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BUSINESS 115
Business Travel P45
Autowheels P42
'Sleeping on duty' and aviation industry's safety
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Nigerian banks foresee rise in credit availability By Toyoon Y1ahood Usamah, with Agency report ANKERS h ave expressed optimism that the sector would be better disposed to the creation of new assets through increase in loan facilities to intending applicants this year. The tendency, they said, wo uld place them in a better position to create new asse ts, a respons ibility they have been shying away from since the industry's crisis started abou t two years ago. Many of the banks, in their 201O-yea r e nd books, sa id t hat with the intervention of t he Asset Management Compa ny (AMCON), they have been able to clear their non-performing loans [rom thei r books. Investigation also revealed that though the banks .were liquid in 2010, they were hesitant in creating new assets by granting loan facilities. Better days a head. Fo r instance, Stanbic IBTC in its 201O-year end results presentation recently said, "there was significa nt market liquidity, with resultant reduction in interest rate." It, how¡ ever, added that there was "limited investment outlets to ehannel excess liquidity." First City Monument Bank (FCMB), in its \,resentation of 2010 financia performance, said it was optim istic that "asset quality, sh ou ld improve further reta il lending, commercial banking , project and structured finance to drive loan gro.wth in 2011." .• The bank said retail business .cou ld achieve fully loaded profitability, driven by deposit growth, loan growth, a nd rmproved interest rate environment. One of the major factors that contributed to unusually low yields of banks was the pervading risk adverse attitude, such that instead of making loans available to the real eco no my, banks invested in governm ent debt market. Adesoji Solanke, banking a nalys t at the Renaissance Capital, an investment bank, is, however, optimistic that the "i mplementation of AMCON activities in 2011 will increase the ability of banks to provide cred it to their customers a nd promises to red uce volatility in the market." . Re naissance Capita l, in a research note on the industry, said "there is a gradua l dissipation of banks' asset ~"Q\fa li ty concerns." According to it, "our Nigeria n banks' analyst expects an uptick in lending activity to impact positively on banks' income in 201l."
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Group Managing Director and Chief Exec utive Officer, Access Bank PIc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (left); and Chairman, Gbenga Oyebode, at the bank's 22nd yearly general meeting, In lagos, yesterday.
IMF, World Banl<worl<
to taclde fluctuating food'prices AST week, the two leading 'nternational banking U institutions- International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, met in Washington DC to discuss the precarious status of global food security Though the conversations were fraught witll deeply disturbing hypoth etica ls a nd harrowing production projections, immediate mitigation strategies were decidecf upon and set into motion. Executing these plans quickly enough to alleviate some of the poorest nations' growing pressure is the chaUenge that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank now face. These fluctuating food prices make the world's poor astoundingly vulnerable. The
The World Bank's latest Food Price Watch has shown double-digit food price inflation in Egypt and Syria ...By June last year, 44 million additional people were living below the World Bank's poverty line. increasing global dependency on large-scale agribusiness made last year's natural disasters-such as droughts in Europe and flooding in Africa-all the more devastating. So much so that World Bank President, Robert Zoellick is worried, "we risk losing a generation" if food prices continue to increase. At a time whe n many poor countries are already grappling with lower wages and unemployment, higher hunger contin ues to be pervasive in Northern Africa, SubSaharan Africa, and the
Middle East. Though food prices are not the cause of recent political unrest in these regions, they serve to facilitate,-enflame, and sustain the turmoil, Zoellick refers to it as an "aggravating factor." For example, the World Bank's latest Food Price Watch has shown doublffiigit food price inflation in Egypt and Syria. By June last year, 44 million additional people were living below the World Bank's poverCONTINUED ON PAGE 16