INTRODUCTION

If there had been safety problems in Nigeria, no businessman would go to the region to discover opportunities, companies like Celtel, MTN, Etisalat, would not have ventured into safety risk nation to do enterprise. Those that spread rumour about security and corruption problems in Nigeria are declaring so to stop others from creating cash within the region. Figures do not lie. They are the biggest testimonies for how conducive Nigeria’s atmosphere for business and possibilities are. If you want to do business in Africa and file great returns on your investment, I welcome you to come to Nigeria. The political atmosphere in Africa, particularly in Nigeria is large.

Dr. Hamadoun Toure,
Secretary Common,
Worldwide Telecommunications Union,
Cited in the Punch Newspaper, Could 13, 2008)

What is occurring currently using the Nigerian financial system is far from being impacted in any way from the global credit crisis. At global stage presently, the banks are under-capitalised, but Nigerian banks are over-capitalised. And I don’t believe this can be a dilemma in anyway. I think that Nigerian banks are beneath pressure from other economies within Africa continent that are impacted through the credit problems.

- Gordon Smith,
Head of Research, Africa and the Middle East, Global Consilium,
(Noted within the Punch Newspaper, June 30th, 2008).

The foregoing statements aptly connote two understandings in the state of Nigerian economy. These understandings present that, the overall economy is 1 on the quickest increasing economies in Africa and within the planet. While Nigeria has had hash financial background, it has undergone and still undergoing financial reforms, that are aimed at making Nigeria the Africa’s financial hub and one with the twenty biggest economies in the globe through the 12 months 2020. Needless to say that the region has skilled political instability, corruption, and inadequate macroeconomic management within the previous, this was responsible for unpleasant and harsh financial situation. The government relentless efforts to reposition the economic climate have translated right into a exceptional financial progress and development. Several mechanisms happen to be place in place to sustain this development and development, able of balancing the interests of stakeholders. Perhaps, this see need to have influenced Gordon Smith submission. He described Nigeria as the most dynamic market in Africa, which can be beneath extreme pressure from some countries in Africa to serve like a cushion from the results of international turbulence. He also noted that some countries like Ghana, Malawi, Mauritius, among others were according to her at the minute on account of international threat publicity and that the country’s economic climate, led by the consolidated banks, was far from being impacted by the worldwide credit crisis currently rocking the world’s monetary giants. He stressed further that foreign investors, who will probably be affected person sufficient to weigh the Nigerian financial method around the credit score risk viewpoint relative to worldwide activities, will obtain the nation’s monetary sector a lot more interesting to make investments and increase money from.

Confronted with several issues, Nigerian government is determined to strengthen, diversify and make the financial state attractive and investment-friendly to both nearby and foreign traders. The government has adopted complete liberalization and globalization since the economic policy, instituted privatization and commercialization programmes of public enterprises, supplied total safety for organization and folks, prolonged invitation to domestic and foreign traders, abolished laws inhibiting competitors, embraced and fine-tuned policies to make sure fast realization of development and development of all sectors of your financial system. The effort is already paying off as Nigeria is now the concentrate for foreign investment thereby improved exponentially Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Scores of financial missions and delegations from developed and building nations have visited Nigeria, thus accelerating the growth on the economy at a quite quick price. [Read more...]

Currently, the usa could be the leading economic energy inside the globe, followed by Japan, Germany, China and France, respectively.

Will yet another nation eventually overtake the U.S. in this position? It has become speculated by some that China is destined to take the top rated spot
when it comes to economic GDP if it might carry on its bustling double digit economic progress. This can be feasible, but you can find many elements to take into account.

A double digit development rate generally only happens to a more youthful, expanding economic climate. When a national economy matures, it typically settles right into a 2-3% annual GDP development price.
That’s about what we see in the U.S. and several western European nations, as an example. In current years Ireland grew at a double digit development charge but has since settled to a extra modest growth fee.

The same may possibly take place with China. Clearly, if it may proceed this kind of a higher development fee it will ultimately overtake the U.S in this regard, but it’ll have to sustain this price for some time.
Given that the U.S. economy is larger to start with, China and other rival economies should sustain a significant larger GDP progress margin so that you can catch up.

But there are other factors concerned also. One is present pattern of trade blocks, including that of NAFTA. If you had been to consist of Canada (a member in the Group of 8 main Industrialized economies) having a huge financial system in it’s personal right),
Mexico (nearly ninety million consumers and incredibly wealthy in pure resources such as Oil, Gold and Silver), as well as the various Central American nations that are searching for membership, this bloc would me significantly a lot more hard to catch up to in terms of market dimension and total GDP. [Read more...]

If you have an appreciation for historic irony, you’ll love this: Gazprom, our favorite Russian energy monopoly and cornerstone of our strategic portfolio, just announce a major shift in strategy concerning its cooperation with the Germans. Gazprom, which up until recently was planning to take over entire municipal power grids and even buy into German energy giant RWE to get at the coveted German retail consumer, has put all future investments in Germany on ice.

The reason given by the proponents of the Red state monopoly: The Russians are afraid the “conservative,” market-oriented German government would end up confiscating Gazprom’s investments. Germany is debating “unbundling” the existing structure of the energy industry, aiming at improvement of competition and prices.
The German head of Gazprom Germania went so far as declaring that “the obsession to regulate is leading to an increased planned economy.”

Who says we Germans don’t have a sense of humor? That’s like Ted Kennedy complaining that U.S. inheritance taxes are driving the mega-rich to establish offshore trusts in Fiji!

Life’s little ironies

But you don’t have to look for ironies in the power politics of the European energy industry. Open up your newspaper or read your e-letter subscriptions and you’ll see what I mean:

As the talking bears are telling you to sell your U.S. equities and head for the hills while the dollar declines against the euro and U.S. real estate supposedly crashes around your ears, the U.S. economy is in surprisingly good shape. Even as the homebuilding industry is stagnating and entire property portfolios are sold off without having the required hundred houses made of ticky-tacky grafted on every half acre, U.S. unemployment is now lower than it was in the late 1990s.

And just as the U.S. economy is healthier than some would have you believe, so, marvel of marvels, is the global economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the world economy will grow by 4.9% in 2007. And there is a crucial difference between this year and previous years: The current rate of global economic expansion does not rely on Joe Sixpack to take out his credit card and spend his European and Asian colleagues out of recession.

Of course, with the greenbacks at new lows against the euro, the perma-bears and monetary policy purists do have a point: If you’re planning to go to Europe this summer, it’s going to cost you. Against the euro, the dollar is hovering near record low at around $1.36 per euro. In Britain, two bucks now buy you a pounds’ worth of fish’n'chips and lukewarm beer.
[Read more...]