Nigeria Content Online

The further
integration of Arabic language capabilities in internet and other
technological architecture will grant millions access to the digital
world, Microsoft and Google executives said.

As devices and
applications become more ubiquitous in less developed countries, their
content will grow and an embryonic e-economy should flourish, they said.

“(Microsoft CEO)
Steve Ballmer and I a few years ago talked and believed Arabic would be
an increasingly important language,” said Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s
chief research and strategy officer. “And yet, because of the way the
internet was evolving, it wasn’t a language that was getting a lot of
use.”

Of Arabic content

But while Arab
world internet use since 2000 has grown faster than anywhere else and
access costs have shrunk, content still punches below its weight and ad
spending remains tiny.

Arabic content is less than 1 percent of world totals though speakers constituting 5 percent of the global population.

The Arabic portal
of online encyclopedia Wikipedia carries less words than its Catalan
site, Google’s regional marketing manager Wael Ghonim said.

“There is a lot of
Arabic content but it is not well structured,” he said. “We want more
structured content. We want more of the professional, niche sites, more
businesses. One of our biggest missions is to enable Arabic users to
find the right tools to enrich Arabic content. It would be great to see
more e-commerce in the region, more publishers, more news sites. We are
committed to help them.”

Asked how Google
could aid such regional growth, Mr. Ghonim said: “We have a very
ambitious plan in the next few months, we are working on many
initiatives.” He did not elaborate.

Regional spending
on online advertising was around $90 million in 2009, up from $66.5
million in 2008 and $38 million in 2007 but still miniscule compared to
Britain’s $5.3 billion.

Mr. Ghonim said
Arabic speakers have historically engaged in poorly organised and
difficult to archive forums, citing a message board used by 400,000
teachers in Saudi Arabia.

Both Google and Microsoft place Arabic in their top ten languages in need of prioritised attention.

Microsoft’s Mundie
was visiting the Cairo Microsoft Innovation Centre, a regional hub
launched in 2006 that released Windows extension Maren, which converts
Arabic written in Roman characters into Arabic script. It is
Microsoft’s second most popular service by page views after Internet
Explorer 8.

Web addresses and mobile access

Egypt and Saudi
Arabia registered the first domain names written in the right-to-left
Arabic script late last year, after global internet regulator ICANN
voted to allow non-Latin script to be used in web addresses in November.

In Egypt, internet access is becoming cheaper and the use of internet on mobile devices is blossoming.

Egypt plans a $1 billion upgrade to its broadband capacity over four years to quadruple penetration to 20 percent.

“The next few million Egyptian internet users will be people who don’t really speak English,” Mr. Ghonim said.

Such users will
likely not foray deeply into the internet’s marketplace initially, but
will no longer be hindering from creating part of the fabric of the web
by language constraints.

“Think of the guy
running a very small one-stop shop in (Nile delta industrial city)
Mahalla,” Ghonim said. “You should facilitate for him a complete
experience in Arabic, from the way he registers his domain to finding a
hosting company to communicating to his customers.”

Microsoft’s Mr. Mundie said the Arab world was well-placed to skip PC-dominated use and go straight to mobile internet.

“The arrival of a
very low cost form of computing coupled to the mobile network creates
an alternative entry point into the world of computing and internet
usage,” he added.

In late 2007, as
the mortgage crisis gained momentum and many banks were suffering
losses, Goldman Sachs executives traded e-mail messages saying that
they would make “some serious money” betting against the housing
markets.

The messages,
released Saturday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations, appear to contradict statements by Goldman that left
the impression that the firm lost money on mortgage-related
investments.

In the messages,
Lloyd C. Blankfein, the bank’s chief executive acknowledged in November
2007 that the firm had lost money initially. But it later recovered by
making negative bets, known as short positions, to profit as housing
prices plummeted.

“Of course we didn’t dodge the mortgage mess,” he wrote. “We lost money, then made more than we lost because of shorts.”

He added: “It’s not over, so who knows how it will turn out ultimately.”

Hurting our economy

Actions taken by
Wall Street firms during the housing collapse have become a major
factor in the contentious debate over financial reform. In his weekly
radio address on Saturday, President Obama said Wall Street had “hurt
just about every sector of our economy” and again pressed the case for
tighter regulation.

On Monday, Senate
Democrats will try to prevent a Republican filibuster in the first
major test of the administration’s effort to push through legislation.

Goldman on Saturday
denied it made a significant profit on mortgage-related products in
2007 and 2008. It said the subcommittee had “cherry-picked” e-mail
messages from the nearly 20 million pages of documents it provided.
This sets up a showdown between the Senate subcommittee and Goldman,
which has aggressively defended itself since the Securities and
Exchange Commission filed a security fraud complaint against it nine
days ago.

On Tuesday, seven
current and former Goldman employees, including Mr. Blankfein, are
expected to testify at a Congressional hearing. Carl Levin, Democrat of
Michigan and head of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said
that the e-mail messages contrasted with Goldman’s public statements
about its trading results.

“The 2009 Goldman
Sachs annual report stated that the firm ‘did not generate enormous net
revenues by betting against residential related products,’” Senator
Levin said in a statement Saturday. “These e-mails show that, in fact,
Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.”

Big profits

At first, Goldman
openly discussed its prescience in calling the housing downfall. In the
third quarter of 2007, the investment bank reported publicly that it
had made big profits on its negative bet on mortgages. But by the end
of 2007, the firm curtailed disclosures about its mortgage trading
results. Its chief financial officer told analysts that they should not
expect Goldman to reveal whether it was long or short on the housing
market.

By late 2008,
Goldman was emphasising its losses, rather than its profits, pointing
regularly to write-downs of $1.7 billion on mortgage assets in 2008 and
not disclosing the amount it made on its negative bets.

Goldman has said it
added shorts to balance its mortgage book, not to make a directional
bet on a market collapse. But the messages released by the subcommittee
Saturday appear to show that in 2007, at least, Goldman’s short bets
were eclipsing the losses on its long positions.

In May 2007, for
instance, Goldman workers e-mailed one another about losses on a bundle
of mortgages issued by Long Beach Mortgage Securities. Though the firm
lost money on those, a worker wrote, there was “good news”: “we own 10
mm in protection.”

That meant Goldman had enough of a bet against the bond that, over all, it profited by $5 million.

On October 11,
2007, one Goldman manager in the trading unit wrote to another, “Sounds
like we will make some serious money,” and received the response, “Yes
we are well positioned.”

Documents released
by the Senate subcommittee appear to indicate that in July 2007,
Goldman’s accounting showed losses of $322 million on positive mortgage
positions, but its negative bet – what Mr. Viniar called “the big
short” – brought in $373 million.

‘We did not know’

As recently as a
week ago, a Goldman spokesman emphasised that the firm had tried only
to hedge its mortgage holdings in 2007. The firm said in its annual
report this month that it did not know back then where housing was
headed, a sentiment expressed by Mr. Blankfein the last time he
appeared before Congress.

“We did not know at
any minute what would happen next, even though there was a lot of
writing,” he told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January.

In its response
Saturday, Goldman Sachs released an assortment of internal e-mail
messages. They showed workers disagreeing at some junctures over the
direction of the mortgage market. In 2008, Goldman was stung by some
losses on higher-quality mortgage bonds it held, when the crisis
expanded from losses on risky bonds with subprime loans to losses in
mortgages that were given to people with better credit histories.

Still, in late
2006, there are messages that show Goldman executives discussing ways
to get rid of the firm’s positive mortgage positions by selling them to
clients. In one message, Goldman’s chief financial officer, Mr. Viniar,
wrote, “Let’s be aggressive distributing things.”

Several traders from that group will testify on Tuesday.

Finance
experts argue that the 2010 fiscal budget is becoming countercyclical
in that it is aimed at stimulating the economy from its current state
of contraction, a fall-out from the global financial crisis.

Financial
Derivatives Company, a finance and research firm, says that although
some macroeconomic variables paint a relatively healthy post-crisis
economy, the underlying structure that propels sustainable growth is
still tenuous and requires fundamental shifts that could alter the
growth paradigm.

How will the markets react?

In
its economic bulletin issued on Friday the firm says Money and Stock
markets would have their own fair share of economic reactions, arising
from the signed budget.

“Interest
rates are now well below inflation rate which could induce capital
flight and a switch to other asset class,” he said. “The $5.98bn to be
raised by the government through domestic borrowing could help
stabilize rates which are currently at record low. However, this could
have the unintended consequence of crowding-out the private sector.”

The
record low interest rates are already threatening to lead to capital
flight and portfolio rotation by institutional investors, it added.

The
bulletin also highlighted that the equity market has been oblivious to
the signing of the budget, recording a fall of 0.1 per cent and 0.31
per cent in the two days the budget has been in existence. It however
revealed that the indifference of the market comes as no surprise as
there is no direct link between a non-implemented budget and the
market.

The
finance firm says some indicators that back up the requirement for a
fundamental shift include the nation’s external reserves (now
$40.56bn), which have declined sharply by 33 per cent from $60.2bn in
2008, compared to other emerging economies like Brazil and Mexico that
have built their reserves by 34 per cent and 21.5 per cent in the same
period.

Also,
the Excess Crude Account (ECA) has been depleted from $20bn in the
pre-crisis era to less than $4bn while average oil price YTD of
$78.89pb is still about 47 per cent below its all-time peak of $149pb
in 2008.

Oil
production (according to OPEC estimate was 1.986mbpd in March) has
improved, but it is still below productivity of three million barrels
per day.

Money and stock markets remain ambivalent in spite of record low interest rates.

Inflationary pressures

Inflation
has however declined modestly Year on Year to 11.8 per cent in March
from 12.3 per cent in February which is far above short term interest
rates. The inflation gap, which measures the difference between money
supply (M2) growth and GDP growth rate, was 10 per cent as at 2009
compared to 51.82 per cent in 2008.

Inflation
pressure will increase as a result of the budget spending – 45 per cent
of total spending is billed for recurrent expenditure. Other sources of
inflation risk include budget leakages and the proposed deregulation of
the downstream oil and gas sector, the statement highlighted.

According
to the bulletin, the Nigerian economy possesses the absorptive capacity
to convert this budget into a catalyst for growth, but this will depend
largely on monetary policy stability and the success of reform policies
like the Asset Management Company and the Petroleum Industry Bill.

Economic distortion, excess liquidity, no credit

The
economic bulletin also argues that the presence of excess liquidity and
absence of credit is countercyclical, adding that with a massive fiscal
deficit now estimated at six per cent of GDP, maintaining monetary
stability at this time will be a major challenge.

“The
Central Bank has resisted the temptation of tightening when price
inflation is in double digits of 11.8 per cent and interest rates very
low- 2-3 per cent per annum,” it says. “With the budget now signed and
spending kicking in, the Central Bank will have to steer a mid-course
between neutral and tightening.”

The
$31billion spending bill was signed into law by the acting president,
setting the stage for Nigeria’s most ambitious and possibly profligate
spending program in two decades. Capital expenditure is projected to
increase by 82 per cent to $12.3billion while recurrent expenditure is
to shoot up to $13.8billion, a 27 per cent increase from the 2009
budget.

The
weekly report from Afrinvest, also a finance and research analysis
firm, states that the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index lost 31
bps as at Friday, closing at 27, 400.21 from 27, 486.62 the previous
day. Market capitalisation also moved in the same direction, closing at
N6.6 trillion as a total of 598.4million shares valued at N5.8billion
were traded on Friday.

South African gold miner Randgold said on Saturday its Tongon mine in the north of Ivory Coast will start production in October.

“We expect to
produce 75,000 ounces of gold in 2010,” Rangold Executive Director Mark
Bristow said during a visit to the project.

He said the mine
will ramp up to about 280,000 ounces of annual gold output from 2011
through 2013, and said total output from the mine during its projected
11-year life-span would be 2.84 million ounces.

Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cocoa but is seeking to boost revenues from gold mining to diversify its economy.

Gold output from the civil war-scarred West African state tripled in 2009 to about 6.94 tonnes.

Kenya’s flower industry said on Friday
it wants a stimulus package to be included in the government’s
2010/2011 budget, to help it recover from last year’s losses and regain
a growth momentum.

Exports of
horticultural products are the biggest foreign exchange earner for east
Africa’s largest economy, with 71.6 billion shillings worth of flower,
fruit and vegetable exports last year, down from 73.7 billion
previously.

The Fresh Producers
Exporters Association of Kenya, an umbrella body for growers of
flowers, vegetables and fruits, said early this week growers were
losing $3 million in wasted produce that was not shipped because of the
closure of Europe’s airspace.

Access Bank Plc has
decided to refurbish block of class rooms to the pupils and staff of
Herbert Macaulay Girls Senior High School, Yaba.

The initiative is
designed to create an encouraging learning environment for students in
the school and an expression of the Bank’s resolve to facilitating
socio-economic and educational development of its immediate area of
operation.

Speaking at the
event Segun Ogbonnewo, Group Head, Central Processing Group of Access
Bank Plc, said the gesture is consistent with the bank’s Corporate
Social Responsibility strategy and is in line with the “School Adoption
Campaign” of the Access Bank Central Processing Group motivated by the
Bank’s Employee Volunteering Initiative.

According to
Mr.Ogbonnewo, “We have undertaken to improve the standard of education
at Herbert Macaulay Girls Senior High School through this extensive
infrastructural upgrade.”

He added that our
contribution to the intellectual development of students not be limited
to physical infrastructure but will be extended to personal development
through mentoring programmes, educational seminars and talk shows for
the students of the school.”

The bank says this
initiative is the first phase of the intervention programme which will
involve the adoption, refurbishment and presentation of more blocks of
classrooms by the Bank within the shortest possible period.

“This intervention at the Herbert Macaulay Girls Senior High School
is aimed at promoting girl-child education and address the issue of
gender inequality in our society.”

The Chartered
Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria has launched an electronic
voting application developed by Naira.com, a subsidiary of one of
Nigeria’s leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm,
Chams Plc.

Registrar of the
Institute, Musa Rabiu said, “The decision to adopt an e-Voting
application is in line with the institute’s vision to be the foremost
people management institute in Africa, respected across the world. He
said he was very convinced that application of information technology
could simplify a lot of processes currently done manually.

“I am a convert of
electronic voting and wish that it is deployed in other elections in
the country. It has really made things easier and transparent for all
to see.”

Also speaking, the
General Manager of Naira.com, Juliet Ehimuan, said “it was gladdening
that a professional body as CIPM had taken the lead in terms of use of
e-Voting to handle its election.” She said that the application, which
has many rich features, is the effort of her firm’s in-house software
developers.

Head of Operations,
Naira.com, Lape Mobolaji-Lawal, said “The application is just one part
of the solution being delivered by Naira.com to CIPM, noting that the
firm was helping to develop an online portal that would enable members
to interact with the organisation more easily, get up to date
information, and make secure payments online for fees, dues, and other
items.”

Rofico Limited,
manufactures of Milcow flavoured milk has reiterated its commitment
towards alleviating poverty and enhancing education in Nigeria.

Speaking in Lagos,
the Corporate Affairs Manager of Rofico, Olusegun Kwassi, said that the
company has been partnering with various state governments in Nigeria
to empower the poor and the underprivileged by providing them means of
livelihood so that they would not constitute a menace to the society.

According to Mr.
Kwassi, one of the partnership initiatives of the company, the Milcow
Mass Empowerment Programme has benefited thousands of Nigerians in all
the states of the country where it was embraced.

The programme
involves the purchase of flavoured milk products from the company while
any of the state agencies select the beneficiaries of the programme and
empowers them to start a micro business.

“Basically, we
believe in community growth and development, touching lives of people
at the grassroots level. In some states it has kicked off while the
proposal is still being studied in others. The goal is to aid the
reduction of poverty and unemployment,” said Mr. Kwassi.

The company also
operates an education enhancing scheme designed to stamp out
malnutrition among school pupils in the country. Called the Milcow
Chocolate milk School feeding programme, it provides balanced nutrition
to pupils in both public and private schools in the states that embrace
the initiative.