Tag Archives: Rise

Airfares Rise By 100 Per Cent As Workers Shut Arik

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The plight of air passengers in the country worsened yesterday as Arik Air, the largest airline in West Africa, was shut down by protesting workers.

The workers, led by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), among others, embarked on the industrial action in protest against alleged seven-month unpaid salaries and other anti-labour issues.

The crisis in the country’s aviation sector will mount pressure on the already troubled road transport system and increase costs with serious implication on prices of goods and services during the yuletide.

Disrupted services in the air transport business will also cut into the revenue of government and regulatory agencies, which depend on operational charges to sustain oversight functions.

A retired pilot, John Ojikutu said irrespective of the cost on operators and regulators, airlines were overdue for economic auditing, to put them in check and save the country’s airspace.

The passengers that have been battling with the effects of the aviation fuel scarcity in the last one week, had their woes compounded as available aircraft were further reduced by 50 per cent due to the closure of Arik.

While other airlines like Air Peace, First Nation, Med-View, Dana Air, Overland and Azman could not take the spillover from Arik due to low capacity, about 100 per cent hike in ticket fares was noticed by Tuesday afternoon.

At the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) and Murtala Muhammed Airport II terminal, both in Lagos, for instance, an economic class ticket to Abuja that on Monday sold for between N27,500 and N32,000 was yesterday offered for N54,000. The business class equivalent of the ticket was given at N75, 800 to N80,000.

At most of the counters, however, the same flights were declared “fully booked,” with a backlog of passengers waiting due to delays which airlines blamed on “operational reasons.”

The Guardian learnt that the situation was not any different at the major airport terminals in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano as passengers waited endlessly for flights to arrive from Lagos.

It would be recalled that Arik Air and labour unions had been at loggerheads over alleged non-observance of industrial rules in the organisation, with threats to ground the airline to force compliance.

As early as 6:00 a.m. yesterday, Arik Air workers and others in solidarity, embarked on strike, shutting operations nationwide to demand the payment of outstanding salaries and observance of labour laws bordering on the welfare of workers.

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http://guardian.ng/news/airfares-rise-by-100-per-cent-as-workers-shut-arik/

World Food Prices Rise To Highest In 18 Months In September- UN

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World food prices rose in September to their highest since March 2015, led mainly by sugar, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

Except for a small dip in July, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index has been increasing steadily since January, when it hit a seven-year low.

The index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 170.9 points in September, 2.9 percent above the month before and 10 percent higher than the same month last year.

Sugar prices surged 6.7 percent in September from the previous month, largely because of bad weather in Brazil, the world’s biggest sugar producer and exporter, FAO said.

While cereal prices declined slightly, meat edged up and dairy and vegetable oil prices increased.

“A lot of the September increase has to do with sugar, so if sugar were to stop increasing, the index would be more or less flat,” said FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian. “But the scope for big declines is not there.”

FAO raised slightly its forecast for world cereal production in the 2016-17 season rose to 2.569 billion tonnes, which would be a new record high and a 1.5 percent increase on the previous season. World wheat output is seen at 742.4 million tonnes, up slightly from the previous forecast of 740.7 million tonnes.

Credit: reuters

External Reserves Rise by $595m as Offshore Investors Stake $327m on Bonds

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Nigeria’s external reserves, which have plummeted for about two months, pared some of the losses in recent weeks when they rose by $595 million in just five days to $26.196 billion Monday.

The marginal accretion represented an increase of 2.26 per cent, compared with $25.601 billion as of August 24.

The development was attributed to the inflow of funds into the country’s fixed income market. It was reported yesterday that there had been renewed interest by both foreign and local investors in the fixed income market given the attractive yields.

This was largely buoyed by a single $270 million transaction at N345 per dollar by Citibank Nigeria which bought 11-months treasury bills on behalf of offshore investors.
But other transactions were carried out at between N314.50 to N317.34 to the dollar.
The FX market registered $327 million worth of trades yesterday, about six times more than its usual volume, the Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, Mr. Bola Onadele, disclosed.

Average trading is around $50 million a day on normal days, but might reach $100 million on days the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervenes in the currency market.
Traders told Reuters that the central bank sold an undisclosed amount of dollars close to the end of market session, to help prop up the naira.

Yesterday’s surge in trading came after the central bank said on Friday that it planned to offer N212.85 billion treasury bills maturing between 91-days and 1-year this week.
The central bank said it would sell N45.85 billion worth of the 91-day bills, N62 billion of the 182-day paper and N105 billion of the 1-year debt. Payment for the purchase will be effected on Thursday.

The CBN has been selling short-dated open market bills at yields as high as 18 per cent in an effort to attract offshore funds, most of whom fled Nigeria’s bond and equity markets during a financial crisis that began when oil prices plunged.

The crisis ultimately led the central bank to let the naira’s value float in June.
Yet, despite the intervention by the banking sector regulator, the spot rate of the naira fell to N318.83 to the dollar on the interbank forex market yesterday, down from the N314.95 last Friday.
On the parallel market, the naira also fell to N413 to the dollar Monday, down from the N412 to the dollar last Friday.

Read More: thisdaylive

Nigeria Rise To 67th On FIFA Rankings

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Nigeria senior football team, Super Eagles, rose three places in the latest FIFA rankings to berth at the 67th position.

The Super Eagles were last July rated 70th globally and 17th on the continent. However, in August ranking, Nigeria moved a place in Africa to 16th behind Algeria, Ghana, CIV, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Congo DR, Cape Verde, Mali, Congo, South Africa, Uganda, Guinea respectively.

There were no changes at the rankings summit, with the top 20 retaining their July position.

Argentina remain top, followed closely by Belgium, Colombia, Germany and Chile.

Just two international matches, both friendlies, have been played since the July Ranking, meaning that the changes that have taken place are generally minor.

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http://punchng.com/nigeria-rise-67th-fifa-rankings/

Oil Prices Rise In Asia As Output Meeting Approaches

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Oil prices bounced Friday, with Brent climbing back above $40, as traders digested falling US output ahead of a producers’ meeting this month to discuss a proposed output freeze.

US production fell for the 10th time in 11 weeks, to 9.0 million barrels per day in the week through April 1, the lowest level since November 2014, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude stockpiles in the world’s top oil consumer also dropped, indicating stronger demand.

At around 0720 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery climbed $1.03, or 2.76 percent, to $38.29 and Brent crude for June was up 83 cents, or 2.10 percent, at $40.26.

Prices retreated Thursday following a five percent rally the previous day in reaction to the decline in US inventories.

But traders are setting their sights on the April 17 meeting in Doha among crude producers led by Russia and Saudi Arabia to discuss measures to stabilise prices, including an output freeze at January 2016 levels.

There have been conflicting signals on whether such an agreement would be reached.

Saudi Arabia has said it will only agree to limits if others followed suit, while Iran said it is still ramping up production after Western economic sanctions were lifted only in January.

“Unfortunately, history is against anything (concrete) coming out of the Doha meeting,” analyst David Lennox of Fat Prophets in Sydney told AFP.

“But a lot of OPEC countries are feeling great economic pain, which might give them the impetus to take some positive action in cutting production,” he said.

Credit: Guardian

Oil Prices Rise After Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran

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Oil prices rose Monday on Middle East supply risks after Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran.

At about 1230 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February climbed 30 cents to $37.34 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for February won 59 cents to stand at $37.87 a barrel compared with Thursday’s close.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, noted that “geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are adding to existing volatility in the price of oil”.

Tensions between major crude producer Iran and its Sunni Arab neighbours reached new heights Monday as the world’s biggest pumper of oil Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies cut or downgraded diplomatic ties with Tehran in a row over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Angry exchanges following Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and then ally Bahrain severed their relations with Tehran.

“Oil started the new year on the mend, as… markets reacted to fears that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East may threaten the supply of oil,” said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore.

Despite the rise, Aw said the persistent global crude oversupply would continue to weigh on prices over the longer term.

“Unless we see a convincing drop in oil output from these two nations, and the broader oil-producing community, the supply glut issue will persist, which means oil prices would remain under pressure for a longer period,” he told AFP.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose 13 members include Saudi and Iran, decided last month against cutting output levels despite a plunge in oil prices — in a bid to maintain market share faced with competition from North American shale oil output.

Credit: Vanguard

Power Supply Expected To Rise By 2,000mw In Months– Fashola

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Based on the availability of adequate gas supply and subject to sufficient budgetary funding, the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has said that power supply could rise by 2,000 megawatts (mw) in the next 12 to 15 months.

He stated that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will build some critical infrastructure, subject to budgetary funding, to transport gas to the power plant that will add the 2,000mw to grid supply in the coming months.

Disclosing this at his inaugural media briefing in Abuja, Fashola said that apart from the availability of gas infrastructure other issues like environmental concerns and appropriate pricing for gas have had negative impact on power supply.

He noted, however, that the recent review of gas from $1.30 per unit to $3.30, although still below the $4.00 International market price will help bridge the availability gap.

On transmission network, he said, “Today’s reality is that available power is slightly larger than the capacity which it can support else we will experience persistent system collapse. So government, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has identified a total of 142 critical projects of which 45 are at 50 per cent and above level of completion. Of this lot a further 22 projects can be completed within a year.

“With budgetary provision, government intends to aggressively pursue completion to increase the carrying capacity of the generation companies to the distribution companies from which the transmission carrying capacity must expand well ahead of the generating capacity that will take care of future expansion in power generation,” he said

Credit: Leadership

PMB Urges Muslims To Rise Against Boko Haram

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Against the backdrop of the incessant terrorism attacks in Nigeria and the world over, President Mohammadu Buhari yesterday urged the Muslim community to make a strong statement that would condemn the activities of insurgents.

According to the president, speaking with one voice was a sure way of rejecting the attackers claim of acting in the name of Islam, stressing that it would also stop the abasement of their religion.

This is even as Buahri called on the international community to unite and forge a stronger worldwide consensus for more effective action against global terrorism.

The president’s injunctions came on the heels of the killing of about 150 men, women and children in Kukawa, Borno state on Thursday and also the recent murder of Egyptian Attorney General, Hesham Barakat, and the killing of about 70 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula by terrorists.

While strongly condemning the act, Buhari in separate statements issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in Abuja further stated that it was “a very heinous atrocity which must be unreservedly condemned by all people of conscience.”

He conveyed  his heart-felt condolences to families of the victims of Boko Haram’s dreadful killings in Kukawa just as he also condoled the government of Egypt and the families of the victims, reaffirming “Nigeria’s commitment to working with other countries facing terrorists’ threats to overcome the scourge of violent extremism.”

Read More: vanguardngr

Oil Prices Rise By 3%

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Oil rose as much as three per cent on Tuesday as a weak dollar lifted commodities denominated in the currency and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised slightly its forecast for world oil demand growth.

Violence in Yemen also boosted crude prices, raising concerns over the security of Middle East supplies.

The dollar fell on bond market gyrations, making oil and other commodities priced in the greenback more affordable to holders of the euro and other currencies, according to Reuters.

OPEC tweaked its 2015 world oil demand growth forecast to 1.18 million barrels per day, above a previous estimate of 1.17 million.

Read More: punchng