mone,}" N200bn agric fund: eBN disburses
Nigeria
Euro bond unlikely this year - Okonjo-Iweala Ademola Al.,wiye wiUI agellC} report HE Minister of Finance T and coordinating minister tor the economy,
Mrs. Ngozi ')kojo-Tweala. has said tha the country is unlikely to issue a fresh Eurobond un~12013 at the ear\it'SL Okonjo- I~''3.1a said the governmr-nt might begin oonsidering ts Eurobond plans in th· Jatter part of thlS year. adding that preparatiun would take
some limt'o ~Weknowt lere'sappetite for Nigerhn bonds. We are letting peopl! know we are
cognisant of (re.ating a yield curve,~ she tc: Id IFRduring an intervi,'w ',n Thursday. The Feder1ll Government inaugural~ its debut international bond through a US$soom. lQ-.-year
transaction
in
January
2011
She note I thai the government would continue t·, tap the domestic ffial kct as well as seek funds t hrougb loans with multilalers! agencies and othel «<wllnes, most notably Chin;l. Goodluck President Jonathan 11105 urged the National l.ssembly to approve USS-'.9bn in loans to fund pip-:!lille projects between 201:; and 20141bese loa IS would be provided b) the World Ballk, E.~m l:ank of China, African De\~ l opment Bank andothe~.
Some al alysts have become ulleasy about Nigeria's IJropeets because of se<:uri~ ril k... and doubts about the government"s ability to implement reforms Tel rurist attacks in recent nUlllh5 near Ahuja and in i{a 110 haveC851: a shadow ove r the country's p",<"" At the
sa nc time, the gover-mnrnt'l humbling attempt to remove fuel subsidies bad sparked a strike aftf'r prires doubled, which (ol"Cefi governmenl to partly rest. Ire it. Okonjo--lw<!3la, hGWe\'er, SIIid, -( dlSo1grce with lh~ anal}'J.ts (who are downgrnding forecasts). TIley ah'"8yt try to talk down NigeriJm growth.She said the economy should grow :>etween seven per cellt nnd eight per cent this year, wl,ich would be similar to last year's 7.6 per
"'0" She
addoo the governm!'nt remamed committM t ' l phasing oul fuel subsidie-.
Ad e m o la AJawiye Central T HE Nigeria has
Bank of released NI4bn to nine banks with respect to 14 commercial agricultural credit projects, thereby bringing the t.otal releases by the apex body since inception in 2009 to Nt51.01bn. TIle apex bank in a circular posted on its website on Thursday, said that the CBN had released N 151.01 bn fordisbursement 10 190 beneficiaries made up of 163 pri\"ate promoters and 27 state governments that accessed Ntbn each. It said. (be sum of N984m (for Federal Capital Territory) was withdrawn from two deposit money banks in December 20U due to contravention of the scheme guidelines_ "During the period, Delta Stale Go\'ernml!lIt accessed CACS fund . The number of state governments participating in the scheme therefore stands at 27.~ "1lIesestategovernments accessed funds for 011lending to fanners ' uniolls, co-operatives and financing of other areas of agricultural interventions in their wrious states. Projects moniloring exercise in the stllies were conducted during the year," the bank added. From the inception. according to the circular, 16 banks ha\'e participated till date under scheme. They include Access Bank PIc., Fidelity Bank PIc. First Bank of Nigeria Pic, Guaranty Trust Bank PIe, Skye Bank PIc, Stanbic lBTC Bank PIc, Union Bank of Nigeria PIc.,
United Bank for Africa PIc, Unity Bank PIc, Oceanic Bank International PIc, Zenith Bank 1>1e, Diamond Bank Plc., Sterling Bank pic, Cilibank Limiled, Mainstream Bank Pic and Wema Balik Pie.. The circular added thai the analysis of number of projects financed
N151 olbn _
under CACS by wlue chain showed that out of the 163 CACS private sector sponsored projects, production accounted for 44 per cent and dominated the activities funded while processing accounted for
~~~----~--~------~--~-,
· L-R: Olainnan, Capital Market Solicitors ASSOCiation, Dr. 8Clbajide AjiOOde; General Counsel, Total Nigeria Pic, Mr. Ofid; Momoh; Chie/ExecutiUf! Olficer, Nigerion Stock E.n:hallge, Mr. Oscar Onyelllo; and Chairman House Committee on Capital MarIa>t amllnstirutions, Mr. Helllbe Herman, ot the 'Re·Awakemng the Capital Market Through Partidpation 0/ Key Players in the Economy' programme, organised by CMSA in Lagos ... on Thursday . Ph% : Segun 8Clkare_
FG to auction N150bn t-bills, N70bn bonds Ad e m o la AJa-niye
IlE Ce.lltral Bank of Nigena said OD Thursday it would auction treasury bills worth N149.6sbn (S944.88m) at il!l bi-monthl)' debt auction next week. TIleCBN said it would sell N-49.65bn in 91-day paper and Nsobn each in 182-da)'
T
trea.suf)' bills and 364-day bills next Wednesday, using the Dutch auction system. It said, "Each bid must be in mulliples of NI,OOO subject to a minimum of Nlo,ooo. Yields on the papers were genernlly lower at the last treasury bill auction because of a surge in demand (rom offshore interest in local debL~
FirstBank partners three telcos on Mobile Money service Sale tenninals, FirslBank has
Ad('.moia Alaniye
D RSI'
Bank of Pic has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with three tdecommunication companies, Etisalnt Nigeria, GW Nigeria limited and Airtel Nigeria limited to provide seamless mobile: money services to millions of Nigerians. Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the three telecommunication companies ill Lagos, the four compames promised to combine their strengths to provide secure, con\'eIlient and user-friemUy mobile banking services 10 the unbanked through the use of mobile phones. Mobile banking is the use of mobile phones to remOldy access bank accounts, primarily foraceount inquif)', mobile transfer, retail payments, mk:ro insurance,
L' Nigeria
4i.l percenL It pointed oul that the activities were distantly followed by marketing and storage which registered eight per cenl and 6.75 per cent respectively. "With regards to the
value of funds released, processing accounted for 5S.6 per cent followed by production which accounted for 29.1 per cent of the value of enterprises financed. These were followed by marketing and storage which registered 10.4 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively," it added.
savinp remittances. mobile top-up, utiliry bill payments and government collections amongolhers. A statement by the bank on TIlUniday quoted the Managing Director and Chief Execum'e Officer, Mr. Bisi Onasan),a, as saying mobile banking was hinged on three planks which ""ere defmed in terms of financial inclusion for the unbanked and tht> underbanked, person II) person transaction in tennsof .sending and reoeiving mOlley as well as retail paymenl for the .purchase of goods and ~
He added that ~Vith (W1!f
600 branches and thousands of business partner Olltll!ls in strategic proximity to the people, coupled with over 1.500 Automated TeDer Machines including cash deposit AlMs, cardIess aud biometric. AlMs. O\""U fi".e million acth~ acxoUlus and more: than 1,200 Point of
al~"8)'5
of
been al the forefront innovative financial
sen-1CCS solutions."
In addition to the mobile money services. Ollasanya said F""tmBank had in place a world-class IT infrastructure to drive its e-paymcnt 5eIVkes across transaction touch points.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy after South Afri~, issues treasUf)' hills regularly to reduce money supply, curb inflation and help banks manage thell" liquidity. Meanwhile, the Debt Management Officesaid that the Federal Government would issue N70bn sovereign bonds maturing in 2019 and 2022. The DMO said in a circular on its website Ulat the saJe would open on February 29 and each bond would be issued at N35bn each, addillg that the results would be released on March It said, -nle bonds are being issued on behalr of the Federnl Governmcnt by the Central Bank of Nigeria and
are reopening of previously issued bonds. nle 2019 bond will attract seven per cent interest rate while the 2022 bond ~111 yield 16.39 per cenL TIle bonds wiJl be auctioned in NI,ODO per unit subject to a minimum subscription of Nlo,ooo and in multiples of NI.ooo tltereafter while tlte interest is payable semi-annually. -For reopening of previously issued bonds. (where the coupon isaJready set), successful bidders will pay a price corresponding to the yield-tn-maturity bid that clears the \"Glume being auctioned, plus accrued interest from the original issue date. The DMO resel"Vl!S lhe right toalterthe amount allotted in response to market conditions. M
Greece, batUing for bail-out, finds extra budget REECE said G Thursday it had found extra budget
Oll
savings demanded by its international lenders, suggesting a new rescue package is within reach even though acrimony simmered between Athens and its European partners, Reuters reported. Greece is .scrambling to clinch the 130 billion euro (S I70bn) OOil--olll at a meeting of curo wne finance ministers on Monday to a\"Crt a chaotic
default when 14.5 billion euros in debt repayments fall due on March 20. Ellm zone p"ymllSlc.r Gennany indicated that a pmposalto stagger the bailout and withhold part until after a Greek election in April was no longer on tbe table. Bill a source in the Gennan ruling coalition, speaking after talks ....ith the Gernllln finance ministry. said some outstanding issues remained, including the possibility of an nng·
fenced account for debt redemption payments and beller contrnls of Greece's efforts to reduce .spending. Athens is coming up against rising frustratian among some eum zone members III what they see as a lreud of Greek. political leaders doing the minimum possible at the last possible moment since the country was first bailed Ollt in 2010. Critics say Ihe SlllIle applies to the euro wne's crisis response over the last two years.