Daily Watch – South Africa opposition moves to impeach Ramaphosa, Port Harcourt Refinery commences operations

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again raised its benchmark lending rate to 27.50% from 27.25%. This marks the sixth interest rate hike this year, resulting in a cumulative increase of 875 basis points. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the bank stated that its unanimous decision was aimed at maintaining price stability. CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso announced that the MPC retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR +500 to -100 basis points. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was retained at 50% for commercial banks while maintaining the CRR of merchant banks at 16%; liquidity ratio was also retained at 30%. Cardoso also disclosed that the country’s foreign reserves increased to $40.88 billion as of 21 November 2024.

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Ltd in Rivers State has commenced crude oil processing and is said to currently be operating at 70% of its installed capacity, with plans to ramp up to 90%. In its statement on Tuesday, the NNPC said the refinery is producing daily outputs of straight-run gasoline (Naphtha): blended into 1.4 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS or petrol), Kerosene: 900,000 litres, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO or Diesel): 1.5 million litres, Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO): 2.1 million litres and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG): additional volumes. The refinery is said to incorporate crack C5, a blending component from its sister company, Indorama Petrochemicals (formerly Eleme Petrochemicals), to produce gasoline that meets the required specifications. The Presidency on Tuesday said about 200 trucks are expected to load petrol products daily from the Port Harcourt refinery.

Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited has announced the resumption of operations at its 560-megawatt power plant following an emergency funding intervention by the government. The plant shut down in October due to financial constraints, resumed operations on Monday. In a press release, the company expressed gratitude to the Minister for Finance, Mohammed Amin Adam, and the Minister for Energy, Herbert Krapa, for facilitating the release of emergency funds to address the plant’s critical financial needs. Sunon Asogli also acknowledged the Vice President for his intervention, which played a key role in ensuring payments were made to enable the plant’s return to service. Sunon Asogli revealed that it submitted the final version of its Restructuring Terms Sheet to the Ministry of Finance and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in August 2024. The company expects the terms to be finalised and signed soon, ensuring stability and reliability in Ghana’s energy sector.

South African opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) brought a case to the country’s top court on Tuesday to try to revive impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Farmgate scandal. The scandal centred on the alleged theft of millions of dollars hidden in furniture on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm. But in late 2022 lawmakers from Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC), which had a majority in the National Assembly at the time, voted to reject the report and prevented an impeachment committee from being set up to probe the allegations. The EFF argues the National Assembly acted unlawfully by not holding the president to account. Ramaphosa and the ANC said the report did not provide sufficient evidence to support its findings and relied on hearsay, according to a summary of the case published by the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg. The first hearing started on Tuesday morning.