UK economy records fastest growth since 2007

The UK's economy grew by 2.6% last year, the fastest pace since 2007 and up from 1.7% in 2013, official figures have shown.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the economy grew by 0.5% in the final three months of 2014.

That was a slowdown from 0.7% growth recorded in the previous three months.

Economists were mixed over whether the loss of momentum in the final quarter might be temporary or prolonged.

The ONS's chief economist, Joe Grice, said it was "too early to say" if this slowdown would persist.

But Nancy Curtin, chief investment officer at Close Brothers Asset Management, said the fourth-quarter figure "hardly set the world alight... and it's clear that [the economy] is slowing".

She said: "There are clouds looming large on the horizon, and the general election is the biggest of these. Investors don't like uncertainty."

The services sector grew by 0.8% in the quarter, but construction contracted by 1.8%. Manufacturing grew by just 0.1%, its worst performance since the start of 2013.

"The main disappointment with growth in the fourth quarter was that it looks unbalanced on the output side of the economy at least," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.

Firm predicts further naira devaluation after elections

Nigerian Currency

A research and financial advisory firm, the WSTC, Financial Services Limited has predicted another adjustment in the naira exchange rate band against the dollar after the 2015 elections.

The firm stated this in its “2014 Economic Review and 2015 Outlook,” made available to e-biz247.

It also anticipated that the demand pressure in the forex market would be sustained by investors’ concern about sliding oil prices, low fiscal buffers and political uncertainties in the interim period after the general elections.

Furthermore, it argued that the firming up of the US economy as well as expectations of higher interest rates in the US presents capital reversal risks.

Nigeria’s external reserves dropped by 27 per cent in 2014, from $43.51 billion at the beginning of the year to $34.47 billion on December 31, 2014, as a result of a combination of global and domestic influences.

On the falling oil prices and its effects on the proposed 2015 budget, it stated: “Plunging oil prices and Nigeria’s excessive reliance on oil revenue as the principal source of federal government earnings has exposed the nation to increasing level of economic imbalance.


It also predicted that the performance of the Nigerian equities market would remain subdued in the first half of 2015 on account of weak oil prices and elevated domestic political risks.

Government keen on economic diversification to mitigate drop in oil price

President Goodluck Jonathan

Worried by the worsening price of crude oil in the global market, President Goodluck Jonathan, in company of some of his ministers, pledged on Sunday that his administration was committed to diversifying the economy to address the drop in oil price.

Jonathan was speaking at an interactive forum organized by the private sector and leaders of professional bodies in Lagos.

The statement by Jonathan was in response to earlier statements made by many of the ministers in attendance, majority of whom identified economic diversification as the present administration’s major standpoint.

First to speak among the ministers present was the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who emphasized that the thrust of the present administration’s economic policy was diversification.

Okonjo-Iweala during her speech touched on several achievements of the current administration. On the issue of job creation, the minister said that government was rigorously addressing the issue.

Highlighting the achievements in the oil and gas sector, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, said that in the downstream sector, the government had “ensured stability in oil supply”.

Although she said that government continued to lose about 60,000 barrels of crude oil to theft per day, an action which she insisted Nigeria could not afford, the minister said the country’s crude oil production for years 2008 to 2014, stood at 2.5 million barrels per day.

On his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adeshina, said with the interest of the president in the agricultural sector, the Nigeria’s food import bill had dropped due to the successes recorded in the fertiliser distribution channel, which he said was done in a space of months.

The Minister of Power, Chinedu Osita Nebo, said that Nigeria had moved from producing 2,800 megawatts of electricity to 4,400 megawatts, with an increase of 1,800 kilometres in transmission lines.

Regarding road infrastructure, the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said that under Jonathan’s administration, out of the 35,000 kilometres of federal roads, from 4,500km that the present administration met on ground, 25,000km have been upgraded and developed.

Gas City Project: Jonathan mandates Uduaghan, Presidency to fix new date for ground breaking

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan

President Goodluck Jonathan has mandated the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, relevant authorities in the presidency and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to fix a new date for the ground breaking ceremony of the $16 billion Delta Gas City and the Export Processing Zone project.

Jonathan gave the directive when he paid a courtesy call on the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, in the company of Uduaghan, during an unscheduled visit to Delta State.

He pointed out that it would not be possible to do the ground breaking before the elections because the investors have to be around for the ceremony, stressing that these were companies that have to be given enough notice.

Jonathan therefore mandated the Delta State Governor to work closely with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the presidency to get a suitable date before May 29 for the exercise.

The president took the opportunity of the visit to explain the circumstances surrounding the aborted ground breaking for the Delta Gas City project and the Export Free Zone (EPZ).

He told the Olu of Warri, in the presence of his chiefs, that he had to put off the ground breaking because of the fear of outbreak of violence after the ceremony, which would have frightened investors.

According to him, his action in putting off the exercise was not borne out of fear that anything was going to happen to him, noting that as a son of the Niger-Delta, he could move freely in the zone without molestation.

Jonathan, during the visit, also had a private audience with the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Governor Uduaghan on his part commended the president’s personal visit to the Olu of Warri which has afforded him the opportunity to explain to the monarch and the Itsekiri people the issues surrounding the ground breaking ceremony of the project.

Oil marketers decry non-payment of N250bn subsidy claims, seek deregulation

Diezani Alison-Madueke

Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has decried the non-payment of an outstanding N250 billion subsidy claims for 2014, urging the federal government to pay the bills and deregulate the downstream sector.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos on the recent reduction of the pump price of petrol, the Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Obafemi Olawore, said the outstanding N250 billion claims include accumulated interest and foreign exchange differentials.

Olawore further disclosed that a directive has been given by the association to members to conform to the directive of the Minster of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke and adjust their pump price from N 97 to N87 per litre.

According to him, about 85 per cent of its members have adjusted their pump price, adding that others will follow suit.

He said the devaluation of the naira contributed significantly to the increase of the pump price in Nigeria, adding that if the naira had not been devalued, the pump price would have come down as in other countries.

Olawore also attributed the high cost of petrol in Nigeria to freight and the state of the refineries.

29 ships to arrive Lagos

 

Twenty-nine ships are to arrive in Lagos ports with foods, petroleum products and other goods from January 20 to February 7.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) disclosed this in its daily publication, the ‘Shipping Position,’ made available to e-biz247 in Lagos Nigeria.

The document stated 14 of the expected ships would arrive in the ports with containers, while eight others would sail in with food items. It reported that three ships were expected to sail in with petroleum products like kerosene and petrol, while four other ships would come in with general cargo.

The document also reported that 16 other ships were waiting to berth. They are laden with rice, frozen fish, crude palm oil, general cargo, petrol, bulk gas, aviation fuel and diesel.