Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Foreign Trade’ Category

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).

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).

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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).

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).

Cape Verde business news

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Tourism, Travel on May 24, 2010 at 7:40 pm

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Copacabana residential complex in Mindelo on Sao Vicente (Tecnicil).

ECONOMY

Credit rating agency Fitch this month maintained its rating on Cape Verde and the country’s outlook as “stable” despite warning of rises in public and foreign debt levels (Macauhub).

ENERGY

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a 15 million euro loan to Cape Verde to finance a wind energy project on four of the country’s islands (Santiago, Sao Vicente, Sal and Boavista), the institution announced (Macauhub).

CRUISE

Based on its dimensions and the number of people and amount of money it involves, cruise-ship tourism in Cape Verde is in need of a socio-economic impact and tourist satisfaction study (A Semana).

WINE

Recently created Vitalsum, an Italian-Cape Verdean company based on the island of São Vicente, has begun to produce three brands of red and white wine for the Cape Verdean and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets. Various types of juice are also in company’s plan for the next 12 months (A Semana).

AVIATION

The May/June issue of trade magazine Airports of the World has dedicated four pages to the island of Boa Vista and its international airport in a report entitled “Boa Vista: African beach paradise” (A Semana).

TOURISM

The second edition of the Cape Verdean tourism trade fair Expotur will take place in São Filipe Fort in Cidade Velha between June 25 and 27. With a “much larger” budget than last year, Expotur already has a 26% occupation rate for its stands, and this year’s theme will be “Back to the Origins” (A Semana).

MICRO CREDIT

US organization Africare has committed itself to help Cape Verde in the microcredit, small business, education and agricultural sectors, according to one of its founders, Curtir Winsor. The fact that the Cape Verdean community in the United States is made up largely of “good, hard-working and honest people” was a major contributing factor in the decision (A Semana).

Angola news update, May 2nd

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Oil on May 2, 2010 at 10:51 am

ECONOMY

Portugal will donate 800 million euros ($1.07 billion) to Angola and lend it a further 800 million euros. Most of the money will probably be used to pay off Angola’s debt to Portuguese building companies (Bloomberg).

The National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) approved in 2009 a total of 618 private investment proposals in non-oil sectors, the coordinator of the institution, Aguinaldo Jaime, informed (ANGOP).

BANKING

The BAI (Banco Africano de Investimentos) 2009 net incomes of reached 231 million USdollars against 166 millions recorded last year (ANGOP).

Angolan bank, Banco Totta Monday changed its name to Banco Caixa Geral Totta de Angola following a change in its shareholder structure (Macauhub).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Angola’s pavilion at the Expo Shangai 2010 may attract, during the six months of exhibition, a total of six million visitors, thereby surpassing the four million that visited the Angolan pavilion at the Expo Saragoza 2008 of Spain, ANGOP has learnt.

Angola’s Energy Minister Emmanuela Vieira Lopes said that it was necessary to interconnect the electricity systems of the member state of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) (Macauhub).

Trade between Angola and saw a sharp fall in 2009 when compared to the two previous years (Macauhub).

OIL

Angolan investors including oil company Sonangol SA may buy a stake of between 3 pecent and 5 percent in Galp Energia SGPS SA if Eni SpA sells its 33 percent holding (Bloomberg).

ENERGY

At least 18.0 billion US dollars will be necessary until 2018 for investment in production, transportation and distribution of power (ANGOP).

BUSINESS

Angolan company Refriango plans to increase its production of soft drinks this year and start exporting its products to the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) (Macauhub).

Angola news update, April 11th

In Angola, Banking, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Mining, Oil, South Africa on April 11, 2010 at 7:46 pm

ECONOMY

As Africa’s largest exporter of oil — surpassing Nigeria last year — Angola is one of the largest investment destinations on the continent. Despite the enormous opportunities South African business presence is still relatively insignificant. Instead, China, Brazil and even Russia are playing an important role in Angola in sectors such as construction, civil engineering and resource extraction — traditional sweet spots for South African companies (BusinessDay).

The Ministry for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing plans to increase inspection of Angolan territorial waters with the introduction of new patrol vessels, the Minister said in Lobito (Macauhub).

OIL

Petrobras, Brazil’s state-run oil company, plans to expand its exploration activities in Angola, Petrobras Chairman Gabrielli said in Luanda. Gabrielli held talks with Angolan President dos Santos while on a visit to Angola (Bloomberg).

The heads of Sonangol and Petrobrás analysed co-operation ties and issues related to international oil market (Angop).

Angola, which vies with Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer, expects new discoveries to boost crude output by 16 percent next year. Oil production will reach 2.2 million barrels a day by 2011, compared with 1.9 million barrels at present, Deputy Petroleum Minister Anibal Octavio da Silva said (Bloomberg).

TOURISM

There is one thing you should know about Luanda: hardly any tourists come here. Getting a visa can take many months and finding a hotel room, if you can afford it, is equally challenging. Read the travel postcard from Luanda at Reuters.

AIR TRAVEL

Taag, Angola’s flagship airline plans to acquire two aircraft in order to cover European routes, following its recent authorisation to re-launch flights to the European Union airspace. A quick and cheap way for the Angolan government to solve the problem would be to hand over the modern Boeing 777s owned by Sonair, the air carrier of Angolan national oil company, Sonangol (Macauhub).

BANKING

Portugal’s main banks will be able to maintain their levels of profitability in 2009 due to a rise in spreads and of foreign operation, particularly in Angola, the Fitch agency said (Macauhub).

Brazil news update, January 24th

In Airports, Banking, Brazil, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Mining, Oil, Politics, Real estate, Retail, Tourism, Travel on January 24, 2010 at 10:45 pm

POLITICS

Gandhi had to wait until 34 years after his death before he appeared on cinema screens around the world. George Bush junior, by contrast, was the victim of an Oliver Stone biopic during the last year of his presidency. Now a Brazilian director, Fábio Barreto, has done the same for Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as he starts his final year of office (The Economist).

It is 25 years since Brazil moved from dictatorship to democracy, but its army remains surprisingly unreformed. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was rudely reminded of this just before Christmas when he signed a decree calling for a truth commission to investigate torture, killings and disappearances during military rule between 1964 and 1985. Within 24 hours the heads of the three armed forces threatened to resign along with Nelson Jobim, the defence minister. Lula seemed quick to retreat. He was reported as saying the government would think again (The Economist).

Speculation is intensifying over the political future of Henrique Meirelles, Brazil’s central bank chief, as October’s general elections draw closer, raising concerns over the continuity of monetary policy (Reuters).

2010 will mark the election of the 36th official President of the Brazilian Republic. Although the official calendar for campaigning does not begin until October 3rd, the political atmosphere is already dense with debate. The deadline for candidate registry isn’t until July 5th, but with parties looking to affiliate themselves to recent Brazilian political triumphs – such as the Olympics – a handful of pre-candidates for the presidency are already popping into the limelight. Amongst the many who plan to run, the current forerunners are: Marina Silva (PV-AC), José Serra (PSDB-SP), Dilma Rousseff (PT), and Ciro Gomes (PSB-CE). Check them out at Rio Times.

ECONOMY

Brazilian households like to buy the newest gadget and prefer to spend on items that will enhance their short-term wellbeing rather than save for a rainy day. This partly explains Brazil’s low saving rate – which has fluctuated around 17 per cent of GDP over the last decade, a number that contrasts sharply with China’s 45-50 per cent. Read the view by Arminio Fraga.

Brazil’s economy should grow 5.2 percent in 2010, the country’s finance minister said, underscoring a strong rebound in Latin America’s largest economy (Reuters).

The European Union and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc led by Brazil and Argentina, are studying restarting talks this year to reach a free-trade agreement, an EU trade official said (Bloomberg).

Brazilian exports to the US fell by 42 percent in 2009, to US$15.7 billion, with China replacing the US as Brazil’s top export market, with US$19.9 billion of exports, or more than 13 percent of all Brazil’s exports, according to figures released by the Ministry of Trade (Rio Times).

BANKING & FINANCE

Banco Bradesco, Brazil’s second-largest private-sector bank, said it agreed to buy Mexican bank Ibi Mexico for an undisclosed sum, marking its first international foray in retail banking as it seeks to take advantage of rising credit demand (Reuters).

Brazil’s state-run utility holding Eletrobras plans to raise $4 billion this year to hedge costs associated with the commercialization of energy from the giant Itaipu dam. However, that money will not go to paying overdue dividends, company president Jose Antonio Muniz said. Eletrobras will pay those dividends from its own funds, he said. The company agreed earlier on Friday to pay 10.33 billion reais ($5.65 billion) in overdue dividends dating to the 1970s (Reuters).

Qatar is interested in buying minority stakes in Petrobras and Banco do Brasil, a Brazilian cabinet official told Reuters. The country’s investment agency already owns a $300 million stake in Brazil’s Vale, the world’s largest iron ore miner (Reuters).

OIL

Brazilian oil and gas start-up company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes saidit had found signs of hydrocarbons in a well in the southern part of the offshore Campos basin (Reuters).

MINING

A Brazilian scientist is developing a method of purifying contaminated waste water that accumulates at mining sites by using a genetically modified bacteria that can absorb heavy metals (Reuters).

INVESTMENT

Carrefour SA, Europe’s biggest retailer, plans to invest 2.5 billion reais ($1.4 billion) in Brazil in the next two years to expand in the north and northeast regions of Latin America’s largest economy (Bloomberg).

REAL ESTATE

Housing prices in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will jump as much as 40 percent in the next year as record-low interest rates and a growing Brazil economy boost demand, according to the chief executive officer of Gafisa SA (Bloomberg).

AIR TRAVEL

The continuing growth of the domestic airline industry has stimulated investors and over the last few months more airlines have obtained permits to begin operations while others have obtained concessions for new domestic routes (Rio Times).

Cape Verde news update, January 3rd

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Hotels, Investments, Ports, Real estate, Tourism, Travel on January 3, 2010 at 1:42 pm

ECONOMY

Cape Verde is a “success story” as a country in Africa and in its relations with the European Union, according to affirmations made by the European Commission representative in Praia, Jospe Coll, in an interview with newspaper OJE and Portuguese news agency Lusa. The EU official says that the country offers “new cooperation opportunities” to its foreign partners (A Semana).

The Minister of the Presidency and cabinet spokeswoman Janira Hopffer Almada announced last week that the government will carry out a gradual reduction in customs tariffs between now and 2018, a commitment made when Cape Verde joined the World Trade Organization. This reduction “will benefit purchasing power and improve the business environment.” (A Semana)

Cape Verde is among the most sought-after New Year’s tourist destinations for Europeans this year. A number of tourist companies and travel agencies saw their vacation packages to the country sell out for the Reveillon (A Semana).

ENERGY

The islands of Santiago and Sal will see their electricity production capacities reinforced beginning next summer. The guarantee was given by Minister of the Economy, Growth and Competitiveness Fátima Fialho during the ceremony for the signing of two contracts with a Portuguese company for the purchase, installation and maintenance of two diesel potential reinforcements intended to give “greater electricity potential” to the two islands. The two mobile generators can also be taken to other islands when they are no longer needed on Sal and Santiago (A Semana).

REAL ESTATE

Real-estate company Tecnicil has gone to the Cape Verde Stick Exchange to issue future bonds in order to finance its Vila Verde Resort real-estate project. The company has issued more than one million ordinary bonds at a nominal worth of 1,000 escudos each, for a total of 1,102,650,000 escudos in bonds at a fixed interest rate of 7.5% (A Semana).

Not long ago, the Cape Verde islands were billed as the new Caribbean. With endless beaches, guaranteed sunshine, engaging people and only a five-hour flight from the UK, this archipelago 300 miles off West Africa was full of promise for holidaymakers and investors. So, what’s happening now? Read the report in the Daily Mail.

TRANSPORT

The hydrofoil Marine Princess remains docked at Praia sea port with no date in sight for the resumption of business. After news indicating that the vessel was paralyzed due to the departure of its captain, several A Semana Online sources have revealed additional problems that have combined to keep the embarkation from going out to sea. This is the second time the Marine Princess has been forced to lay idle in the short time it has been operating in Cape Verde, thus dashing expectations that it would help resolve the problematic issue of connections among the country’s southern islands (A Semana).

Brazil news update, December 6th

In Agriculture, Biofuels, Brazil, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Mining, Oil, Stock exchange on December 6, 2009 at 5:02 pm

ECONOMY

Investors have piled back into Brazilian assets in the wake of the global financial crisis, sending the stock market soaring 83 percent and the currency up 37 percent this year. Are Brazil’s asset markets overvalued? Read the analysis at Reuters.

Car manufacturing in Brazil will climb in 2010, along with sales and export revenue, the national automakers’ association Anfavea said, with expectations for strong economic growth set to stoke domestic demand. Brazilian automobile production in 2010 could grow 5.4 percent, the group said, with sales to jump 9.3 percent (Reuters).

Brazil’s central bank said that dollar inflows into the country totaled $3.558 billion last month through Nov. 27 (Reuters).

BUSINESS

Since the start of the year the price of sugar futures has almost doubled. For Brazil’s big sugar companies the timing is perfect: the credit crunch set off a wave of consolidation in an industry that had been resistant to it. The firms that have survived now have more scale and lots of cash. Read the full story in The Economist.

Sao Martinho, one of Brazil’s main sugar and ethanol companies, will sell a 40 percent stake in its Boa Vista mill for 140 million reais ($81.9 million) to U.S-based Amyris (Reuters).

Brazil’s largest sugar and ethanol group, has closed a deal to buy the local Petrosul chain of filling stations based in Sao Paulo (Reuters).

Brazilian retail group Pao de Acucar reached an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in rival Casas Bahia in a noncash deal, gaining a commanding grip over the South American country’s booming home appliances market (Reuters).

Votorantim Group has signed a deal to join Trinidad and Tobago’s government-owned Alutrint in a project to build a 125,000 tonnes-per-year aluminum smelter in the Caribbean nation (Reuters).

Brazil’s crude steel output is forecast to rise to 33.1 million tonnes next year, up 24 percent from an estimated 26.7 million tonnes this year, the Brazilian Steel Institute said (Reuters).

Brazilian mining company Vale plans to invest 1 billion reais ($573 million) in a steel rolling mill in Rio de Janeiro state (Reuters).

Mirabela Nickel Ltd., an Australian miner, may build a smelter to process nickel ore from its Santa Rita mine in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state and start underground mining (Bloomberg).

China’s Wuhan Iron and Steel Co agreed to pay $400 million for a 21.52 percent stake in Brazilian miner MMX, according to a regulatory filing (Reuters).

OIL

Brazilian oil upstart OGX said it had found a 50 meter column of hydrocarbons with net pay of 15 meters from a well it is drilling in the BM-C-41 block in the Campos basin (Reuters).

Earlier OGX had said it had made a promising discovery of hydrocarbons in the Albiano field in the Campos basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro (Reuters).

The Abreu Lima refinery in Brazil, a joint venture between state-run oil companies Petrobras and Venezuela’s PDVSA, will cost roughly 23 billion reais ($13.3 bln), more than triple its previous estimate (Reuters).

Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer, plans to expand its $174.4 billion investment program as it develops offshore fields in the so-called pre-salt region (Bloomberg).

ATLANTICO

Trade between Brazil and Africa is incipient and needs to be worked on. African countries imported around US$500 billion, of which less than US$10 billion or 2% was from Brazil (Macauhub).

Angola news update, December 6th

In Angola, Banking, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Mining, Oil, Politics, South Africa on December 6, 2009 at 4:33 pm

ECONOMY

Angola may be forced to delay a planned $4 billion international bond sale until “early 2010” and seek a credit rating due to concern caused by Dubai’s request to reschedule debt payments, according to Eurasia Group (Bloomberg).

Angola has access to $400 million from the International Monetary Fund in addition to the $1.4 billion Standby Agreement approved by the lender on Nov. 23, the World Bank said (Bloomberg).

Luanda is the world’s most expensive expat city. For a full table of cities check Bloomberg.

The African Development Bank (BfDA) announced in Luanda it has set aside Usd 2.0 billion to finance projects in the private sector in the 2010/2014 period (ANGOP).

POLITICS

An Angolan minister said a separatist group that has waged war for control of the country’s oil-producing province of Cabinda for more than 30 years no longer existed (Reuters).

OIL

Angola’s national oil company, Sonangol, will hold 20 percent in Iran’s South Pars-12 project that will be developed at a cost of $7.5 billion (Reuters).

Romania will make “considerable” investments in the exploration and processing of minerals in Angola, including oil and diamonds. The two countries will sign an agreement early next year that will allow Romania to build and oil research and development center in Angola, the Luanda-based news agency said. Romania is also interested in investing in Angola’s oil, diamond, uranium, copper and energy industries (Bloomberg).

Angola has oil reserves that will make it possible to maintain daily production of 1.9 million barrels for the next 15 years, the country’s Oil Minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos said (Macauhub).

BANKING

The African Investment Bank (SA-BAI) was recently elected, by “The Banker” magazine of the Financial Times Group, as the best bank of the year in Angola due to the growth it recorded during the year 2009 (ANGOP).

South Africa’s Standard Bank, the biggest bank in South Africa, has been granted a banking license to operate in Angola, where it is due to start operating in mid 2010, the bank said in Johannesburg (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

Angola’s central Huambo province might become the national distribution centre for Panalpina, one of the world’s leading providers of forwarding and logistics services, specialising in intercontinental air freight and ocean freight (ANGOP).

ATLANTICO

An Angolan business delegation is in South Africa to get in touch with local entrepreneurs in light of the recommendations emanated from the recent visit to Angola by the South African President, Jacob Zuma (ANGOP).

Brazilian wholesale group Tenda Atacado at the end of November opened its first warehouse-store in the Angolan capital of Luanda, called Alimenta Angola (Feed Angola), the Brazilian press reported (Macauhub).

Panama unlocking its Canal and future

In Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Panama, Ports on December 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm

Ten years ago Panama took possession of the canal that bears its name.  Under Panamanian control the canal was run much better than under the Americans.  Panama now has high hopes for a $5.25 billion expansion of the waterway to boost the economy ot the tiny country. Read the full report in The Economist

Brazil news update, November 8th

In Banking, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Mining, Oil, Politics, Ports, Real estate, Telecom on November 8, 2009 at 2:07 pm

ECONOMY

Brazil will publish on Monday a preliminary list of U.S. goods it intends to hit with trade sanctions in retaliation for Washington’s cotton subsidies, a senior government official told Reuters.

Emboldened by emergency measures that helped pull Brazil out of a brief recession, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is intervening more aggressively in the economy and betting on big government (Reuters).

Brazilian congressional committees passed two of four bills designed to overhaul the country’s oil legislation and give the government greater control over vast new offshore reserves (Reuters).

BUSINESS

Mexico’s state oil company Pemex said it signed a letter of intent with a consortium led by Brazil’s Braskem SA to supply raw materials for a proposed petrochemicals plant the consortium may build in Mexico (Reuters).

Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer will produce its 120-seat E-190 jet in China to respond faster when the country’s aviation market recovers, O Estado de S. Paulo said (Reuters).

Brazilian iron ore mining company Vale signed an agreement worth 900 million reais ($520 million) over three years granting access to its railway and port operations to local steel maker Usiminas (Reuters).

ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, will partner with mining giant Vale to build a steel mill in southeastern Brazil as part of a plan to spend $5 billion in the South American country, Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi Mittal told daily Valor Economico (Reuters).

OIL & GAS

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras said it signed an agreement to buy Chevron Chile, a producer and seller of industrial lubricants under the brand name Texaco in Chile, for around $12 million (Reuters).

Brazil’s Petrobras has found natural gas in Peru’s Amazon jungle and the discovery of about 1 trillion cubic feet could turn out to be much larger, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said (Reuters).

INVESTMENT

Gerdau, Brazil’s largest steelmaker, plans capital expenditures of 9.5 billion reais ($5.5 billion) for the 2010-2014 period, with around 80 percent of the investments within Brazil, Chief Executive Andre Gerdau Johannpeter said (Reuters).

REAL ESTATE

Brazil, a future host of the World Cup and the Olympics, is drawing global investor interest to its real estate sector. As investors and analysts predict a wave of investment in Brazil in coming months, read a sampling of recent deals at Reuters.

TELECOM

America Movil Chief Financial Officer Varlos Garcia Moreno said Brazil’s economic resilience will help its wireless industry outpace other Latin American countries through 2010 (Bloomberg).

BANKING

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, will become a major financial center, “just like the City of London, Frankfurt and New York,” said Emilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander SA (Bloomberg).

Brazil news update, November 1st

In Biofuels, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade, Oil, Politics on November 1, 2009 at 10:38 pm

ECONOMY

Brazil’s primary budget fell into deficit last month, posting its worst result for the month of September on record, as tax revenues continued to trail an incipient rebound in Latin America’s largest economy (Reuters).

Brazil extended stimulus tax cuts on home appliances even as an economic recovery shows signs of gaining momentum (Bloomberg).

BUSINESS

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer expects a reduction in spending on research and development and an increase in revenue to boost profit margins in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luiz Carlos Aguiar said (Reuters).

The company, the world’s third-largest maker of commercial aircraft, foresees a 10 percent drop in revenue in 2010 (Reuters).

The Brazilian unit of French commodities group Louis Dreyfus said it agreed to take over Brazilian firm Santelisa Vale to create the world’s second largest sugar cane processor (Reuters).

General Motors said Brazil’s car market has “a very good outlook” and the automaker will reinvest profits from the country’s unit locally, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson told newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo in an interview (Reuters).

POLITICS

Honduras de facto government has started proceedings at the U.N. court in The Hague to stop Brazil giving refuge to ousted President Manuel Zelaya in its embassy in Tegucigalpa (Reuters).

Brazil’s Senate foreign relations committee approved Venezuela’s request to join the South American trade bloc Mercosur despite concerns over President Hugo Chavez’s thwarting of democracy (Reuters).

OIL

Brazil’s Congress began discussing proposals to change oil sector laws including one measure that would create a production-sharing model to replace the existing concession system in future oil projects. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is trying to boost state control over the massive subsalt oil deposits that could turn Brazil into a major energy exporter (Reuters).

Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras may change a plan to process more heavy crude at its Okinawa refinery, currently dedicated to lighter grades, its top executive said (Reuters).

Surinam news update, November 1st

In Economy, Foreign Trade, Hotels, Investments, Mining, Oil, Surinam, Tourism, Travel on November 1, 2009 at 10:17 pm

A private initiative for the development of Paramaribo’s waterfront received approval from the Surinam government. The Riverside Harbour Village, as the project is known, includes a marina, a new hotel as well as commercial space and a promenade. Though the project still needs some additional financing, the backers, who hail from Surinam, Curacao and the Netherlands, think the Village will be ready by 2015. The project is worth 46 million Euros in investment (De Ware Tijd).

The Surinam Planning Dept annouced economic growth is expected to drop from 5% this year ot just 1% in 2010. The Dept. blames this disappointing outlook among other things on diminishing exports of oil and bauxite (De Ware Tijd).

In a new publication “Best in 2010″ Lonely Planet travel guide recommends Surinam for the top places to go to in 2010 (Reuters).

Cape Verde news update, October 25th

In Agriculture, Airports, Brazil, Cape Verde, Foreign Trade, Security on October 25, 2009 at 9:59 pm

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Supreme Court of Justice has granted a request submitted by Manuel Corsino Barbosa’s lawyer and ordered him released, but has prohibited the drug trafficking suspect from leaving Cape Verdean territory. The Supreme Court of Justice dispatch, dated Monday, October 19, also claims that there is no strong evidence indicating that the suspect collaborated with Zany Filomeno’s criminal organization, which was involved in drug trafficking and money laundering (A Semana).

ATLANTICO

Brazilian President Luís Inácio “Lula” da Silva has accepted the invitation extended to him this week by Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves to make an official visit to Cape Verde next year. Lula is expected to visit the archipelago in the first half of 2010 (A Semana).

POLITICS

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities José Brito has announced that the government of Luxembourg is going to maintain its € 51 million financing program for Cape Verde for the third Indicative Cooperation Plan, which will cover the period between 2011 and 2015. In a press conference, Brito also announced that relations between the two countries could evolve to include business partnerships in the coming years (A Semana).

AIRPORTS

Sao Vicente airport in Cape Verde is expected to receive international flights before the end of this year, Cape Verde’s prime minister said, noting there had been delays in approval of the runway, which was initially expected in June (Macauhub).

IMPORTS

Cape Verde importa 80 percent of the food it consumes, has just 10 percent of its land apt for agricultural production and its climate conditions are a permenent threat to agriculture, according to a United Nations (UN) study (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, October 12th

In Angola, Cape Verde, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports, Tourism, Travel on October 12, 2009 at 5:32 pm

DIPLOMACY

Cape Verdean President Pedro Pires will begin an official visit to Germany tomorrow, on the invitation of German President Horst Köhler. The official visit will be the first by a Cape Verdean head of state to the largest economy in Europe and the third-largest economy in the world. Discussions are expected to center on matters related to Cape Verde’s special partnership with the European Union, cooperative security and renewable energy. German authorities are also expected to request Cape Verde’s support in its bid to occupy a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (A Semana).

Venezuela plans to install an oil refinery in Cape Verde, the Cape Verdean Foreign Minister said last week on announcing the signing of a deal in the energy sector with that Latin American country. José Brito, who represented Cape Verde at the recent South America-Africa summit in Venezuela, said that the deal also outlined the installation of a fuel supply warehouse on the archipelago, which is located on the route between the American, African and European continents (Macauhub).

GOVERNANCE

The 2009 Ibrahim African Governance Index was published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organization which encourages quality leadership in Africa. Cape Verde came in second of the 53 African counties classified by the Index, which is considered the most important indicator of governance in Africa (A Semana).

Cape Verde fell three positions on the United Nations Human Development Index rating, and is now in 121st place. Angola, on the other hand, was the Portuguese-speaking country that showed the greatest improvement in the list, going from 157th to 143rd place (A Semana).

TOURISM

Minister of Labor, Professional Training and Social Solidarity Madalena Neves presided over the grand opening Thursday of the Gira Lua Tourist Space, located in Pai António, in the municipality of Mosteiros. The space is intended to encourage residential tourism in this coffee-producing zone of the island of Fogo (A Semana).

SHIPPING

The up-and-coming company Continental Shipping has announced its intention to enter the US-Cape Verde cargo transport market. Its first shipment is scheduled to depart from the United States in November, with its cargo arriving in Cape Verde on time for the Christmas season (A Semana).

TRADE & INVESTMENTS

Cape Verde is the second-largest market of Portuguese exports among Africa’s Portuguese-language countries, the Bank of Portugal has revealed. Cape Verde received a total of € 259.1 million in exports from Portugal. Portuguese investment abroad also grew 7.8% last year. Cape Verde received 1.9% of the € 628.8 million invested by the Portuguese in Africa’s lusophone countries, the largest receptor of Portuguese investment of which was Angola, with 92.5% of the total (A Semana).

The Boa Vista and Maio Integrated Tourist Development Corporation (SDTIBM) will promote a meeting with some 50 Cape Verdean and foreign investors on October 15 in order to present tourist investment opportunities on the two islands. The meeting will take place on Boa Vista (A Semana).

ATLANTICO

Micro and small companies from Portuguese-speaking African countries are to be supported as part of a technical cooperation agreement with Brazil, a Sebrae official said in Rio de Janeiro. José Marcelo de Miranda of Sebrae said that cooperation with Mozambique had been in place since 2008 in the areas of handicrafts and family farming and added that in Cape Verde’s case activities would begin this year (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, October 4th

In Cape Verde, Economy, Foreign Trade, Security on October 4, 2009 at 9:07 pm

TRADE

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once again praised Cape Verde’s political and economic performance during the US-Africa Business Summit, which took place at the Washington D.C. Convention Center. The event was organized by the Corporate Council on Africa, a structure made up of various private companies that is aimed at promoting economic relations between the United States and Africa (A Semana).

CORRUPTION

Cape Verde is among the 50 best-scoring countries in the world, according to a list published by the NGO Transparency International. The archipelago comes in 47th place on the list, with 5.1 points on a scale of 0 to 10. A total of 180 countries are included on the list, which in 2007 ranked Cape Verde 49th (A Semana).

BUSINESS

The World bank’s annual report points to a slight growth in business conditions in Cape Verde. The archipelago rose one slot on the Doing Business 2010 ranking, and now occupies 146th position on a list of 183 countries (A Semana).

CRIME

The United States has pledged to assist the Cape Verdean government in the fight against drug trafficking in the West African region. The announcement was made by Cape Verde’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities, José Brito, during the 2nd South America-African Summit, which was held on Margarita Island in Venezuela (A Semana).

Angola news update, September 28th

In Agriculture, Angola, Banking, Economy, Elections, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Politics on September 28, 2009 at 7:33 pm

AGRICULTURE

The Portuguese oenologist Mário Louro said in Lisbon, Portugal, that Angola may start producing quality wine from 2014 to supply local market with national product and compete with international marks (Angop).

U.S. Chiquita Brands International Inc and a partner have quit plans to enter Angola’s once-thriving banana industry after failing to secure the best land to grow and export bananas (Reuters).

CHINA

Angola is the main trade partner of China in Africa and the second in the world, in an economic interchange that reached around USD 25.3 billion during 2008, reported Friday the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary ambassador of China to Angola, Zhang Bolun (Angop).

POLITICS

Angola’s President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos marked 30 years in power on Monday, with no public celebrations or even a murmur in state media about the milestone reached by Africa’s second-longest serving leader (Mail & Guardian).

Angolans are tired of waiting for presidential elections and may soon take to the streets in protest against delays, the head of the main opposition UNITA party said (Reuters).

There were no military bands to mark Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ three decades in power this week. Just another day in the life of Africa’s second longest serving — and perhaps most enigmatic — leader (Reuters).

OIL

Angola state-owned firm Sonangol will buy Marathon Oil’s 20 percent stake in Angola’s Block 32, valued at $1.3 billion, after blocking the sale of the stake to two Chinese companies, a Sonangol spokesman said (Reuters).

French oil company Total plans to end the year with investments of over US$4 billion in Angola, a rise of around 50 percent against 2008, a company source said (Macauhub).

ECONOMY

Angola, which has averaged 10 percent annual growth in its gross domestic product since 2004, is attracting workers and professional from its former colonial master, Portugal, which is suffering a shrinking economy and increased unemployment, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing interviews (Bloomberg).

INVESTMENT

Portuguese business group Mostratus has invested around US$25 million in installing a water collection and bottling factory in Mazozo, in Angola’s Bengo province, according to Angolan news agency Angop (Macauhub).

Angolan business group GEMA (Sociedade de Gestão de Partticipações Financeiras e Gestão de Empreendimentos) annouced, Thursday, that it would build a cement factory in the city of Lobito, in Angola’s Benguela province at na estimaed investment of US$400 million (Macauhub).

The Caixa Totta bank, which was recently set up in Angola, plans to invest over US$100 million in expanding its network to all of Angola’s provinces (Macauhub).

Angola news update September 20th

In Airports, Angola, Argentina, Banking, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Ports, South Africa, Tourism, Travel on September 20, 2009 at 12:26 pm

INVESTMENT

About USD 600 billion is required in the next 15 years for the country to reduce its dependence on oil, the Angolan economist Alves da Rocha stated. According to him the country will need to invest that amount in order to have an industrial economy in transition to one of services by 2025, with the manufacturing industry representing 30 percent of the GDP and services sector 25% ANGOP).

OIL

The Angolan fuel distributing company SONANGOL is ready to face competition that will result from the opening of the national market to others operators of the fuel trading area (ANGOP).

Angola’s daily crude oil shipments are scheduled to drop about 6 percent in November, bringing exports from Africa’s second-biggest producer closer to its OPEC quota (Bloomberg).

GAS

Angola’s first liquified natural gas (LNG) plant is on track to start shipping gas in January 2012, Oil Minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos said Reuters).

EXPANSION

Angola’s state oil company Sonangol is interested in acquiring a minority stake in Portuguese utility EDP, Sonangol CEO Manuel Vicente said (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angolan government officials will meet representatives of the International Monetary Fund in Istanbul later this month as the African country seeks help to shore up its economy (Bloomberg).

ATLANTICO

South Africa’s power utility Eskom recently agreed to assist Angola develop its large hydroelectric power potential of up to 10,000 megawatts following a state-visit by South African President Jacob Zuma to Luanda last month (Reuters).

A group of thirty businessmen from Argentina will attend a seminar on “Business Opportunities” from sept 27 to 29 in Luanda, the Argentine ambassador to Angola, Ricardo Victor Roggero, disclosed (ANGOP).

PORTS

Angola’s Sociedade Gestora de Terminais (Sogester) has invested US$8 million in construction of a provisional second line terminal, in the Viana industrial area, whilst it waits for conclusion of its permanent terminal being built in Cacuaco municipality in Luanda (Macauhub).

Sea transport company Maersk Angola is investing US$95 million in Angola in the construction of a second line terminal in Luanda in order to boost its port infrastructure area, Angolan newspaper O País reported (Macauhub).

BANKING

The National Bank of Angola (BNA) has given the “green light” to the creation of an investment bank by Angolan oil company Sonangol and Portuguese state bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Around 300,000 tourists visited Angola in 2008, a rise of around 60 percent against the previous year, according to official figures published in Luanda (Macauhub).

Brazil Trade Africa 2009

In Angola, Brazil, Foreign Trade, Ghana, South Africa on September 6, 2009 at 8:14 pm

The Brazil Trade Africa 2009 fair has been running since Tuesday in Johannesburg, organised by Apex-Brasil with the aim of increasing the participation of small and medium-sized companies in Brazilian exports (Macuahub).

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