22 February 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Local and international financial market update.
NIGERIA: It has emerged that the sale negotiations for the core investors chosen to acquire the nation’s power generating and distribution assets are still on-going and that a number of issues remain unresolved. The core investors who wrote to the government, grumbling over fears they were being railroaded into signing imperfect agreements, say the government for instance, has yet to put up the cash to cover the liabilities of workers of the entities being acquired by them. [Businessday]
EUROPE: The current level of the euro is not a threat to growth prospects in the eurozone European Central Bank Governing Council member Luc Coene said. The euro hit a 15-month high against the dollar of about $1.37 earlier this month, complicating the ECB’s role in setting interest rates by weighing on growth and feeding expectations that it may need to take fresh policy action, which some ECB members opposed.
INDIA: Whether India’s government will reduce borrowing in the next fiscal year is too close to call, but economists polled by Reuters say its resolve to cut spending and giveaways in next week’s budget will reignite investor confidence. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram will deliver the annual budget on Feb 28. his last full budget before the country goes to the polls early next year.
CHINA: China’s main stock indexes closed down on Friday, with the CSI300 index posting its sharpest weekly drop since Nov. 2010. Analysts said that a period of ‘’adjustment’’ is underway for
