Nigeria Content Online

Real Madrid will be
hoping to put the disappointment of the UEFA Champions League exit
behind them by ensuring they win tonight’s away at Real Valladolid.

The Galaticos
suffered another heartbreak from Lyon to bid farewell to the European
competition despite their over £200million pound investment on new
players last summer but they must now concentrate on wrestling the
Spanish title away from Barcelona. Valladolid, who have Nigeria striker
Batholomew Ogbeche in their fold, are flirting with relegation and with
13 games left to play in the season, they will need to brace themselves
up by gathering valuable points especially at home if they hope to stay
at the top.

But with Madrid
enjoying a slender lead on goal difference ahead of Barcelona, the
likes of new signings Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Xabi Alonso must be
ready to pull themselves together by maintaining a winning run to have
a chance of dethroning Barcelona in Spain. Madrid are aware that
Barcelona have a more difficult night with Valencia at the Nou Camp and
winning at Valladolid could give them a chance of extending their lead
at the top should their Catalan rivals falter again against Valencia.

England

Manchester United
will be hoping to step up their bid to clinch their fourth Premier
League title when they host Fulham this afternoon at Old Trafford.

United are enjoying
a terrific run of eight wins from 10 games in all competitions and they
have proven their 3-1 defeat to Everton last month at Goodison Park was
just a blip after winning four matches in a row since the loss. Wayne
Rooney has been at the heart of the Red Devils’ impressive campaign
this season with his remarkable run in front of goals. Rooney brought
his tally for the season to 30 goals in all competitions last Wednesday
when he struck twice to lead his side to a 4-0 thumping of AC Milan as
United marched to the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League.

The Premier League
champions will hope to maintain their winning momentum against Fulham
and the visitors will have to find a way of shutting out the rampaging
Rooney who has a record of 23 goals from 29 league matches. The
Cottagers will worry that they have failed to record a single point
from their last five visits to the Theatre of Dreams after the modest
London side’s last win in October 2003. But Fulham could draw
motivation from the fact that United have lost six games in the ongoing
campaign and one of them was recorded at Old Trafford when Aston Villa
ran away with the three points courtesy a goal from Gabriel Agbonlahor.
United will also have at the back of their mind that their biggest
defeat this season was inflicted on them by the same side they are
facing today, a 3-0 loss at Craven Cottage in December.

Mid-table side

Fulham still fancy
their chances of finishing the season with a Europa League ticket and
with the array of unexpected results that have characterised the title
race this season, it cannot be ruled out that the Craven Cottage outfit
can spring a surprise against Sir Alex Ferguson side.

At the Stadium of
Light, Sunderland will hope to avenge their last December defeat in the
hands of Manchester City this afternoon when both sides battle for the
three points at stake. It was a close tie at the City of Manchester
Stadium but the Citizens still won 4-3 in front of their home fans.

Manager Roberto
Mancini is hoping to lead his club to finish in a UEFA Champions League
spot at the end of the season and they will have to battle the trio of
Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs and Aston Villa.

The Black Cats, as Sunderland are known, are still without Andy Reid while Martin Petrov is still out for City.

English
Premier League duo of Manchester United and Manchester City are
battling to secure the services of Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets midfielder,
Ramon Azeez.

The youngster won
the ‘Bronze Ball’ as the third best player at the U17 World
Championships and his performance earned him plaudits from soccer fans
who believe the lad has the potentials of becoming a great player.
Together with striker Sani Emmanuel, Azeez distinguished himself in the
Eaglets squad that finished as runners up in the last U-17 World Cup
hosted on home soil last year and he has been linked with a move to Old
Trafford after the Manchester United manager, reportedly indicated
interest in him.

Doubts

United are expected
to land the midfielder but Ferguson’s reluctance to tie up the deal has
alerted their rivals Manchester City who have the financial muscle to
edge out the Red devils should it turn out to a bidding war. United’s
reluctance iseems to be connected with their previous experience with
another Nigerian, Mikel Obi, whose transfer from Lyn Oslo of Norway led
to a transfer wrangle with Chelsea which lasted for over a year. United
thought they had completed a deal for Mikel in April 2005 but it later
emerged that there were irregularities in the process, as the player
made a U-turn that he only wanted to join Chelsea. The world football
governing body FIFA and Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) had to
intervene in the matter before Mikel eventually moved to Stamford
Bridge in June 2006 after Chelsea agreed to pay £16million to settle
the matter out of court.

There are claims
that Azeez- who has already hinted Mikel is his role model- had
rejected a move to Manchester City, opening the door for a move to the
Old Trafford with Ferguson’s ability to produce super stars out of
youngster being a big attraction for the Nigerian prodigy. But no
agreement has been reached with any of the two Manchester rivals.

Talent

Ifeanyi Abanum, who
is close to the Eaglets midfielder told tribalfootball.com: “After the
U-17 World Cup, he was invited to England for trials by Manchester
City, who had closely monitored his performances at the competition.
However after spending a few days with the Citizens, he was also
invited to Old Trafford for trials. Apparently, Manchester United
scouts also had monitored him at the competition held in Nigeria.”
“Another big transfer drama is about to unfold and we are all (in
Nigeria) watching and waiting.” Abanum believes Azeez could be a good
talent to harness for the new Super Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback as he
looks for the right mix of players to parade for Nigeria at the FIFA
World Cup in South Africa “He plays as a defensive midfielder and there
is this clamour by Nigerians that he should go to the World Cup. So
highly rated by followers of the game here, that they call him the ‘new
Mikel Obi’”, Abanum said.

Former Super Eagles
midfielder Mutiu Adepoju has offered tips on how Nigeria can tame
Argentina’s stars when both teams battle for three points in their
opening group game of 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Our Eagles will
start their campaign against their toughest rivals in group B at the
Ellis Park in Johannesburg on June 12. The South Americans already
considered one of the favourites to win the global silverware this time
around with the quality of players in their squad, including the
current World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi.

Argentina’s coach,
Diego Maradona, has stated that he already has over 50 percent of his
World Cup squad listed while the Nigeria Football Federation, only
recently named Lars Lagerback as the coach to take the Eagles to South
Africa.

Adepoju was a 57th
minute substitute for Samson Siasia when Maradona captained his country
to a 2-1 victory over our Eagles at the Foxboro Stadium, Boston, in the
1994 World Cup held in the United States. The memories of that
experience linger as he looks forward to a huge game for Nigeria, in a
year we are making our return to the competition after missing out in
the 2006 edition held in Germany.

Crucial game

“It is an important
game because it is the first game of the competition, which could be
significant to how well we perform in the competition. Though there are
situations where you lose first game and still go ahead to do well in a
competition but we have to be very careful in South Africa”, says the
former Real Sociedad of Spain star.

“We are in a tricky group and getting a result in the first game will help. That will be difficult but it is not impossible”.

Adepoju who was
nicknamed the Headmaster in his day believes the key battle lines for
Nigeria against the Argentines will be in the midfield and the attack.

“I am not too sure
they are strong enough in their defence line. They could still want to
use the experience of the like of Walter Samuel and Gabriel Heinze to
lead their back line but I believe like it is known to a lot of people,
Argentina’s main strength lies in the middle and the attack.

“They have a lot of
quality in those two departments and our defenders will have a lot of
work to do. Their key players, Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi and the
young man Sergio Aguero all play in Spain where there is so much
emphasis on passes and movement, two things that will work very well
especially when there is enough space to operate.

“We all know what
Messi could do with the ball, he has the pace, skills and techniques
but he enjoys it well when he is given space to operate. He has got a
very good left foot but people sometimes forget he makes use of his
right too.”

20-year-old Higuain has shown a lot of potential, mostly clinical around the opponent’s box area.

“He has done very
well for Real Madrid this season. And Aguero is also another exciting
striker and don’t also forget that they’ve got (Carlos) Tevez who is
also doing well for Manchester City in England.

“I watched their
friendly against Argentina and you could see the impact of (Sebastien)
Veron and their captain, Mascherano on their play in the midfield. I
think we will need to be very tight in the midfield to deny them of
space and that means a lot of will need to be done on our fitness ahead
of the game.”

Adepoju also noted
that the Eagles would need to work on their sharpness and discipline
because they are naturally tricky in on and off the ball situation.

“We have met at a
couple of times at the Olympics and at the World Cup level, so there is
history between the two teams. Technically they are better with players
who are playing at top level of European football,” he said.

Usain Bolt was the
stand-out act in athletics in 2009, winning both the 100m and 200m at
the 2009 World Championships, and breaking his own world records in
super human displays of sprinting perfection. He also admitted, at the
end of the championships, that he was a bit tired coming into the
Berlin Games, but he still had more in reserve to beat his own records.

The 23-year-old capped a strong outing when he also led Asafa Powell and team to gold in the 4x100m relay.

Bolt actualised his
legendary status by stunning the world in break out performances at the
2008 Beijing Olympics and he continued to improve on his records at the
IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin last year.

He took 0.11s off
his 100m world record, which he set in Beijing with a time of 9.58
seconds and then ran an incredible 19.19 in the 200m.

Bolt said the
achievements in Berlin definitely made 2009 eclipse his performances in
Beijing in 2008. He spoke to the BBC at the award ceremony:

“For me, it was
even better because I had a car accident and bounced back. It shows me
that with hard work and determination, anything is possible.

“I have got to the
stage where I know what winning is and how to keep winning, and I want
to keep running, breaking records and winning championships.”

Formula 1 world
champion, Jenson Button, from Great Britain, won the Breakthrough of
the Year award after claiming the Formula 1 world title last season.
The new McLaren driver was rewarded for an F1 season where he won six
of the first seven races and remained steadfast to win the
championship. It was on the strength of these performances that he
switched to McLaren Mercedes racing team after Brawn GP went into
financial administration.

He though jokingly
reminded the Laureus board that he was not a youngster – that he is
actually 30 years of age – and that he did not just start driving.

“Before I started
last season, I didn’t know I would be racing in Formula One, so to
clinch the title with Brawn in our first season was very emotional for
me.

“This is perfect
for wrapping up my 2009 season. Tomorrow, I start the 2010 season and
hopefully, I can come back here next year and be close to winning one
of these awards again.”

25 Grand Slam title
winner, Serena Williams, was named Sportswoman of the Year in
recognition of a season in which she won the Australian Open and
Wimbledon and remained number one at the end of 2009.

Belgian returnee,
Kim Clijsters, who beat Serena in the semi-finals of the 2009 US Open,
got rewarded with the Comeback of the Year after returning from a
two-year absence to win the US Open title.

South African
swimmer, Natalie du Toit, received the Sportsperson of the Year with a
Disability prize and Australian world surfing champion, Stephanie
Gilmore, was named Action Sportsperson of the Year.

Ghana’s Joshua
Clottey will target Filipino Manny Pacquiao’s body for punishment, when
the two clash in Dallas this weekend. Seven-time world champion
Pacquiao’s WBO world welterweight title is on the line and Clottey
intends to soften up his opponent.

“I will go to his body a lot. I will follow him, I will hit him to the body,” Clottey told reporters Wednesday.

Clottey said he would block anything thrown his way while making his own punches count.

“It doesn’t matter
if he throws 1,000 punches, if I’m blocking them. I don’t waste
punches,” he said. “He throws a lot of punches, but he’s the smaller
guy. I throw fewer, but they are going to connect, and that’s going to
do damage.

Pacquiao’s trainer,
Freddie Roach, said Clottey had never had to face the “accumulation of
punches” that will be thrown by the Filipino, known for his speed and
swarming style.

Roach also said his fighter was ready for whatever strategy Clottey and his corner planned to deploy.

“We’re ready for
more than one game plan and we will adapt … He (Clottey) blocks
punches in a way that can be broken,” he said.

Pacquiao
acknowledged Clottey’s height and reach advantage and said it could
work for his opponent “if he knows how to use it.” “I don’t want to
underestimate Joshua Clottey,” he said.

The fight will be the first to be held at Cowboys Stadium, with 45,000 spectators expected to attend.

The six players who
booked their place in the 2010 Thomas & Uber Badminton Cups will
face a difficult task when the event scheduled for the Putra Stadium in
Bukit Jalil, Malaysia kicks off in May as it got drawn together with
host Malaysia and Japan in Group B during the week.

Nigeria secured the
right to represent Africa in the Thomas Cup, alongside South Africa
which came second and will be competing in the Uber’s event, when it
emerged African champions at the Badminton Championship in Kampala,
Uganda, last month. The Nigeria team grabbed 14 out of the 16 titles
available in the 10-day continental tournament.

Nigerians are minnows

Already, Badminton
Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary-general Ganga Rao, has written
off Nigeria’s chances of scaling the hurdles in the tournament.

Replying to
question on a Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama.com, Rao whose
country hopes to end their 16-year Cup drought, said Malaysia could be
assured of the quarterfinals since Nigerians are minnows in the group.

“Either Malaysia or
Japan will top Group B and both teams will easily qualify for the
quarterfinals because the third team in the group is minnows, Nigeria.
We’ll face stiffer tests in the quarterfinals,” he said.

Apart from Nigeria,
other teams competing for the Thomas Cup include defending champions
and top seeded China, who are in Group A with South Korea (5th seed)
and Peru (10th seed).

Group C comprises
Denmark (4th seed), Germany (8th seed) and Poland (9th seed) while
Group D pools Indonesia (2nd seed), India (7th seed) and Australia
(12th seed).

Only two top teams
from four groups will move to the next knockout stage of the sport’s
prestigious men’s team event to determine the semi-finalists.

Meanwhile, South
Africa is slugged in Group D with Korea and India while Japan, Russia
and Germany are pooled against one another in Group C.

China will do battle with Malaysia and USA in Group A with Indonesia, Denmark and Australia doing same in B.

A different format

This year’s edition
will see a revised format used for the competition with the
introduction of the two-stage, two-draw format where only the top two
teams from each group will progress to the knock-out stage – the
quarterfinals.

Previously all
three teams from each group (four groups) progressed to the next stage.
At the knock-out stage, a fresh draw will be held to decide the ties.

Thomas Cup

(Group) A: China, Korea, Peru;

Group B: Malaysia, Japan, Nigeria;

Group C: Denmark, Germany, Poland;

Group D: Indonesia, India, Australia

Uber Cup:

(Group) A: China, Malaysia, USA;

B: Indonesia, Denmark, Australia:

C: Japan, Russia, Germany;

D: Korea, India, South Africa.

Consumer prices in
China rose 2.7 per cent in February over the year-earlier period,
according to data released on Thursday, partly attributable to the
Lunar New Year holiday but also to the rising inflationary pressures in
China’s economy.

Other data, on
Thursday, reflected China’s continued strong recovery from the global
economic crisis. For the combined January to February period, which
factors out distortions from the Lunar New Year holidays, industrial
output expanded by 20.7 percent and retail sales rose 18 per cent
compared to a year ago.

Those figures followed data on Wednesday that showed robust growth in both China’s exports and imports in February.

No shift in economic policy

Overall, economists
said the picture suggests no shift in economic policy is in store,
although interest rates on loans are likely to rise as China strives to
hold down inflation.

While inflationary
pressures are clearly building, “current inflation is still modest,”
said Ken Peng, an economist with Citigroup Global Markets in Beijing.
“Right now, we are still okay. This is not going to cause any panic
among policy makers.”

Jinny Yan, an
economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, said the data
released this week does not suggest China’s economy is overheating,
despite pockets of speculation, especially in the red-hot property
market.

“We see the recovery continuing to keep its momentum,” she said. “The policy makers will continue to hold their stance.”

Drop in food production

China’s leaders
insist that inflation as firmly in check, below the government’s target
of three percent. The 2.7 per cent increase in February followed a 1.5
percent increase in January. Food prices led the way, a potentially
troublesome sign for the leaders of a country where as much as 40 per
cent of poorer household budgets go to food.

But prices are
typically jacked up during the Chinese New Year holidays, when families
tend to splurge on food and gifts. The National Bureau of Statistics
also blamed the harsh winter, which it said hurt food production.

A spokesman for the
bureau, Sheng Laiyun, predicted prices would come down after the spring
harvests. “We don’t see any signs of economic overheating,” he said.

China’s deputy
central bank governor, Su Ning, told reporters last week: “We believe
we can successfully contain inflationary pressure this year.” He said
the bank was more concerned last year, when prices fell for nine months.

“While we don’t
want to see prices rising too fast, the current situation is necessary
for the development of our economy and cannot be described as
inflation,” he said.

Other data released
on Thursday showed the government’s efforts to rein in loans after last
year’s lending spree, which was designed to spur the economy. Chinese
banks lent only about half as much money in February as they did in
January.

Premier Wen Jiabao
announced that China would lower its lending target for this year to
7.5 trillion renminbi, or $1.1 trillion, about 72 per cent of the 9.6
trillion renminbi in 2009.

The central
government, twice this year, increased the amount of money that banks
are required to deposit with the central bank as a monetary reserve
rather than lend to customers.

Many economists predict one or more interest rate increases in the
coming months, but higher interest rates are unlikely to threaten
China’s economic recovery because growth is governed more by the
availability of loans more than their cost, economists said.

The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) says it anticipates that exchange rate pressures
and volatility will persist for some time in Nigeria and other
Sub-Saharan African countries, according to latest report posted on its
website:

“African economies
can expect exchange rate pressures and volatility to persist for some
time. Shifts in commodity prices as well as in portfolio and other
private capital flows are likely to continue given the highly uncertain
trajectory of the global recovery, the geographic rebalancing of trade
flows, and volatility in the exchange rate of the main currencies,” the
IMF said after an analysis of the evolution of exchange rates of
sub-Saharan African currencies in the context of the global financial
crisis.

The report, which
focused on the differences in the magnitude and volatility of the
exchange rates among countries, was drawn from a sample of seven
countries, four members of the East African Community (EAC) (Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda), and three others, which experienced
large exchange rate losses at the outset of the crisis: Ghana, Nigeria,
and Zambia.

External Factors affected exchange rates

The IMF cited
external factors that reflect the transmission of the global crisis
through the trade and financial channels as well as the volatility of
the U.S. dollar, the main international reserve currency.

Abrupt fluctuations
in capital flows also contributed to exchange rate movements. “A
tightening of credit conditions in global financial markets and a
decline of confidence triggered a frantic race to safety by private
investors at the onset of the crisis. As expected, the resulting
depreciation was more pronounced in those countries that had received
large portfolio inflows prior to the crisis (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria,
Uganda, and Zambia).”

The volatility of
the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency also had a strong effect on
African currencies. The dollar rose sharply against all currencies,
amplifying the depreciations that were triggered by other external
factors.

Challenges and implications

The IMF stated that
exchange rate volatility could hinder progress with financial
integration, skewing capital flows toward short-term options at the
expense of longer-term investment.

Lydia Olushola, an
economist and a consultant at Sky Trend Limited, a finance service
firm, said that real exchange rate is one of the major relative prices
in an economy, which actually defines the rate of exchange between
domestic goods and their foreign counterparts, and as a result, its
volatility has economy-wide implications.

“Exchange rate
volatility has real economic costs on an economy. It affects price
stability, firms’ profitability, and the country’s financial stability,
as a whole. Exchange rate volatility is also influenced by and
correlated to domestic economic uncertainty.”

She added that
countries have reasons to be worried about exchange rates volatility as
it may hinder international investment flows. “Companies may also be
reluctant to establish new firms or purchase existing ones in such
countries as exchange rate uncertainty reduces the expected profits
from such projects.

“Volatile exchange
rates also create uncertainty about income expected to be earned on
international transactions. It is one of the reasons some firms add
some allowance to all they sell to be on the safe side. These costs are
then passed on to consumers in form of higher prices, and then you know
what happens. Even traders would also be reluctant in their businesses
too as the volatility in the exchange rates adds additional risks to
their expected gains,” she said.

IMF’s remedy

The IMF however,
outlined ways of escape, both for the short and long term, to the
countries that are still experiencing exchange rates volatility, adding
that the deepening domestic financial markets is key to enhancing their
capacity to handle external financial volatility over the long term:

“Broader bond
markets will allow diversification into longer-term investment
instruments—important for long-term investors. Developing forward
hedging instruments would also generate some stability in the foreign
exchange market by reducing forward settlement risks.”

Nigeria’s Naira stable

Bismarck Rewane,
Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company, a finance and
research analysis firm and Member, National Economic Steering
Committee, is however, confident that the Nigerian Naira would remain
stable.

“The Naira is
expected to remain stable because higher oil prices will boost the
accumulation of external reserves, and this will also be supported by
increased sale of Forex by oil majors. The Naira remained unchanged at
N148.6to the dollar in the official market in February. In the parallel
market, it appreciated marginally by 0.32 per cent to N152 to the
dollar from N152.5 to the dollar the previous month. The FOREX demand
however, surged 7% to approximately $1.2 billion in February.

“The gain in
parallel market has been attributed to the increase in forex supply
from the Central Bank. The Year on Year spread between the official and
parallel rates narrowed by 87. 41% to 3.29 from 26.15 in 2009,
indicating a relatively more stable forex macroeconomic compared to
what obtained the previous year,” he explained.

Nigeria’s foreign
exchange market has remained relatively stable since the 2010 year
began. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, in November 2009, said the Naira will trade between the N150
to $1 band till it finally regains full stability.

Some finance
experts in the education sector have warned that corruption and lack of good
corporate governance in business organisations are a threat to national
development.

Soji Apampa, an
Executive Director at Integrity Organisation, a consultancy firm, said that
corruption in business damages the ability of a company to “effectively and
efficiently utilize the resources available.”

Speaking at a
one-day meeting of accountants in education, organised by the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Apampa said that “corruption has a
negative impact on national development because it makes the people on the
advantage side (close to government) gets richer while those on the disadvantage
side gets poorer.”

Corporate governance

Citing an
example of a corrupt system, he said, “So much is budgeted for education at the
national level but just a faction of it is felt at the local level where it is
supposed to have impact, and that is destroying the quality of education that
is possible.”

Speaking on the
topic “Corporate Governance and Disclosure: The Impact of Corruption and
Accountability on National Development,” he said, “Corporate governance is a
system by which companies are directed and controlled. It is supposedly carried
out by board of directors for the benefit of the company’s operators to provide
direction, authority and oversight management.”

He added that
corporate governance “ensures that the board of directors is accountable for
the pursuit of public objective, and that the corporation itself conforms to
laws and regulations,” he said.

Explaining from
the economic perspective, Mr. Apampa said corporate governance is a tool in
investigating the efficient management of corporations in the use of mechanism
such as contract, organisation design, and legislation. “It also improves
financial performance. It addresses the issue of divorce between ownership and
control of organisations,” he said.

According to
him, the basic tasks of any board are to have foresight, set up strategies,
delegate responsibilities, and providing general oversight for the company.

Mr. Apampa also
said, “a good corporate governance is impossible without appropriate levels of
disclosure that involves dividing to each company’s operator the type of
information to which they have a right.”

He, however,
added that “appropriate disclosure assumes that there will be appropriate
governance of scrutiny” which should enforce accountability.

Speaking on a
similar topic, Ishola Akintoye, Head of the Accounting Department of Olabisi
Onabanjo University, Ogun State, said, “A company where good corporate
governance is expected must have a well-functioning board, accountability, clarity
of purpose, transparency and openness.”

He said the
qualities of good corporate governance are trust, credibility, legitimacy, the
ability to weather crises, a climate and relationships that ensure financial
stability.

Mr. Akintoye
also maintained that “if a company’s process of bringing people to the top is
defective, there will be problem. You cannot create legality out of
illegality.”

Also, Adekunle
Owojori of the Department of Accounting, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State,
said that corporate governance and business ethics that examine immoral
practices.

Mr. Owojori
said for corporate governance to be effective practice, “all audit committee
members must be financially literate.”

Fighting corruption

On how to
combat corruption, he said that a professional and well-motivated civil
service, budget reform, and a strong judiciary system are required. He added
that civil societies and the media also have roles to play.

Meanwhile,
Elizabeth Adegite, the president of ICAN, said that the issue of corporate
governance “is that of change of attitude and reorientation of all Nigerians,
whether professionals or not.”

She said,
“Corporate governance is important to the institution because charter
accountants are in the middle of all these issues. Internal and external
auditors, consultants, chief executive officers, board of directors are charter
accountants. So we must take responsibility as professionals and chart a course
on how to engage in good practice.”

However, she
said that ICAN has a code of conduct for charter accountants.

“If anybody gets wanted
after our investigation, disciplinary actions will be taken appropriately. And
this is why we say the certificate you hold as a charter accountant is the
property of the institute, it can be revoke if indicted.”

The European
Central Bank and the Bank of England left their benchmark interest
rates unchanged at historic lows Thursday, as both worried about the
strength of the economic recovery.

The European
Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the 16 countries in the
euro zone, left its benchmark interest rate at 1 per cent, where it has
been since May. The bank believes that the euro-zone economy remains
too weak to create an imminent danger of inflation.

In Britain, which
just barely emerged from recession last quarter, the Bank of England
left its benchmark rate unchanged for a 12th month, at 0.5 percent.

Fear of recession

Bank of England’s
committee members, meanwhile, are watching closely for any signs that
Britain’s fragile economy could relapse into a recession. Gross
domestic product rose 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the third
quarter, the office for national statistics said last month, revising
an earlier estimate upwards.

“It’s pretty
unlikely they’ll do anything for the next six months,” said James
Knightley, an economist at ING in London. “The environment is still
very uncertain. If the data continues to show a gradual improvement,
they will just keep everything as it is.”

The fear of rising
unemployment and concerns about the sustainability of house prices,
which remained relatively high, is prompting consumers to curb
spending. Unemployment unexpectedly rose in January to the highest
since 1997.

Tight housing
supply and low interest rates are expected to keep property prices from
falling this year, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said
Tuesday, easing some pressure on homeowners. Still, the availability of
credit remained under pressure as some banks are concerned to meet any
future regulatory requirements. Mortgage approvals dropped to the
lowest level in eight months in January.

Uncertainty about
the outcome of the general election, which is expected to be held
within the next three months, and whether the new government would push
ahead with large-scale spending and job cuts in the public sector meant
consumers were increasingly holding off big purchases. Yet, unsecured
debt rose as Britain’s already indebted consumers borrowed more through
credit cards and personal loans in January.

The pound fell to
the lowest in 10 months against the dollar on Monday before it started
to recover on Wednesday amid concerns Britain might soon face a similar
sovereign debt crisis to Greece. The Bank of England voted last month
to halt its program to purchase government bonds and other debt to
strengthen the economy but said it would not rule out continuing the
program should the economy deteriorate again. The bank is expected to
review its decision in May.

Implication of too much available cash

In the euro area,
the European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, and the
bank’s governing council are cautiously draining the cash they began
providing in October 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers brought
interbank lending practically to a standstill.

The bank is
concerned that too much available cash will fuel inflation or asset
bubbles of the type that preceded the 2008 crisis.

The central bank
may be ready to return to competitive bidding to set the interest rate
on three-month loans, which would raise costs for banks. But amid
nervousness about Greek debt and signs that some institutions are still
dependent on central bank funds, the bank is expected to continue
providing unlimited financing on a shorter-term basis.

The European
Central Bank has already stopped making any more 12-month loans to the
roughly 2,200 banks in the euro zone that are eligible. The bank said
in December it will make the last round of six-month loans at the end
of this month.

The central bank
had extended the time periods for loans beyond the customary three
months to encourage institutions to continue lending to the private
sector. The bank also allowed banks to borrow as much as they wanted at
the benchmark interest rate, provided they could supply collateral. And
it expanded the definition of the kinds of bonds and other securities
it accepted as collateral.

Analysts say they
expect the European Central Bank to continue providing unlimited funds
for one-week periods, to avoid a crunch as the longer-term loans expire.

When Mr. Trichet
holds a news conference this afternoon, analysts will be watching for
any revision of bank staff estimates of euro-zone economic growth.
Currently the bank projects growth in the euro zone of 0.8 percent this
year and 1.2 percent in 2011.