.. -Page 42, THISDAY, Vol. 16,. No. 5848
~
Thursday,.April.28, 2011
~ .
8 BusinessWORLD
.african business Iyory Coast Cocoa Trade, Bartking'- Poise~ to Restart -J,
"~'I ' vary
'
.
• -
-- ' - - -
-
Coast's cocoa ' and banking secto rs are set to resume operati ons within days , officials_. ~a iQ o n Tuesday, signalling big steps toward restori ng normality in the conflic t-to rn West African state. "'-.Rellfers reports O, at a violent post-election power : ~truggle p.aralyzed the economy of the world's lOp cocoa grower for monlhs, leaving !vorians to scramble for daily survival in the midst of heavy combat and sending shockwaves through g lobal cocoa \ markets. "The (regio na l cenlral bank) BCEAO is open," Souley mane Diarrassouba , vice president of the lvona" Bank ing Professio na ls' Associalion , lold Reulers . "[t has made a ll arrangements to suppi y the banks with bills." He added thaI the majorily or workers at the nation's priva te ba nks , whi ch include Sociele Generale, BNP Pari bas and Ci tiba nk, were also back at work afte r banks shut their doors months ago. Orticials at the banks were not immediately available to
-
~omment . though a'source at Societe Generale who asked not to be named said. the bank could reopen to c ustamers as early as Thursday. Ivory Coast's cocoa industry, the cou ntry's main econo mi c e ngi ne , could a lso resume ex port shipments in days once a di spute over c usto ms duty arrangeme nts is se nl ed , Ihe induslry bod y said on Tuesday. Exporters at a meeting in commercial capital Abidjan said customs a uth orities were de manding payment in cash of the so-called DUS export lax ralher tha n accepting cheques, while the local banking sysle m is slill not operating. ~ "We insisted, but Customs demanded th at it be paid in cash. In any case, I am hopefu l that Ihings will be sorted out loday," Eric Koffl , director of opera tions for the CGFCC body. said . Later he added 10 Reuters: "The firsl exports will take place in a few days. We are operati onal , but the re remain few problems wi th exporters ."
"'":'
The refu sal of ex-president_ ---rernoy.ed from...Qffif.e on April Laure nt Gbagbo to quit after II by Ouattara forces backed a November 28 election was by French and U.N. troops judged to have been won by and is now under house:arrest rival Alassane_Q uatta ra trigsomewhere in the north of gered a v iolent c ri sis in -the country. · - -c· ---c-. whi ch over 1,500 d ied, hunReside nts of Abidjan said dred s of thou sands were tom on Tuesday they were eager from the ir homes and econoto get back to wo rk after the my of the world's top cocoa confli ct, but there were still producer ground to a halt. obstacles including a lack of Ivory Coast Iypica ll y profuel after the . ports a nd duces about 1.2 millio n nati onal refinery had been tonnes of cocoa per year. or shut. roughly a third of the global "Work is resla rting but we total. need a way to get around," Gbagbo was forcibly said Francis Ka nga, who
for late exports, and more wo rks at cocoa industry i~g'~ lator BeG. ·"We-need .to .b<:._ .rapidguality co ntiol. able to buy fue l." "The final" quaTi"ty of the Following a de facto trade cocoa wi ll have to be reflectembargo on Ivorian cocoa, ed in the contracts .. . there around 460 ,000 tonnes are will- be limits on the quality being he ld in storage awaitof cocoa but we will apply ing export as fears grow that quite a wide limit," he said . the quality of beans is sufferExporters said Ihe more immediale problem, howeving. Koffi said forma lities er, was the customs authoriwoul d be streamlined to ti es' insistence on cash payallow exports to beg in as ment of export taxes. quickly as possible, with the "If that is the case , we registration process being won't be able to export now,lI reduced from 72 hours to less said o ne exporter who than 24, a waiver on pe na lties decli ned to be named .
Guinea Eyes Bigger Mine Stakes, New Rules uinea's government aims to more th an double the Slake it can ho ld in mi nin g projecls and to toughen procedures for issuing development permits. accord ing to a drafl of the West African state's new mining code. Re uters reports th at the changes are aimed at boosting the ~JTlPoveris hed country's share in its vas t minerals wealth, bUI could backfire by limiting mu ch-needed fut ure investment from international mining firms, analYSIS and induslry insiders said. Other proposed changes in the code, whi ch is se t to.·· become law in coming.6 mon ths, include new tax breaks for mining companies involved in exploration and mine construction . and the crea tion of a 'Local Development Fu nd' fed by an exis ting· 0 .5-1.0 percenl levy on minerals sales. . G uinea is the world's top exporter of the aluminum ore bauxite and holds some of the world's biggest un exploited iron ore reserves that have drawn billions of dol · Iars in planned investment from miners Rio Tinto and Vale. The draft minin g code would give the Guinean slate a free 15 percen~ or mining projecls, as well as the option of purchasing an additional 20 perce nt -- bringing Ihe total potenlial stale share to 35 percenl. This proposal, which would more than double the CU\'fent 15 percent slate share in projects. will draw the biggest protest from mining companies who argue it will -cut into. their revenues without reducing capititl outl ay. It IS unclear if the govern ment will compromise on the .issue and legal battles over
G
retroactivity to existing mining projects are a possibilily if the code becomes law. Guinea President Alpha Conde has signalled that this change is a priority, slating earlier this year that he wanls G uinea to have a blocking minority stake in all of the country's mining projects -something requirin g at least 33 percenl. The code wo uld- al so loughen up procedures for compani es seeki ng to get a mining permit, requiring them to complete a feasibi lity study and environmental and social impact studi es beforehand . ItIn the past. companies with big investments were offered the possibility of a customisalion of the code to give th em some security -bas ically a convention or framework agree ment Ihat would mean Oley could avoid the various studies before Ihe co ncessio n was granted," said one induslry o fficial who asked not to be named . "That's been removed." In a move to attract more exploration , however. compani es doing research and mine construction wou ld get a series o f new tax breaks a nd deductions , including on value-added , equipment imports . a nd c usto ms duties. The taxes would mostly be reimposed once exploitation began , according to the draft document. The draft code also references the c reation of a new 'Local D evelopinent Fund' that would by· fed by a 0.51.0 percent exisling C9nimunity development levy on minerals turnover. The code does not detail how the new fund would be managed and a.GlIi~ean mining official was not immeili. ately available to.comment.
-L-R: Regional Sales Manager Africa, Fokker Services, General Manager, IRS Airlines, Mr. Yem; Dada and Regional Sales Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Heino Van Loan during lite news briefing by IRS Airlines on the activities of tire airline at lkeja ... recently PHOTO: Kola Alii
5'Africals Rand Hits 2-Week High vs. Dollar; Stocks Mixed
S
ou th Africa's rand firmed against the dollar on Tuesday, taking its cue from the euro's rall y in thin domestic trading conditions . Reuters repo rls South African stocks ended mixed as resource shares fen in line with global cornmodities but banking shares roared higher as they took heart from robust results posted by global peers. Do mestic ma rke ts are prone to exaggerated moves this week and wi ll follow global trends more closely as liquidity is lighl because of public holid ays on Monday and Wednesday. The rand was trading al 6.70 to the dollar at 1530 GMT, 0.4 percent stronger than Monday's New York close of 6.7267 . It hit a session high of 6.692 1. earlier, its ftrriJest in two weeks. "The raJ.ld has lieen tracking the . broader market trends and to a point the f9rtunes of the euro, which has improved· in early Tuesday irade," said lFR · Mari\ets . a Thomson ·Reuters··news and - market an~lysis service, ing the rand firming to 6 .62 _ The eurozone ,is· South·
see: ..
Africa's largesl trading partner and the rand often fol lows the euro's moves. The single cu rren cy to 16moth highs 10 the dollar on bets that the U.s. Federal Reserve bank will maintai n loose monetary policy o n Wednesday after its pol icy meeting. If the U .S. keep its superloose monetary policy, money money should keep flo wi ng to emerging markets such as South Africa, bolsteri ng its hi gh yielding currency. Charts suggest the rand's bullish trend is intact. The currency has· been trading firmer than its 100 and 200 day movin g average since
mid-March. The rand will have to decis ive ly break 6 .66 to target this year's high of 6.55 , hit on January 3. It tried and fa iled to break this leve l early in Apri l. On the bourse, the AIIshare index , ended just 0 .03 percenl highe r at 32,668. 15 . The mining index rell 1.2 1 percent as commodities across the board look a whacking after a sharp drop in si lver triggered by an options expiry. But domestic ba nking stocks performed strongly. RMB Holdings finished up 3.59 percent to 27.98 rand while Firstrand e nded 1.99 percent higher at 20.50 rand .
Egypt Still In Talks With IMF On Up To $4 bIn loan
E
gypt's government is still in talks . w ith the International Monetary . Fund for a $3 billion to $4 billion lo.an and the country's economy should grow fasler next year than in . 2011. Finance Minisler .Sainir Radwan·said on Tuesday. "We ·are still negotiating a
loan with the IMF for $3 (billion) to $4 billion," he told reporters after a meeting at Kuwait's Chamber of Commerce and ·Industry. "Economic growth is unfortunalely going down . Our estimate is 2 percent this year ... next year it is about 4 percent," he said .
Rival Slandard Bank , Africa's biggesl bank by way of asselS. sprinled 1.69 perce nt higher 10 102.25 ran d. UBS res ullS sparked a rall y in the European financial seClor Ihal fed in to local banking stocks. "Globall y Ihere were some good results comj ng out of Ihe banking markel, wi lh the likes of UBS kicki ng off the positive momentum ," said a Joh annesburg-based trader. . Shares in Swiss lende r UBS ended almost 4 percenl higher after it said money poured back into its core wealth management arm in the firsl quarter. On fi xed income, Sou th African government bonds sleadied , with the yield on the 2015 note unchanged from the previous close at 7 .64 percenl and that on the 2026 note was also flat at 8.655 percent. On the ·data front, PPI will be released on Thursday, with tbe market expecting factory gate prices to rise by 7.3 percent year-on, year in March, from 6 .7 percent previously, largely due 10 higher metal prices and a relatively weaker rand in March.