Daily Watch – Konga to list on NYSE, Oil production drops in January
15th February 2019
The European Commission has added Nigeria to a blacklist of countries who pose a threat because of their lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering. Countries on the list include Saudi Arabia, Panama, and another 23 jurisdictions. The move, which has been criticised by several EU countries including Britain for their economic relations with the listed countries, is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at E.U. banks. The commission said it added jurisdictions with “strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes”. The new countries on the list are Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. Others are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.
Data from the petroleum ministry says that Nigeria’s daily crude oil production including condensate fell to 1.999 million barrels in January 2019 from the 2.081 million bpd in December 2018. The most recent monthly oil report of OPEC however shows that the country’s oil production dropped to 1.687 million bpd in January from 1.797 million bpd. Nigeria’s oil production was to be cut by 53,000 barrels to arrive at a new quota of 1.685 million bpd with a reference level of 1.738 million bpd. OPEC’s 14 members pumped 30.81 million bpd in January, down from 31.60 million bpd in December, according to its Monthly Oil Market Report. Oil prices have recovered since December, when they fell to a 15-month low, with ICE Brent trading above $62 per barrel this week.
The FG has flagged off the reconstruction of the roads and bridges at Ofeme in Abia State under the Executive Order #7 of 2019. The current reconstruction is being done with Dangote Industries. Under the Executive Order titled Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, participating investors will use tax credits to reduce corporate taxes payable to the government until they recoup the value of their investments in roads and bridges. The Ofeme project will be handled by AG-Dangote, the subsidiary of Dangote Industries, which has been contracted for the construction of the Ofeme Community road and bridges to connect the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway. According to the South-South Regional Director of Dangote Cement, Okoro George, the 16-kilometre road will form a ring road around Ofeme and connect it at two points to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway while the two bridges connecting the town to other communities would be rebuilt.
E-commerce group, Konga, is planning an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange by 2020. This follows last week’s report that Jumia, another e-commerce group is planning an IPO in same exchange this year, which will see the business valued at $1.5 billion. Konga’s IPO is expected to see the business valued at $3.5 billion. Analysts say the move would further shore up the potential of the e-commerce industry in Nigeria as stock analyst on the NYSE, Mark Jessey, hinted the strong possibility of a Konga IPO before the end of next year. In the last eight months there have been huge strides and trajectory of business for Konga after a transfer of ownership from Naspers and AB Kinnevik to Zinox, a Nigerian technology company. As part of the acquisition, Zinox assumed ownership of the e-commerce group, which comprised Konga.com, an online mall; KongaPay, a CBN-licensed mobile money platform, as well as KOS-Express, a digitally-driven logistics company.