LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Angola is set to export 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in March, down from 1.6 million bpd in February due to shipment delays and OPEC supply curbs, trade sources said on Friday.
Read the news feature at Reuters
A delegation of business executives from the Cape Verde Development Corporation will carry out a second work visit to the country before the end of January to discuss the implementation of the projects presented in December with their local partners. The company’s legal counselor, lawyer David Hopffer Almada, guarantees that the entrepreneurs are very interested in getting several of these projects started within six or seven months.
Read the article in A Semana
Lusophone University professor Eduardo Ferreira released a study Friday, January 9, on tourism in Cape Verde. In his thesis, entitled “Sustainable tourism as a factor in the development of small island economies: the case of Cape Verde,” the author highlights environmental errors and the over-construction seen on the island of Sal, which, according to his conclusions, should be avoided as the economy of tourism expands to other islands in the country.
Read the article in A Semana
Cape Verde is the country with the 77th freest economy in the world, and in West Africa comes in first place, according to an index elaborated by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
Read the news feature in A Semana
Earlier the newspaper had reported a similar announcement from Freedom House.
The annual report by Freedom House includes Cape Verde on the list of free countries, a distinction shared, among the world’s Portuguese-speaking nations, with Portugal, Brazil and São Tomé and Príncipe. Guinea Bissau, East Timor and Mozambique are considered “partially free,” while Angola is considered “not free,” with restrictions to political rights and civil liberties, despite the positive trend begun with the 2008 legislative elections.
Read the latter article here
Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger has presented his views on the future role of Brazi’s army in a new National Defence Strategy.
Read the article in The Economist
Sao Paulo, Brazil, 5 Jan – Portuguese state bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) is due this month to begin operating in Brazil, with initial capital of 123 million reais (37.98 million euros at the current exchange rate), an official of the bank said Friday.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) — Telemar Norte Leste SA, the Brazilian phone carrier that paid 5.37 billion reais ($2.3 billion) yesterday to take over a rival, plans to invest 30 billion reais to double the number of subscribers and to buy companies abroad.
Read the news feature at Bloomberg
Luanda, Angola, 5 Jan – The governor of the Angolan central bank (BNA), Amadeu Maurício has said that economic growth in Angola is expected to total 11.8 percent, according to a report from Bloomberg News.
Read the news feature at Macauhub
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6 Jan – Brazil’s economy is set to expand by 2.4 percent this year with inflation reaching 5 percent, according to forecasts from economists at country’s central bank.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Luanda, Angola, 6 Jan – Building of the 24-floor Alameda Hotel Towers will begin in the first three months of this year and the new establishment is a replacement high-end hotel for the ageing Hotel Escola Alameda, the Jornal de Angola newspaper has reported.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Santo António, Sao Tome and Principe, 7 Jan – Modernisation work on the airport at Principe Island is due to begin in the second half of January, Dutch businessman Rombout Swarborn told Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Huambo, Angola, 7 Jan – Over US$87 million is being invested in Angola’s Huambo province by Angolan and foreign businesspeople to install new industries and recover others, said provincial director for Industry, Geology and Mining, Manuel Chieque.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Sao Paulo, Brazil, 8 Jan – Brazilian company Odebrecht and its Angolan partners are this month due to open a 4,000 hectare sugar cane plantation on a property close to the Capanda hydroelectric dam, Brazilian newspaper Valor Económico reported Wednesday.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Luanda, Angola, 8 Jan – Luanda, the capital of Angola, is the most expensive city for expatriates to live, followed by Tokyo, according the public relations director of ECA International speaking in Luanda Wednesday.
Read the news feature at Macauhub
Praia, Cape Verde, 5 Jan – Cape Verde’s port management company, Enapor, is looking for investors, particularly Chinese investors, to expand the Mindelo Port on Sao Vicente, a US$ 324 million project which aims to increase six-fold by 2030 the movement of cargo by the archipelago’s largest port.
Read the news story at Macauhub
Business and the Economy
Economists fear that the downturn of the Dutch economy may have consequences for the flow of remittances to Surinam by The Netherlands’ 330.000 citizens of Surinam origin. These yearly transmit 125 million Euros to Surinam.
Surinam’s newest and largest hotel, Marriott Courtyard will open in April 2009.
Surinam has applied to host a regional UNDP headquarters, that is to be moved from Trinidad and Tobago. But the UNDP will most likely choose a lesser developed country as host. Surinam is expected to be a UN donor country in about five years, according to the Minister of Planning and Development, Mr van Ravenswaay.
Surinam state owned oil company Staatsolie announced investments of 85 million USD for carrying out new explorations in the 2008-2912 period. CFO Kortram also noted that oil reservies in the country amount to 73,7 million barrels, enough for 12,5 years of production at the present rate of 16.000 barrels a day.
Alumsur, the new state owned bauxite company is to get a 25 % stake in the Paranam refinery, Minister for Natural Resources Rusland announced. Negotiations and studies are nog yet completely concluded however.
The French Republic is to donate 25 million USD for the rehabilitation of the East-West Road, linking Paramaribo with the border of French Guyana.
Parbo beer shares are the most sought after shares at the Surinam Stock Exchange (SEB). Trade is slow on the exchange that lists 11 well run companies.
Security
Surinam Police Chief Delano Braam noted in his Owru Yari (Year’s end) speech that 77 % of the Surinam population now feels secure. For 2008, the Surinam police collected 17 million SRD in fines.
Brazil announced plans to increase security at its borders with several neighbouring countries, among which Surinam. Extra platoons of border guards will be stationed at several locations to increase border control in the thick Amazon rainforests.
The Surinam National Army (NL) will gain new equipment, international training, new recruits and new military posts for the interior in 2009. The NL has international programs with the US, France, China, Brazil, India and the Netherlands. Along the border with Brazil, joint patrols are anticipated with the Brazilian forces. Overall aim is to increase the visibility of the NL.
(De Ware Tijd)
Business and the economy
All new units to be built in the Hermitage Shopping Mall extension in Paramaribo have been fully rented. The new units of the mall will be ready in May 2009, after some delay. Featuring among the new tenants will be a new outlet of McDonald’s. The Hermitage Mall is owned by Surinam Fatum Investment Group.
The Surinam government has opened negotiations with Alcoa and BHP Billiton for the acquisition of a minority stake in the Paranam bauxite refinery, now BHP Billiton is abandoning the plant and its 45% stake is available. BHP Billiton’s stake is estimated at around 2.2 billion USD.
Surinam state oil company Staatsolie is heading for record profits of 380 million USD pre-tax for 2008. In 2007 profits were 230 million USD and the year before a mere 150 million USD.
The Surinam government announced that the renovation and expansion of Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (Zanderij) will be carried out by Brazilian contractors in exchange for extensive cuts in the Surinam national debts to Brazil. The works are estimated at 30 million USD and will be paid from transfers made by the Dutch government.
Japanese oil company Teikoku Oil Suriname invests more that 15 million USD for 3D seismic exploration of the Surinam coast in Block 31, the area acquired by Teikoku.
Security
The Surinam Police Force (KPS) maritime branch has acquired 16 new vessels in different classes for patrolling inland waterways. KPS forensic research for crime scene investigation has been boosted by the purchase of new equipment for its Forensic Laboratory at Nieuwe Haven Police Station. At another occasion a large batch of new motorcycles was handed over to KPS.
(De Ware Tijd)
SAO PAULO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) (RY.N), Canada’s biggest bank, plans to hire 40 people as it opens an asset management company in Brazil on expectations Latin America’s largest economy will grow in years ahead despite the global crisis, a top executive said.
Read the news feature at Reuters
SAO PAULO, Jan 9 (Reuters) – State-owned Banco do Brasil agreed on Friday to pay 4.2 billion reais ($1.84 billion) for a 50 percent stake in Banco Votorantim, to compete with private-sector firms amid a wave of consolidation in the Brazilian banking sector.
Read the news feature at Reuters