestic conditions indlcale rl.lng uoemploymenl, poverty, decUning growth and rising innadon, consequently, the
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markets &ppe1iM to be open!Iting at sub-optimallcM:ls. The situation, aa::ordfng to him Is worsened by an uncertain 1nfladon environmalt with possible pre:sstJteS coming from the CO«: component In the medlwn tenn. The ueat of Inflationary pre5Sl..ftOO the Niprilmemn-
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omyhM~sincethe
beginning 0(2012, rising to 12.9 per cent in rune ~ by food and non-alcohoUc
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eIedridry, ps and ucher fuels according (0 data from the National Bureau ofStatisdcs. The Committee. according to Sanusl noted that in addition to the lag effects of the partial ~ova1 of peuoleum subsidy to lanuary, other borrowing by government to cover large Oleal de6dts in the 2012 budget. and the upward review o( elecuicity tariffs and impon Duty on wheat and rice In July all fuel upside risk to lnl1atiOD to the near-le:rm.