Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on September 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

CV Fast Ferry’s first vessel Kriola nearing completion at the Singapore facilities of Damen Shipyards of the Netherlands (Source: FORCV)

AGRI

With the latest rains registered over the past two days, farmers on the islands of Fogo and Brava are even more hopeful regarding the prospects for a good harvest. In some of the higher-altitude regions of the two islands, agricultural workers have begun harvesting the first fruits of their labor (A Semana).

AVIATION

Tropical storm Julia, which has been lashing Cape Verde with rain and winds since Sunday afternoon, has already forced TACV Cabo Verde Airlines to cancel a number of domestic and international flights (A Semana).

Praia International Airport has a new parking lot with a total of 429 parking spaces (A Semana).

The tourism industry in Cape Verde and Boa Vista has received a further boost with the news that Cape Verde Experience plan to run flights from Stansted and Bristol.  The sister company of Gambia Experience will also add flights between Cape Verde and Banjul, Gambia, opening up possibilities for multi-centre holidays (Assetz)

REAL ESTATE

Commercial bank Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde acquired 89.8% of the future bonds issued by state real-estate company IFH, for the first time achieving a position of leadership in a Stock Exchange operation in Cape Verde. With the funds from the bond issue, IFH expects to be able to complete the infra-structuring of its Palmarejo Grande real estate project in Praia by March of 2011 (A Semana).

Cape Verde is rapidly attracting visitors and investors alike looking to capitalise on what promises to be the world’s next property hot spot. Nestled 400km off the coast of West Africa, the Cape Verde islands boast a year-round temperate climate, meaning there’s no low season, leading to exceptionally high occupancy rates and rental yields for investors (Assetz).

TELECOMS

Cabo Verde Telecom has suspended salary negotiations and unilaterally decided to grant a 2.5% wage increase, retroactive to January of this year (A Semana).

Angola Business News

In Airports, Angola, Economy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports, Travel on September 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

POLITICS

Angola’s powerful Economy Minister, Manuel Nunes Junior, will step down soon, two privately owned weekly newspapers cited unnamed sources as saying (Reuters).

The campaign for Angola’s 2012 elections is off to a ill-tempered start with the ruling MPLA party and the opposition UNITA party accusing each other of dirty tactics that threaten a return to violence in the oil producing nation (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola’s annual inflation quickened to 13.99 percent year-on-year in August from 13.7 percent the previous month, the National Statistics Institute said (Reuters).

Angola’s central bank has loosened the kwanza peg by allowing local banks to bid for U.S. dollars at its weekly auctions with fewer bidding restrictions (Reuters).

Higher exports and oil prices have helped Angola’s economy recover in 2010, while companies are spending more now that the government has started to pay off some of its debt, the deputy governor of the country’s central bank said (Reuters).

OIL

Angola’s daily crude oil exports are scheduled to drop in November, according to the preliminary loading plan which excludes shipments of the Palanca grade (Bloomberg).

AVIATION

Air France-KLM plans flights to new African destinations, among which Angola (Bloomberg).

BUSINESS

A shipyard with a 250 metre-long dock was opened in Porto Amboim, in Angola’s Kwanza Sul province, as part of an investment of US$150 million.
The investment is part of a partnership between Angolan company Cenbir and Dutch company Heerema Marine Contractors, and the shipyard has two 300-ton cranes, two transport rafts and a tug (Macauhub).

Portugal’s largest builder Mota-Engil plans to sell a 49 percent stake in its Angolan unit to local partners Sonangol and BFA in the next few weeks, Chief Financial Officer Luis Silva said (Reuters).

TRADE

The trade volume between India and Angola is estimated at over USD 5 billion (ANGOP).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Real estate, Telecom on September 10, 2010 at 9:41 am

ECONOMY

The Cape Verdean government plans to reduce customs taxes on products covered by the Civil Aviation Agreement to zero, and has already handed the country’s parliament a proposal for this purpose (Macauhub).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

A new development for Baia das Gatas on Sao Vicente island (Source: escape-verde.com).

AGRI

On the islands of Fogo and Brava, perspectives for a good harvest appear to be favorable. Although rains began to fall slightly later than expected in several zones, farmers are hopeful (A Semana).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

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BANKING

Commercial bank BCN unveiled its newest branch Monday, September 6 in Nova Sintra, on the island of Brava. The agency is the bank’s 22nd (A Semana).

The rate of bankarization (access to banking services) in Cape Verde totalled 89.1 percent at the end of 2009, according to a report from the Bank of Cape Verde (Macauhub).

PORTS

A mobile scanner and a vehicle to be used in the inspection of baggage at Praia sea port was handed out to the National Light and Small-Caliber Weapons Control Commission (COMNAC) by Minister of Internal Administration Lívio Lopes (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Cape Verdean telecommunications company, Cabo Verde Telecom is implementing an investment plan of 30 million euros to improve the quality of telecommunications, specifically Internet access (Macauhub).

Angola Business News

In Agriculture, Angola, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Hotels, Politics, Travel on September 10, 2010 at 9:35 am

POLITICS

Angola’s main opposition UNITA party is using last week’s riots in Mozambique along with false accusations of government corruption to incite civil unrest in the oil-producing nation, a ruling MPLA party spokesman said (Reuters).

Angola’s ruling MPLA party brushed aside reports of corruption involving senior government officials earlier this year as a smear campaign aimed at hurting the party ahead of general elections in 2012 (Reuters).

DEFENCE

Angola’s army said it will send a team to help reform the military of Guinea Bissau, a country with a long history of coups and instability (News24).

ECONOMY

Angola’s trade surplus reached $9.04 billion in the first quarter of the year, the head of the National Statistics Office said, without providing a figure for the same period last year (Reuters).

Angola’s government will launch a complete overhaul of its tax regime to improve collection and increase revenues, Minister of State Carlos Feijo said (Reuters).

The pension funds established in Angola in 1998, by 2008 had achieved turnover of some US$320 million (Macauhub).

The Angolan government has alrerady paid 60 percent of its debt to private companies within the terms it committed to pay (Macauhub).

AGRI

A project that aims to turn Huíla province into the biggest supplier of grain in Angola in four years has already made it possible to identify at least 80 large producers in the region, the vice president of the Industrial Association of Angola (AIA) said (Macauhub).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

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POWER

Angola announced an $18 billion plan to overhaul its dams and power grids and end all power cuts by 2016 (Reuters).

TRANSPORT

Angolan taxis will raise fares in the coming weeks due to a sharp rise in fuel prices, a move that could trigger protests from impoverished Angolans who rely on thousands of 14-seater taxi vans to go to work each day (Reuters).

HOTELS

Construction of the first four-star hotel in the city of Ondjiva, the capital of Angola’s Cunene province, which began last April, is due to be concluded in August 2011 (Macauhub).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Hotels, Ports, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism on September 3, 2010 at 8:35 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Vista Oceano residential complex, under development in the town of Ponta do Sol on Santo Antao (Source).

PORTS

Portuguese construction consortium Somague/MSF/Etermar is to carry out the second phase of work to expand and modernise the port of Praia, worth 72 million euros (Macauhub).

HOTELS

Hilton appears to be developing at least one hotel in Cape Verde, among other countries (Reuters).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

You can now follow Atlantico Weekly on Twitter at atlanticoweekly.

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AGRI

Brazil’s Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) will set up a pole of its rural development studies center in Cape Verde. The initiative was announced during a visit by Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Guilherme Cassel to the University (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Labor union SITTHUR claims that more than 90% of the employees of Cabo Verde Telecom have joined the two-day strike called at the company. The walk-out began this morning throughout nearly all of Cape Verde’s territory – Brava was the exception – and is scheduled to last until midnight Friday (A Semana).

AVIATION

The strongest growth, in terms of absolute numbers, in Portugal’s charter flight market is for destinations in Cape Verde. Charter flights departing from Lisbon and Porto took transported nearly 8,000 passengers to the archipelago in July of this year, 3,800 more than in the same month last year (A Semana).

POWER

Acts of sabotage perpetrated by employees of water and electricity utility Electra or by unknown individuals may be behind a serious technical problem that took place in one of the main generators at the Palmarejo power station in Praia. The problem has since been resolved (A Semana).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Biofuels, Economy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Politics on September 3, 2010 at 8:34 am

POLITICAL RISK

Angola’s ruling MPLA party emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war in 2002 promising a better life for Angolans but this dream is fading as corruption is rife and the government is seen failing to help the poor. Read the political risk analysis at Reuters.

ECONOMY

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped slightly for the second straight month to $15.29 billion in July from $15.52 billion in June, the central bank said (Reuters).

Investment in Angola’s private sector in the first half totalled US$1.255 billion, almost three times the US$450 million invested in the same period of 2009 (Macauhub).

Public works, education and transport projects have benefited most from credit concession agreement between the China Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) and Angola, which now total US$4.547 billion (Macauhub).

OIL

Angolan authorities cut gasoline and diesel subsidies as a prelude to liberalising the country’s downstream oil sector, triggering a steep rise in pump prices and the threat of protests from irate motorists (Reuters).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

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CONSTRUCTION

Portugal’s largest builder Mota-Engil expects Angola to settle its debt with the company by the end of the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luis Silva said (Reuters).

INFRA

The Angolan government asked for financial and technological support from Japan for the construction of a bridge between the provinces of Zaire and Cabinda, the National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) said (Macauhub).

The Luanda/Malanje railroad, which has been undergoing reconstruction since 2005, in the next two months will be able to operate an experimental freight train, the Deputy Transport Minister for the railway sector said (Macauhub).

BIOFUELS

Biofuels companies from the U.K. to Brazil and China are buying up large swaths of Africa including Angola, causing deforestation and diverting land from food to fuel production, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said (Bloomberg).

HOTELS

The Boavista neighbourhood of Angola’s capital, Luanda will soon have a new hotel called “Empreendimento Pestana Luanda Hotel e Suites,” with 230 rooms, 50 of which will be suites (Macauhub).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Telecom, Tourism on August 27, 2010 at 8:34 am

ECONOMY

President Pedro Pires has signed a law decree setting the basic social pension at 5,000 escudos per month. The measure is retroactive to July 1 of this year (A Semana).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Impression of the Tropical Resort under construction on Sal (Imobrisa)

WANTED:

Architects, please send in your projects in Angola and Cape Verde and help us continue the Building of the Week feature….

PORTS

Cape Verde’s ports are projected to grow from 150/200 to 400/500 ships and to increase the number of re-exported containers from 2,000 to 4-5,000, whilst also serving as a platform for oil company ships in the mid Atlantic (Macauhub).

TELECOMS

Cape Verdeans continue to show a preference for mobile phones over land lines, according to data from the National Communications Agency (ANAC), whose figures indicate that the number of mobile phone service subscribers grew by 5% in the first half of 2010 (A Semana).

TOURISM

Some of the world’s main cruise ship companies have begun including the island of São Vicente on their routes, namely Saga Cruises and Noble Caledonia. Cape Verde is described on Noble Caledonia’s website as an “incredibly intriguing archipelago” with beaches and “extraordinary sand dunes,” and an aridness that contrasts with “exuberant mountainous islands” (A Semana).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Brazil, Economy, Oil, Real estate, Stock exchange, Travel on August 27, 2010 at 8:34 am

ECONOMY

Angola has suspended efforts to get more foreign loans, so that the government can assess their benefit to the country’s development (Bloomberg).

Angola said it had paid $1.28 billion of a government-estimated $6.8 billion in overdue bills to local and foreign builders in the southern African nation as it tries to restore investor credibility (Reuters).

A proposed stock market in Angola, which vies with Nigeria to be Africa’s top oil producer, will rank “at least third” in sub-Saharan African market capitalization (Bloomberg).

OIL

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it’s investigating an oil spill in Angola (Bloomberg).

Angolan state-run oil firm Sonangol will start building a long-delayed $8 billion refinery this year in a bid to cut back on imports of refined products, which have weighed on the economy, its oil minister said (Reuters).

AVIATION

Brazilian regional airline Puma Air has been authorised to provide four flights per week between Brazil and Angola, the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) said (Macauhub).

EDUCATION

The Angolan minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Maria Cândida Teixeira, appealed to managers of Higher Institutes of Education Sciences (ISCED) to create of centres of excellence in their academic regions (AllAfrica).

BUSINESS

The South African Shoprite Group is investing USD 13 million in the construction of a supermarket, in Huambo city, whose works started in the first quarter of this year (AllAfrica).

REAL ESTATE

The Angolan subsidiary of the Brazilian group Build Brasil has changed its name to Build Angola and plans to launch on Monday a housing project budgeted at US$50 million (Macauhub).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Economy, Hotels, Oil, Ports on August 20, 2010 at 8:03 am

ECONOMY

Angola owes foreign building firms $9 billion, the Finance Ministry said, a higher figure than Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos gave the previous day and one that could hamper its plans for a $4 billion bond (Reuters).

Angola will start paying part of the $6.8 billion it owes to foreign building firms operating in the oil-producing African nation later this year, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said (Reuters).

Angola’s economy is expected to grow at almost double the rate of sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, between 7 and 12 percent, until 2012, the country’s Transport Minister, August da Silva Tomás said (Macauhub).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Angola’s National Customs Services are to increase sanctions against workers who continue to not meet deadlines for processing of certain goods, regardless of the causes of delays (Macauhub).

OIL

U.S. oil major Occidental Petroleum Corp and Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina have shown an interest in taking a stake in Sonangol’s two Iraqi oilfield development projects (Reuters).

Angolan crude exports will fall to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years to 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, preliminary loading programmes showed (Reuters).

BP is borrowing $3 billion backed by income from Angolan operations, lenders said (Bloomberg).

BUSINESS

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has been awarded a contract for the capital and maintenance dredging of the Soyo LNG port in Angola. The total contract value is approximately € 155 million in which Boskalis has a 50% share. The contract was awarded by Angola LNG Ltd. Work is set to commence in 2010 and capital dredging is set to be completed by mid 2011. Included in the contract is an optional maintenance contract running from early 2012 until early 2014 (Boskalis).

Depa Ltd., the Dubai-based interiors contractor, said it won a contract valued at $60 million for fit-out works at Hotel & Casino in Luanda, Angola (Bloomberg).

The Catumbela Industrial Development Hub (PDIC), in Lobito, in Angola’s Benguela province, has 100 new business projects, the chairman of the institution, Samuel Orlando Amaral said (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Hotels, Real estate on August 13, 2010 at 4:21 pm

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

New project for Sal Rei, the capital of Boa Vista island (source: Escape Verde).

ECONOMY

For a small string of barren volcanic islands that have no natural resources, suffer from chronic droughts and are perched far off Africa’s west coast, Cape Verde is punching well above its weight. Read the article at Reuters.

REAL ESTATE

A nice overview of real estate opportunities in idyllic Cape Verde can be found in The Daily Telegraph.

BANKING

Portuguese bank Banco Espírito Santo announced the formation of a “strategic partnership” with Brazilian commercial banks Banco do Brasil and Bradesco aimed at the African market, by opening Banco Espírito Santo Africa’s capital up to the two Brazilian institutions. The operation includes Cape Verde (A Semana).

AVIATION

Passenger traffic in Cape Verde’s airports in the first half of 2010 was 5.6% higher than during the same period past year, with the upward trend more pronounced in international (6.1%) than domestic (5.3%) activities (A Semana).

TRANSPORT

Passenger transportation company Transcor will file a court injunction this week against the São Vicente municipal chamber’s decision to grant a temporary license allowing the company Sotral to transport passengers on five city bus lines (A Semana).

Cape Verde business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism on August 8, 2010 at 10:01 am

TRADE

Cape Verde’s exports and imports increased 59.3% and 8.3%, respectively, in the first six months of 2010 in comparison to the same period last year. Portugal and Spain were the main destinations for Cape Verdean exports (A Semana).

TOURISM

Cape Verde is the second-most-popular destination for charter flights departing from Portuguese capital Lisbon. A total of 19,600 passengers flew from Lisbon International Airport to Cape Verde in the month of June, an 18.7% increase over the same period last year (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Regulations are in place for the sending of advertisements via SMS to mobile phones.  Cape Verde’s mobile providers of late have been filling their clients’ mobile phones with advertisements of all types and at all hours without the consent of the users themselves (A Semana).

The National Communications Agency (ANAC) launched a public tender for the attribution of three licenses for the use of IMT-2000, also known as third-generation (3G) mobile land frequencies, on a nationwide scale. Meanwhile, the government will begin negotiations with Cabo Verde Telecom aimed at coming up with a new model for the management of the country’s land-line network (A Semana).

EDUCATION

The government made a “ decisive “ step toward the next phase in the school computerization program, which could receive some 25,000 computers by the end of the year (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Angola business news

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Mining, Oil, Real estate on August 8, 2010 at 10:01 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s economic outlook remained generally favorable but more steps were needed to create a sustainable fiscal position and reduce inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said (Reuters).

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped slightly for the first time in four months to $15.52 billion in June from $15.64 billion in May, the central bank said (Reuters).

Angola cut its growth estimate for 2010 to 6.7 percent from 9.7 percent in a revised budget (Bloomberg).

BANKING

Angola said it would offer loans to cash-strapped banks, admitting for the first time that some lenders in the African nation are struggling with liquidity problems (Reuters).

INFRASTRUCTURE

Angola plans to reserve earnings from oil production of 100,000 barrels per day to form a fund to pay for infrastructure including power supply and water provision projects (Bloomberg).

HOUSING

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos renewed a $50bn pledge to build one million new homes for the poor, despite growing signs of weakness in the major African oil-producer’s public finances (News24).

OIL & GAS

Angola is self-sufficient in production of butane gas and has a total quota of some 600,000 tons per day (Macauhub).

Ten years after the start of operations, block 17 in Angola’s offshore has produced 1 billion barrels of oil from the Girassol, Dália, Rosa and Jasmin rigs (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angola’s flagship airline TAAG is set to acquire more new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the middle of next year (Macauhub).

MINING

The provincial director for Industry, Geology and Mining for Angola’s Huíla province said that mining studies were underway to establish the minerals that exist in the province in order to allow them to be explored (Macauhub).

HOTELS

The Angolan government plans to convert the former railway stations of Caminhos-de-Ferro de Luanda (CFL), located along the Luanda/Ndalatando/Malanje route into hotels as of 2011 (Macauhub).

REAL ESTATE

The growth of Angola’s middle class, with the ability to buy their own house, is opening up prospects for investment in the highest real estate segment in Angola, according to a study by the Deloitte (Macauhub).

Cape Verde business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Oil, Tourism, Travel on August 1, 2010 at 8:47 am

TOURISM

“The State should play the role that belongs to it as an incentive-provider, promoter and leader of the tourism development process in Cape Verde,” according to Praia mayor Ulisses Correia e Silva, who spoke at the closing session of the Private/Public Forum on Residential Tourism organized by Promitur (A Semana).

The President of the Cape Verdean Association of Real Estate Tourism Promoters (PROMITUR), Olavo Correia, stressed the need to increase financial resources for the promotion of the destination Cape Verde (Inforpress).

BUSINESS

Multinational Vitol-SA, which specializes in the commercialization of fuel, is negotiating the purchase of 19 of Shell’s regional subsidiaries in Africa, including the company’s operation in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Cape Verdean fuel company Empresa Nacional de Combustíveis (Enacol), which is majority-owmed by Portugal’s Galp Energia, at the end of May had a market share of 60 percent (Macauhub).

A Cape Verdean delegation led by the president of the Leeward Islands Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services participated in the 5th Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Business Forum in Angolan capital Luanda, where it showed investment opportunities in the archipelago (A Semana).

AVIATION

The Cape Verdean government is negotiating the possibility of an open skies agreement with the European Union. Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa revealed that the process “is not easy,” but did not deny the government’s hope of achieving an agreement, following the signing in June of a horizontal accord integrating all of the other accords entered into with the EU (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s TACV airline began a regular weekly flight to Madrid, meant to “attract Spanish tourists to the island country,” said the company’s director, Georgina Melo (Macauhub).

OIL

Brazil will support Cape Verde’s efforts to prospect for oil and gas in ultra-deepwater areas around the island country, the Brazilian president and Cape Verdean prime minister announced in Santa Maria (Macauhub).

POLLS

Angola business news

In Angola, Economy, Investments, Oil, Politics on August 1, 2010 at 8:46 am

POLITICS

Exiled leaders of the Angolan separatist group FLEC announced an end to their armed struggle for control of the African country’s oil-producing enclave of Cabinda (Reuters).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Render of the four towers of the SKY Centre in Luanda, currently under construction (Skyscrapercity).

LUANDA

The capital in a country where most of the population lives in poverty has overtaken Tokyo as the most expensive in the world for foreigners, according to a study by consulting firm Mercer. Foreigners plop down $15 for a cheeseburger, $150 for haircuts; $2,500 for a one-year gym membership and tens of thousands of dollars for rent (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola owes foreign building firms $9 billion, the Finance Ministry said, a higher figure than Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos gave the previous day and one that could hamper its plans for a $4 billion bond (Reuters).

Angola’s unexpected $9 billion debt bill to foreign building firms will not affect its B+ rating as some payment arrears were expected and the country’s overall debt burden is low, ratings agency Fitch said (Reuters).

Portugal’s biggest buildling firm, Mota Engil, does not expect its first half results to be affected by millions of dollars in late payments from Angola, which represents 20 percent of its business (Reuters).

OIL

Angolan crude exports will fall to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years to 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, preliminary loading programmes showed (Reuters).

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras discovered an oil field on the coast of Angola with at least 500 million barrels of high grade crude, the company said (Reuters).

INVESTMENT

Angola is looking for partners to contribute around $870 million to revamp three textile plants and jump start its once-prosperous textile sector, the nation’s mining and industry minister said (Reuters).

Angolan business group Gema three days ago presented an investment proposal to the Angolan National Private Investment Agency (ANIP), for construction of a steel factory in Bengo province, the group’s chairman, José Leitão said (Macauhub).

Cape Verde business & economy

In Agriculture, Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Infrastructure, Investments, Politics, Real estate, Tourism on June 27, 2010 at 7:30 am

ATLANTICO WEEKLY ON VACATION

Please note that the Atlantico Weekly team will be on holidays during the month of July. There will be therefore no new editions until August. And yes, we will be swimming in the Atlantic…

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Ponta Bicuda resort on Santiago (Ponta Bicuda).

PICTURES WANTED!

Please help us develop this Building of the Week feature and send us your pictures of interesting buildings or developments…

ECONOMY

A new study revealed that Cape Verdean emigrants’ remittances sent to their families are used largely for consumption, especially in food and the education of their children (Inforpress).

AVIATION

Cape Verdean state airline, TACV is to buy two aircraft to increase its fleet and has launched a new class, between economy and executive, for improved passenger comfort (Macauhub).

TOURISM

The doors to the second edition of tourism trade fair Expotur opened last Friday. Some 50 stands and 31 exhibitors – 10 of them foreign – are inside São Filipe Fort in Cidade Velha. Some 15 international journalists have also come to Cape Verde to give “greater projection” to the event, the theme of which this year is “Back to the Origins.” Expotur will run until June 27 (A Semana).

All of Cape Verde’s islands show potential for the development of rural tourism, according to a study carried out at the request of the National Union of Tourism Operators (Unotur). The study investigated the available tourist products and their diversity in rural areas of all of the country’s municipalities (A Semana).

The municipality of Porto Novo on the island of Santo Antão is the site of Cape Verde’s first youth hostel, which was officially unveiled by Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

BANKING & FINANCE

The net results of Banco Interatlântico (BI) of Cape Verde (part of the Portuguese Grupo Caixa Geral de Depósitos) decreased around 2 percent in 2009 compared to 2008 (Inforpress).

The City Hall of Sal has earned 200 million Cape Verdean escudos (US$2.2 million) from its bond issue, carried out from 7 to 18 June by the Cape Verdean Stock Exchange (Macauhub).

MEDICAL SECTOR

The Italian Ettore Sansavini Foundation for the promotion of health in the world, that runs the management of the Hospital São Francisco de Assis in São Filipe since  Ferbuary, aims to make this hospital a reference for the Islands and for the West coast of Africa (Inforpress).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports on June 27, 2010 at 7:29 am

ECONOMY

Angola reduced the amount of assets commercial banks must keep at the central bank to boost liquidity and lending, Economy Minister Manuel Nunes Junior said (Bloomberg).

The Angolan economy might become Africa’s fifth by 2014, economist Alves da Rocha said (Angop).

The new park to hold international fairs in Angola, which is still in the design stage, will be built in the capital Luanda in an area of 340 hectares (Macauhub).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The presidents of Brazil and Angola signed bilateral agreements and a protocol of understanding for the concession of new credits to Angola to the value of US$1 billion (Macauhub).

ATLANTICO WEEKLY ON VACATION

Please note that the Atlantico Weekly team will be on holidays during the month of July. There will be therefore no new editions until August. And yes, we will be swimming in the Atlantic…

POLITICS

Four Angolan human rights activists went on trial for “crimes against state security” in the oil-rich province of Cabinda, over the deadly shooting attack on Togo’s football team in January (News24).

OIL

Angola’s state oil company Sonangol wants to work in Ghana’s emerging oil industry, which is expected to start producing crude later this year from a massive new field (News24).

The governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Abraão Gourgel, said that the oil sector currently accounted for 55 percent of Angola’s gross domestic product (GDP) (Macauhub).

BANKING

A U.S. unit of HSBC has cut ties with some Angolan banks, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, months after a U.S. Senate investigation criticised it for lax oversight of accounts held by Angolans, including a former central bank governor (Reuters).

MINING

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa is selling out of Angola, according to notes in the audited financial reports (BusinessDay).

A diamond exploration contract for the “Luxinge Project” was signed among the Angolan National Diamond Company (Endiama), Compesa Angola, Sheffield,  Syntechron Tríade and the International Sweden Gold Exploration (IGE) (Angop).

INFRA

The Luanda/Ndalatando/Malange railway link will start operating again in the second half of July once reconstruction of the 400 kilometres of line is concluded, said the chairman of railway company, Caminhos-de-Ferro de Luanda (CFL) (Macauhub).

The project to modernize and extend the port of Lobito is budgeted at US$1.2 billion (Macauhub).

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Economy, Oil, Real estate, Retail, Telecom on June 20, 2010 at 9:24 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s annual inflation rate climbed to 13.85 percent in May as food and non-alcoholic- beverage prices increased, the National Statistics Institute said. Inflation accelerated from 13.73 percent in April (Bloomberg).

TELECOMS

The Angolan mobile-phone operator Unitel approved a USD 800 million investment plan for the 2010/2011 period (ANGOP).

INVESTMENTS

Angola is providing 10-year visas to foreign investors and plans to launch a website where it will be possible to exchange information in real time (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angolan state airport manager Enana plans to continue executing its modernisation and equipment programme for the country’s airports.
Since 2008, Enana has been carrying out a programme of refurbishment, modernisation and equipment of around 30 large, medium-sized and small airports across the country, as part of a project estimated to cost around US$400 million, under the terms of the Public Investment Programme (Macauhub).

REAL ESTATE

The Companhia Angolana de Comercio (CAC) is investing US$20 million to build a new shopping centre in Luanda Sul (Macauhub).

OIL

The extraction of a billion barrels of oil from offshore Bloc 17 in the ten years since operations began was commemorated on the Girassol production, storage and export vessel and attended by officials representing the sector, Sonangol and Total, the operating company and Bloc 17 associates (Statoil, Esso and BP) (Macauhub).

Cape Verde: politics & regional

In Cape Verde, Economy, Infrastructure, Politics, Security on June 6, 2010 at 7:48 am

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Last week’s Atlantico Weekly poll on Cape Verde’s best strategic international partners turned out some surprising results. You, Cape Verde policymakers, experts and friends like to spread out the interests of the country with as many partners as possible, but Cape Verde’s most favoured partner is still the former colonial power Portugal (receiving 18 % of all votes cast). Both the EU and Brazil compete for second place with around 15% each. The US, China and Angola come next, with Cuba and France further back and with the Arab world and Venezuela at the bottom of the list. Some 6% of you feel that Cape Verde does not need any international partners as all.

The first edition of the ECOWAS/Brazil Summit will take place on the island of Sal in the month of July, and will feature the presence of Brazilian President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, in addition to heads of state and government from the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (A Semana).

DEFENCE

The Village Porto Inglês and the beach of Ponta Preta in Maio welcomed operations of the military exercise “ALGA 010″, whose objective is to prepare the Cape Verdean Armed Forces for landing missions, patrolling and humanitarian operations (InforPress).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Praia State Prosecutor’s Office has frozen all of TACV Cabo Verde Airlines’ accounts due to its failure to abide by a ruling handed down in February of 2010 obliging the company to reintegrate pilot Domingos Fontes, who the court had found to have been unjustly suspended from his functions (A Semana).

A total of 155 firearms, of which 50 percent craft weapons, was apprehended during the period from 1st April to 30th May in Cape Verde,  the Minister of the Internal Administration, Lívio Lopes announced (InforPress).

BOA VISTA

Boa Vista should receive the kick off of the Project Safe Tourism, which aims in particular to prevent violence and crime against the tourists (Inforpress).

CIDADE VELHA

Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves received the UNESCO certificate confirming Cidade Velha’s inclusion on its list of World Heritage Sites from the hands of Brazil’s Minister of Culture, Juca Ferreira. The moment was “important and significant” and included mutual praise from both Neves and Ferreira, who share the common objective of seeing their respective countries develop further through a more intensive cultural and social partnership (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

The regional prison of Santo Antão will be built in the municipality of Porto Novo (Inforpress).

Cape Verde: business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Tourism, Travel on June 6, 2010 at 7:47 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The new hotel at Fortim Mindelo, Sao Vicente

ECONOMY

The “great economic synchronisation” of Cape Verde with Europe, in particular the Euro Zone, “where there are serious problems”, will constrain the Cape Verdean economy in case of a deepening of the crisis, the Governor of the Bank of Cape Verde (BCV) warned (Inforpress).

TOURISM

Portuguese and Cape Verdean businesspeople are interested in carrying out the cruise liner terminal project in Sao Vicente, the chairman of port management company Enapor said in Praia (Macauhub).

UTILITIES

The Council of Ministers has authorized water and electricity utility Electra to transfer rights and obligations to a private Cape Verdean corporation for the transportation and distribution of electricity and water on the island of Boa Vista (A Semana).

PICTURES WANTED!

Please send us your pictures of new developments and buildings on Cape Verde so we can continue our feature Building of the week…

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Brazil, Economy, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Tourism, Travel on June 6, 2010 at 7:47 am

ECONOMY

Grinding poverty, human rights abuses and police detentions are fuelling tension in Angola’s oil-rich province of Cabinda, but for now, international oil companies have little to fear (News24).

AVIATION

Beginning this week, Atlas Air is operating three weekly nonstop flights between George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Luanda, Angola. The newly customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft, provided by the Angolan SonAir company, feature 10 First Class, 143 Business Class and 36 Economy Class seats with the latest in-flight entertainment and comfort (Reuters).

OIL

Sonangol SA, Angola’s state oil company, will seek partners to help fund the development of Brazilian offshore blocks after buying exploration company Starfish (Bloomberg).

TRANSPORT

Angola’s Moçâmedes Railroad is to receive more locomotives and carriages for first, second and third class travel this year, which are due to start operating from the city of Lubango, Huila province (Macauhub).

ENTERTAINMENT

Angolan casino company Casinos de Angola plans to invest US$55 million over the next three years in opening three new casinos and refurbishing another (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL


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