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The
World Bank said its support to Nigeria in the wake of the global
financial crisis has enabled the country to survive the turbulence of
the period.

In a statement on
the bank’s website, the international financial institution affirms
that its support to Nigeria’s ongoing economic reforms has helped to
reduce the negative effects of the crisis.

The World Bank
claimed the support, under the aegis of International Development
Association (IDA), has helped Nigeria address key financial
transparency issues that would buffer the country from future shock.
The IDA, formed in 1960, is part of the World Bank that helps the
world’s poorest countries.

“By providing the
first budget support to Nigeria in 30 years, the International
Development Association was able to help the government arrest the
slide in market confidence,” the report added.

The IDA operation
provides budgetary support to the Nigerian government to offset the
fiscal impact of the after effects of the global financial crisis. It
also supports the government in maintaining its current economic reform
path in the financial sector, fiscal policy, management, and governance.

Monetary support

“A $500 million
development policy credit from IDA helped provide fiscal space at a
time when government’s budget shortfall and borrowing requirement
increased dramatically, primarily as a result of the global financial
crisis and the concomitant fall in oil prices,” said the IDA statement.

It added that the
IDA credit potentially prevented a broader collapse of the banking
system in Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year injected
N620 billion into eight banks in the wake of the global financial
crisis to save the financial institutions from imminent collapse.

Ismail Radwan, a
senior economist with the World Bank, said the amount of credit needed
to take Nigeria into the top 20 economies by the year 2020 would have
to be generated internally.

Mr. Radwan based
his optimism on the five pillars of ongoing reforms in the financial
sector. These are improvement in banking supervision; improved credit
information; conventional banks diversifying by introducing new
products; credit guarantee schemes; and business development services
to scale up business training for entrepreneurs.

He said the World
Bank was convinced that the intervention by the Central Bank in the
banking sector last year was necessary in order to save an already bad
situation and to create a platform for banks to be willing to lend to
the real sector.

“Nigeria is a land
of tremendous opportunities. We have all sort of people wanting to come
to Nigeria to make money, and yet Nigerian banks don’t seem to see all
the opportunities in this country,” Mr. Ridwan said.

World Bank on Nigeria

Minister of
finance, Olusegun Aganga, said recently that the World Bank’s
impression about Nigeria’s economic development was commendable. Mr.
Aganga said based on the findings of the Bretton Woods institution,
Nigeria was making good progress compared to other emerging economies.

“The World Bank
gave an independent assessment about where we are, whether we are on
the right track or not, and where the economy is today. We find some
things very interesting in their presentation,” he said.

He added that government was prepared to partner with the private sector in order to drive economic growth.

The IDA said from
its intervention in Nigeria, it was able to identify a set of medium
term actions required to achieve regulatory reform in banking,
pensions, insurance, and capital markets sectors.

These include the
adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS),
implementation of risk-based banking supervision, improving collateral
and land registries, and strengthening and enforcing creditor rights.

Many depositors
yesterday thronged branches of some microfinance banks (MFBs) in Abuja
in the wake of last weekend’s decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) to wield the big stick against erring operators.

The Central Bank,
through its deputy governor, Financial Systems Stability (FSS),
Kingsley Moghalu, had announced the immediate revocation of the
operational licences and closure of 224 banks declared either
“terminally distressed” or “technically insolvent.”

Mr. Moghalu, who
said the affected banks failed a recent target examination administered
in conjunction with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)
for the 820 registered MFBs in the country, to determine their ability
to meet matured obligations to depositors, did not, however, name the
other 596 that were adjudged successful.

About 62 of the
sanctioned MFBs are in Lagos; 17 in Anambra; 15 in Rivers; 13 each in
Delta and Imo; 12 in Ogun; 10 in both Abia and Edo; 5 in Enugu; 7 each
in FCT and Osun; 8 each in Oyo, Kaduna, and Kogi; 4 in Ondo; 3 in Akwa
Ibom and Ekiti; 2 each in Cross River, Benue, Niger, Kebbi, Plateau,
and Bayelsa; one each in Adamawa, Bauchi, Sokoto, Jigawa, Taraba, and
Kwara.

The Central Bank’s
decision not to disclose the MFBs in good standing across the country,
ostensibly created panic among the people, who were anxious to know the
true standing of their various bankers.

‘Don’t want to take chances’

During a visit to
one of the MFBs located in the Garki area of Abuja, some of the
depositors interviewed said they would not want to take chances with
their funds.

It was gathered
that the bulk of those who thronged their various banks were more
anxious to get as much as they could from their accounts to forestall a
repeat of the experience with the distressed commercial banks two years
ago.

“As early as 8 a.m.
today (Monday), we have been inundated with several of our customers
who turned up to demand withdrawals from their accounts, apparently in
panic response to the decision of the CBN to announce the closure of
some of the microfinance banks”, one of the clerks said.

“We have not been
able to do anything else than attend to customers who have come to
withdraw money, despite notices that we are not affected,” she added.

Head,
communications, of the CBN, Mohammed Abdullahi, in a text message
response said yesterday that the bank was not considering the
publication of the names of the successful MFBs, to reassure depositors.

“Any depositor who
has any doubt whether his or her bank is affected should go to where he
or she has the account to confirm. If the names of the banks that have
been sanctioned have been published and people claim they do not see,
what is the guarantee that they would see if the list of the successful
ones are published,” Mr Abdullahi asked.

Meanwhile, the CBN
has indicated that it is not considering outsourcing the regulation of
the microfinance banks, pointing out that though the challenge of
monitoring the operations of almost 900 MFBs in the country may appear
almost beyond its capacity, the function would remain within its
internal structure.

Nigeria needs a minimum of 150,000 megawatts of electricity in
order to maximise productivity of the entire economy.

Toyin Dawod, managing partner, Capital Investment Group, a
California, United States-based diversified investment company, said to achieve
this, the country would need to localise the generation of electricity to make
it more efficient.

Mr. Dawood said the standard in the world is one megawatt per
thousand population. “And Nigeria has 150 million people,” he said in an email
response to enquiries.

He added that the reason Nigeria was not working is because all
power is concentrated in the federal government, instead of giving autonomy to
the states, local authorities, the judiciary, the legislature, and other
institutions.

“Our due diligence also tells us that the past attempts at
resolving the power problems for Nigeria have not worked because we put
emphasis on centralised power generation, instead of embracing distributive
generation,” Mr. Dawood said.

Policy change

He said there was need for a policy change that would transfer
the authority to generate power to each state and locality, because the local
governments can do a better job of providing for their own people under proper
supervision of the federal government.

President Goodluck Jonathan, last month, launched the power
reform agenda, which includes giving the private sector more participation in
the generation and distribution of power. This was followed with the
inauguration of a new board of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC) that would oversee the activities of operators in the power sector.

Barth Nnaji, the chairman of the presidential task force on
power, said recently that Nigeria would require about $5 billion annually over
the next 10 years in order to achieve stable power supply.

Mr. Nnaji said the bulk of this amount would have to come from
the private sector. He explained that the country was going to create an
enabling environment for private participation in a sector that has been solely
dominated by the government over the years.

Mr. Dawod is, however, skeptical about the preparedness of
government to attract and retain foreign private investors in the sector.

“The federal government is trying to solve everyone’s problem
when it can’t even solve its own problem. The problem with our government is
that they believe that Nigerians are so dumb. I believe different. I believe
that individual Nigerians are smart enough to solve their own problems, if only
the government will leave them alone,” he said.

He said the strategy of his firm was to build power plants for
Nigerians, create employment for Nigerians, and transfer technology and
management to Nigerians. His company, he said, was already involved in building
power plants in America and other parts of the world.

“I am an entrepreneur. My job is to bring the factors of
production together and create a viable business. Our plan can create a minimum
of 40,000 jobs over the next two years and a multiplier effect of another
400,000 jobs,” Mr. Dawood further said.

Stymied growth

According to him, Nigeria is yet to reach its full potential due
to the shortfall in power supply. “Our country is being stymied by lack of
vision on the part of the so called leaders. The government is happy to
announce to the world that Nigeria recorded a growth of 7.9% so far this year.
Can you imagine what our growth will be if we have 24/7 electricity?”

He said with optimum electricity supply, Nigeria is capable of
achieving 16 percent growth in GDP, which would translate to additional $36
billion in GDP output.

“Shouldn’t we then make power generation a priority, including
declaring a state of emergency to generate power as fast as we can? That is
what our plan calls for,” he said.

Some finance experts have said that the Central Bank’s decision
to hike the Monetary Policy Rate may be a positive signal for exchange rate
stability, even as the naira continues its gradual decline in value.

The naira fell to a 13-month low of 155.20 to the dollar on
Monday, from 154.35 on Friday at the interbank market, as demand surged to a
new year-high at the official bi-weekly auction, a Reuters report said on
Monday.

The Central Bank sold $650 million at 150.05 a dollar at
Monday’s auction, short of $741 million demanded. The CBN had sold $400 million
at 149.89 per dollar at last Wednesday’s forex auction.

“Many importers have resorted to panic buying of dollars and are
bringing forward their obligations because of fear the naira could depreciate
further,” the report said, adding that dealers say the market had become tight
due to lack of dollar inflows from energy companies as anticipated last week.

The report further said that the bank had raised supply from its
usual $400 million to $650 million at its bi-weekly auction on Monday, with the
hope of clearing the backlog of demand, only to be faced with a fresh increase
in corporate demand, which further weakened the local currency, with traders
saying the naira could depreciate further in the week if strong dollar demand
persisted and the Central Bank was not able to provide support.

Positive signal

Samir Gadio, emerging markets strategist, Standard Chartered
Bank, said the weak naira confidence has been the result of substantially low
interest rates.

“We see this development as a positive signal in terms of
exchange rate stability,” Mr. Gadio said.

“Weak naira confidence has been the result of substantially low
interest rates. By raising real interest rates, the Central Bank is sending a
signal to the market that it will rely on the exchange rate as the nominal
policy anchor and will be keen on preserving the USD/NGN150 level, despite some
recent cyclical, rather than structural, currency weakness.

“Nevertheless, we think the main risk to the foreign exchange
outlook is the government’s loose fiscal stance. In other words, if the next
administration pursues the current countercyclical fiscal policies after the
2011 elections, there could be an incentive to devalue the exchange rate and
boost the marginal utility of every dollar of oil revenue in naira terms,” Mr.
Gadio said.

Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Monetary Policy
Committee decided to hike the MPR by 6.25 percent and increase the standing
deposit facility to 3.25 percent, from 1 percent, in contrast with market
expectations.

The committee also noted that the Whole Dutch Action System
(WDAS), interbank and Bureau de change (BDC) segments of the foreign exchange
market all witnessed “mild” naira exchange rate depreciation, but stated that
it believes that the relative stability in the foreign exchange market was
likely to be sustained in the near term.

A finance expert has expressed concern over the current weak
trading being experienced at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Although the NSE market capitalisation on Tuesday appreciated by
N5 billion or 0.10 percent to close at N5.495 trillion from Monday’s figure of
N5.490 trillion, the Exchange has lost over N451 billion since trading started
this month.

Olufemi Awoyemi, managing director and chief executive officer
of Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, said the downturn in
the Nigerian capital market was not about the intervention by the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), as claimed by some operators.

Mr. Awoyemi said the downturn in the market was also less about
the recent actions of the interim administrator, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, “but much
more about the collective inertia of the market to forward warnings on intended
action by the regulator.”

Volatile market

He said the market will continue to be volatile and chaotic. “It
will be volatile because it is tied to the economy’s rate of change, which is
extremely fast, with explosive upsurges and sudden downturns,” he said, adding
that the market will be “chaotic because it mimics the direction of the
economy’s changes.”

Mr. Awoyemi added that the nation is not sure exactly where it
is headed, but it is swinging between the various alternatives at a very high
speed.

“To cope with an unpredictable and increasingly regulatory
relevant economy, investors and organisations must build an enormous amount of
flexibility into their operations and outlook; rebuild their approach to the
market to one that is premised on their ability/capability to predict the
future,” he said.

He also said that market operators should track trends and policy thinking,
as well as build capacity internally for growth in order to take advantage of
the current change, and convert risks into opportunities.

The Lincoln Navigator comes with a big bang. Largeness,
heaviness, and flashiness are common eye-catching traits found in the SUV,
which enhances the status of its drivers. All these qualities and more are
found in the 2010 Lincoln Navigator.

It has an opulent interior, bold styling, sleek design, and
quiet navigation. The new model SUV has some minor improvements to its already
overall solid package.

Design

Standard features that come with it are 18-inch alloy wheels,
power liftgate, a rearview-mirror-mounted back-up camera, an auto-dimming
rearview mirror, parking sensors, dual-zone automatic climate control with rear
auxiliary controls, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, driver memory
settings, heated and cooled second-row seats, and a heated, power-folding
third-row bench. The full-size luxury SUV comes with heavy chrome styling.

Other trims of the SUV are Optional Elite and heavy duty trailer
tow package. The former adds a navigation system for location finding, a
sunroof, and Sirius Travel Link with a rear-seat entertainment system, while
the latter is mainly used for heavy duty work with its automatic load-levelling
rear suspension, an integrated tow hitch, and a heavy-duty radiator and
transmission cooler.

Both options come with 20 inch wheels and rear-seat
entertainment system.

Interior

The interior of the 2010 Lincoln Navigator is dazzling with an
array of luxury features. It has voice activation system, and a 14-speaker
surround-sound audio system with a six-CD changer, satellite radio, and an
auxiliary audio jack. It’s got leather upholstery, a standard Sync voice
activation system that integrates with the navigation system, and also allows
for hands-free operation of mobile phones, iPods, and other MP3 players.

Under the Hood

The 2010 Lincoln Navigator is powered via a 5.4-litre V8 that
produces 310 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque.

It comes with a six-speed automatic transmission, which changes
shift quickly and comes as the only available alternative, even though one can
choose between two-wheel- and four-wheel-drive models. Properly equipped, a rear-wheel-drive
Navigator is capable of towing up to 9,000 pounds.

The SUV has the capability of covering a distance of 8.2 seconds
from zero to 60 mph.

Safety

The 2010 Lincoln Navigator is loaded with numerous standard
safety features that include stability control with a rollover sensor, traction
control, anti-lock disc brakes with brake assist, front-seat side airbags, and
three-row side curtain airbags.

A new addition for 2010 model is a Ford’s programmable MyKey
system, allowing parents to specify speed limits and stereo volumes for their
teenage drivers and children.

Price

The SUV has an official price of $57,155 (about N8. 6 million).

The behemoth
eventually bestirred itself. Except that this elephant could only give
birth to a mouse. The decisions reached last week by Central Bank of
Nigeria’s rate setting committee wrong-footed every pre-meeting
commentary. It was a pre-general election meeting, and giving the
uncertainty surrounding the elections, who knows, it may be the last
before the elections. Thus, election-related spending was expected to
entertain Monetary Policy Committee members. Although for the most
part, reports on the economy indicate that it is ticking away at a
decent pace (if not the furious gallop required to meet the Millennium
Development Goals) key sectors are barely keeping afloat. Incidentally,
the CBN’s remit is one of the most straitened of these ailing sectors:
too many dead men walking! Accordingly, since August last year, the
apex bank has struggled to ensure that the zombies do not hurt the
living, including through offering guarantees on all transactions on
the interbank market.

However, while this
“de-risking” has put a floor beneath a floundering industry, its
unintended consequence has been to constrain the process of financial
intermediation. Now, everyone agrees that this process is a basic need
if this economy must save at the levels consistent with its need for
investible funds, and thereafter, allocate such savings optimally. The
CBN has tried to meet this latter bill by arranging to clean up the
industry’s balance sheets, in such a way that the living-dead receive
fresh infusions of capital, and along with their better situated peers,
are then able to resume lending to the economy – preferably the private
sector. Unfortunately, its best efforts have been frustrated by a
lengthy legislative procedure, and the Asset Management Corporation set
up to take over the industry’s bad loans will, on the best assumptions,
now take-off sometime next year. In between, the apex bank has owned-up
to its impotence insofar as it comes to tinkering with the economy’s
short-term interest rates, and with respect to the surfeit of bank
liquidity that has pushed rates in the industry to unprecedented lows.
We’ve also heard that the “focus of the reform measures in the banking
sector is to impact the overall efficiency and stability of the system
in a manner that will ensure that banks play their appropriate roles as
transmission channels for resources to the real sector.” It is, on this
argument, therefore, government’s responsibility to ensure a conducive
environment for real sector growth.

Now, as we
approached last week’s meeting of the monetary policy, not only had
nothing changed in this dynamic, but the spectre of an election year
hung over all. Most people who cared to reflect on these issues were
thus justified in their reduced expectations of the committee’s
meeting. The MPC duly surprised, by tightening monetary policy!
Remarkably, the main tool for this is not the 25 basis points (one
hundredth of a percentage point) increase in the policy rate (MPR).
There is no known relationship between this rate, and the rates at
which banks reward depositors and price their risk assets. Instead, the
policy rate hike reinforced the central bank’s concern with rising
inflation. Ahead of the meeting provisional figures showed the consumer
price index moving from 13 per cent year-on-year in July this year to
13 per cent in August.

There is also good
reason to worry that both election-related spending this year, and the
liquidity-boosting activities of the Asset Management Corporation
(AMC), sometime next year, could exacerbate inflation going forward.How
does the tokenism implied by the MPR rise help anchor inflation
expectations? The jury is not likely to come in soon on this question,
at least until the apex bank has a handle on the channel(s) through
which changes in the policy rate bring about changes in real variables
in the economy. Still, there is much more clarity on the effect of the
2% increase in the returns banks expect to earn from overnight funds
kept with the central bank. Given that this is the new opportunity cost
of transactions in the money market, it is a safe bet that interbank
rates will go up.

Banks that currently lend in the market should witness an increase
in their interest income. And the only reason why borrowers in the
market will continue to have credit extended them is the fact of the
existing CBN guarantee.However, if other rates (deposits, bonds,
treasury bills) rise, then banks could have more problems.

Wal-Mart is in
talks to buy South Africa’s Massmart, a $4 billion deal that would give
the U.S. retailer a big presence in fast-growing Africa and boost its
emerging markets strategy. The world’s largest retailer has been hit by
weakness in the United States where low-income shoppers are
particularly vulnerable to unemployment and higher gasoline prices. It
has responded by focusing on cost cuts and international growth.

Buying Massmart,
South Africa’s third-largest listed retailer by value, would give
Wal-Mart a considerable network in Africa’s biggest economy and a
foothold in 13 other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. “Massmart is a
very good fit with their business,” said Bryan Roberts, global research
director at industry research firm Planet Retail in London.

Wal-Mart has made a
non-binding proposal of 148 rand per Massmart share, valuing it at
around 30 billion rand, a premium of nearly 10 percent over Thursday’s
close of 134.75 rand. Massmart said it has granted the U.S. firm an
exclusivity period and there is no certainty of a formal offer. But
Massmart’s share price jumped 11 percent to 150 rand, above the value
of the proposed offer.

Wal-Mart’s shares
fell 0.4 percent to $53.85 and some analysts said the acquisition might
not be the best use of Wal-Mart’s cash. “Wal-Mart should be allocating
its capital first and foremost to developing U.S. urban stores and then
returning cash to shareholders,” Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian
Sozzi said in a note to clients.

Wal-Mart would
become the first major international retailer to enter South Africa,
but others could soon follow by targeting one of Massmart’s local
competitors, Roberts said. “There’s no shortage of good businesses that
could be acquisition targets — Shoprite, Woolworths and the like.”

Home to some of the
world’s fastest growing markets, Africa also boasts an emerging middle
class and roughly 1 billion consumers, making it an increasingly
attractive target for overseas investors. The deal would be Wal-Mart’s
biggest acquisition since it bought British supermarket operator Asda
in 1999.

The bid values
Massmart at 26.3 times its 12-month adjusted earnings per share,
according to Thomson Reuters data. That compares to 21.5 times for
Shoprite and 15.5 times for Woolworths. A deal is also likely to boost
South Africa’s rand which would benefit from an inflow of currency. The
rand hit a 2-1/2 year high of 6.9776 against the dollar.

Vote of Confidence

Massmart sells
general merchandise, electronics and food via a low-margin, high-volume
model. It runs nearly 290 stores and nine different retail and
wholesale chains.

It has also been
one of the most aggressive of South Africa’s retailers in expanding
into the continent. The company has 24 stores on the continent outside
of South Africa, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.
Revenue totalled 47.6 billion rand in the year to end-June, having
grown more than fourfold in 10 years. Operations outside of South
Africa now account for about 8 percent of its revenue.