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Mauritius bank, MCB, to open office in Nigeria in African growth master plan

Published

2 years ago

June 14, 2022

The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), is set to open a branch in Nigeria as part of it’s long term master plan for its African growth.

The bank which is the largest in the Indian Ocean island nation, is seeking to expand across the African continent “beyond oil and gas deals to cover renewables and mining,” a senior executive said in a statement.

MCB which already has $850 million in exposure in Nigeria, has representative offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of its push into the continent, and also has offices in Dubai and Paris.

In a statement on Tuesday at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, head of Corporate and Institutional Banking of MCB, Thierry Hebraud, said the coronavirus pandemic had delayed plans for the Nigeria office but they were now in the final phase of the West African country’s Central Bank approval.

“Today, more than 50% of our balance sheet is outside Mauritius, and the major part is in Africa.

“I believe within the next couple of months, we will be operating the new representative office in Nigeria,” Hebraud said.

He added that the bank is now focused on structured finance in the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry and the oil trade, and was looking to expand into renewables and mining.

“We believe we’ll continue to grow in the oil and gas sector, but at a slower pace. We’ll definitely grow in the energy and infrastructure,” he said.

“Imagine all banks withdraw from the this sector, you’ll shutdown the electricity of half the continent,” he added, saying banks needed to support Africa’s oil and gas industry to provide the energy for the continent to grow, even though climate change was driving a shift from fossil fuels.

“The Nigeria office would eventually cover Ghana, a neighbouring West African oil producer which also exports cocoa and mines gold,” Hebraud also hinted at future plans for the bank.

Related Topics:Banking Featured Mauritius Nigeria

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

5 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.