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Nigeria’s Dangote Sugar Refinery issues commercial papers worth N42.79 billion at rates of 25%, 23%

Published

4 months ago

June 17, 2024

Nigeria’s Dangote Sugar Refinery has declared the issuance of its N42.79 billion Series 4 and 5 commercial papers, offered at 25% and 23%, respectively, were successfully issued. The company’s N150 billion commercial paper issuance program included issuing the papers.

The 181-day Series 4 and the 265-day Series 5 were issued for a total of N12.93 billion and N29.86 billion, respectively. The notification released by the company states that institutional and individual investors, along with pension and non-pension asset managers, participated in the CP issuance.

Dangote Sugar Refinery has issued N39.39 billion in 266-day Series 1 notes at a 17.08% discount rate as part of its N150 billion commercial paper program. Furthermore, at a 19.84% discount rate, the corporation has issued N6.15 billion in 184-day Series 2 notes.

At a discount rate of 21.30%, the business issued 254-day Series 3 notes for N53.47 billion. Therefore, Dangote Sugar has raised N141.8 billion through its Series 1 to 5 CPs. The letter to the group states that the corporation plans to diversify its funding sources through the issuance of commercial papers. The money raised will go toward meeting finance needs and sustaining short-term operating capital.

According to Dangote Sugar’s Q1 2024 financial reports, interest costs on commercial papers totalled N543.2 million, while interest costs on bank loans came to N21.48 million. This suggests that commercial papers rather than bank loans are the company’s primary source of funding.

These commercial papers’ high discount rates are a reflection of Nigeria’s high-interest monetary environment at the moment. The CBN increased Nigeria’s benchmark interest rate by 750 basis points to 26.25% in 2024, which had an impact on manufacturers’ capacity to finance working capital.

In essence, the CBN’s decision has caused banks to significantly raise their lending rates. For instance, UBA’s loan rates to the manufacturing sector ranged from 28.50% to 32.00% as of May 17, 2024. Due to this increase, businesses are now looking for alternate sources of funding, and debt securities like bonds and commercial papers are one such choice.

However, treasury bills (NT-bills) and OMO bills issued by the CBN are vying with commercial papers for investors’ attention in the market for short-term debt securities. Furthermore, the CBN’s yield rates on NT notes and OMO bills in 2024 have shown to be extremely competitive. For instance, the June 5, 2024, 182-day and 364-day NT bills have respective discount rates of 17.5% and 20.67%.

Companies have been obliged to implement rather high interest rates for these CPs to compete favourably. Series 3, 4, and 5 CPs from Dangote Sugar are available at discounts of 21.30%, 23%, and 25%, respectively. It has also forced other issuers to adopt high interest rates. Series 1 and Series 2 CPs were issued by Coronation Group with respective discount rates of 19.83% and 21.81%.

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Finance minister says reduced oil prices pressuring Angola

Published

1 hour ago

October 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Angola’s finance minister has told journalists that falling oil prices put “lots of pressure” on the nation, predicting that prices would average between $70 and $72 per barrel in 2024 as opposed to $75.

In an interview conducted on the fringes of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, Finance Minister Vera Daves de Sousa stated that the government of the continent’s second-largest crude oil exporter will likewise keep phasing down fuel subsidies.

“How many steps we didn’t decide yet, but our idea is to do it in steps,” she said, confirming that subsidies were amounting to around 4% of GDP this year.

At the start of this year, Angola departed from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

On Friday, Brent crude futures rose 2.25% to $76.05 a barrel. Analysts have cautioned that next year’s high supply and weak demand will put pressure on oil prices.

According to Daves de Sousa, the administration will submit its budget to Parliament the following week, and during the next few days, the numbers regarding the amount of outside funding that will be required will be finalised.

Angola is considering internally whether to apply for a loan program from the International Monetary Fund, she said.

“We asked for a note with options of programs in case we request, and considering our current situation, what they understand as a good program for us,” she said.

According to her, the administration was also looking at other options, such as combining funds from domestic banks and capital markets with support from other multilateral sources like the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Angola’s most recent IMF program, worth $3.7 billion, was approved in December 2018 after the country’s earnings were severely damaged by the collapse of global petroleum prices.

Angola’s finance minister has told journalists that falling oil prices puts “lots of pressure” on the nation, predicting that prices would average between $70 and $72 per barrel in 2024 as opposed to $75.

“How many steps we didn’t decide yet, but our idea is to do it in steps,” she said, confirming that subsidies were amounting to around 4% of GDP this year.

At the start of this year, Angola departed from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

On Friday, Brent crude futures rose 2.25% to $76.05 a barrel. Analysts have cautioned that next year’s high supply and weak demand will put pressure on oil prices.

Angola is considering internally whether to apply for a loan program from the International Monetary Fund, she said.

“We asked for a note with options of programs in case we request, and considering our current situation, what they understand as a good program for us,” she said.

Angola’s most recent IMF program, worth $3.7 billion, was approved in December 2018 after the country’s earnings were severely damaged by the collapse of global petroleum prices.

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IMF recommends exporting African countries make crucial changes. Here’s why

Published

1 hour ago

October 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Africa, has stated that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that rely on commodity exports must change their economies to address uneven regional economic growth.

According to the IMF’s most recent World Economic Outlook, which was released this week, the region is predicted to develop by 3.6% this year, which is unchanged from last year and lower than an April prediction of 3.8%. Commodity economies are likely to lag behind their more diverse rivals.

According to the IMF’s assessment, the growth of the commodity-intensive nations is around half that of the rest of the region, with oil exporters bearing the brunt of what it called “subdued and uneven” regional growth.

“South Sudan, Nigeria, Angola are all very much in that camp,” Abebe told Reuters.

The IMF’s regional economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa was released on Friday, and while diverse economies like Senegal and Tanzania are predicted to develop at a rate higher than the regional average, Nigeria would only grow at a rate of 2.9%.

“They have had very large macroeconomic imbalances, financing challenges which have held back growth,” Abebe said.

He claimed that because those issues had led to rising inflation and pressure on the expense of living, the Nigerian government needed to “squarely address” them.

The administration of President Bola Tinubu has started a number of measures that it claims are intended to boost economic expansion and draw in foreign investment. The IMF predicted that South Africa, whose growth has been hampered by debilitating power outages, would expand by 1.1% this year.

The IMF stated that armed conflicts are also impeding growth, pointing to the fact that South Sudan’s oil exports are impeded by fighting in neighbouring Sudan, where the crude export pipeline is located.

“They (oil exporters) need to find new sources of growth, get more private sector investment – so working on reforms that will facilitate that is important,” Abebe said.

According to the IMF research, Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth is anticipated to improve marginally to 4.2% in the upcoming year.

Although Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for almost half of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies this year, the research issued a warning that greater growth rates were necessary to combat pervasive poverty and inequality.

According to the IMF, as nations grapple with high debt loads and high debt servicing costs, one of the primary barriers to higher growth is a lack of access to inexpensive financing.

The fresh money was expensive, even though some nations were able to sell bonds on global capital markets this year after a two-year break brought on by geopolitical shocks and high interest rates in developed nations like the US.

“The old development finance architecture is not delivering, and, if anything, kind of is in the process of disintegrating,” Abebe said, citing “very problematic levels” of official bilateral funding for poor countries.