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Mozambique: Financial situation stable, but affected by social indicators and investment climate – Fitch Ratings 2008-09-25 New York, United States, 25 Sept – Mozambique’s financial situation is stable, but affected by negative social indicators and a business climate that inhibits small and medium-sized investments, said debt rating agency Fitch Ratings Wednesday. Fitch also said that the current rating on Mozambique, “is supported by a history of strong growth, an average of 7.7 percent per year over the last five years, and the biggest rise in exports of all the countries in the same [ratings] category over the last decade, bolstered by one of the strongest average investment rates in the last five years (31 percent).” Fitch Ratings maintained its “B” rating on short term and long term debt in foreign currency, and “B+” on debt issued in national currency, with a “stable” outlook. Ratings, which are a maximum of "AAA" and a minimum of "C", are currently important instruments in the negotiation of credit by a country or company – the return (interest rate) demanded by the creditor will be lower as the probability of not servicing the debt decreases. “Correct economic policies and reforms, strong investment in the natural resources sector and solid support from the donor community have added to the results achieved and improved the economy’s resistance capacity,” said the document. It also noted improved public finances, after the public debt ratio fell from 83 percent in 2005 to 45 percent last year, essentially due to debt pardons, but a “greater dependence on external aid,” is also expected. The main obstacles to improving the financial situation identified by Fitch Ratings are fragile social development – namely in terms of education, literacy, gender equality as well as per capita GDP - as well as the investment climate, outside of so-called "mega-projects."
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Cape Verde: Government distributes low energy bulbs in energy-saving campaign 2008-09-25 Praia, Cape Verde, 25 Sept – The Cape Verdean government plans to start an energy saving campaign across the country, which will include free distribution of 300,000 energy-saving bulbs. The campaign, which has the motto of, “Save energy, light up this idea,” and will be presented to the Economy Ministry Friday, is aimed at raising awareness amongst the population of more efficient use of energy. Cape Verde depends almost exclusively on outside sources to meet its energy needs, and power cuts are frequent on the islands, sometimes due to generators breaking down and others to a lack of fuel. The use of low energy bulbs, which use up to 80 percent less electricity and last up to ten times longer, is one of the campaign’s focuses. Initial, the Ministry said, 50,000 builds will be distributed on the islands of Santiago and S. Vicente, by teams that will hand over the new bulbs in Exchange for high energy bulbs. The campaign also includes replacing high energy bulbs in schools and other public facilities.
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Mozambique: Government announces investment in power transmission line 2008-09-24 Maputo, Mozambique, 24 Sept – Mozambican state electricity company, EDM plans to invest US$2.2 billion in building a power transmission cable linking the Cahora Bssa dam, the Mepanda Nkua dam, the Moatize power station and the Temane gas project to the south of the country, stretching over 1,500 kilometres. The power generated by the Cahora Bassa dam, the biggest source of electricity in Mozambique, currently travels directly to South Africa – by the far the facility’s biggest customer – through high voltage cables, and some of the power is later sent on to Maputo. Mozambique’s Energy Minister, Salvador Namburete, said that the line made it possible to distribute power to various parts of the centre of the country, reducing current dependence on South Africa. Namburete also said that the government would launch a public tender after receiving the final version of the studies underway to identify the most sustainable options for the project. The minister gave no date for the start of work, noting, however, that it was an immediate project and added that the transmission line was "very important,” for the energy project the government was drawing up, such as the Mphanda Nkua dam. The Mphanda Nkua dam, which is downstream of Cahora Bassa in Tete province, will have the capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity and, according to projections, its construction if set to begin next year. It is estimated to cost US$1.6 billion. Investment in building the transmission line will be partly state funded, through EDM, and partly privately funded by partners that have already been identified. The Mozambican Energy Minister, who did not provide the names of the other partners, also said that other interested parties could still take part in the project.
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Mozambique: Government receives result of Rovuma basin seismic survey 2008-09-24 Maputo, Mozambique, 24 Sept – The Mozambican government ahs received the first results of the seismic survey carried out in the Rovuma basin, Carlos Zacarias, projects director for the National Oil Institute (INP) said in Maputo Friday. During a meeting between the government and representatives of the oil companies operating in Mozambique, Zacarias also said that the seismic data was of “great quality” and that it was currently being analysed. Oil exploration has been going on and off both on land and at sea in Rovuma and the Mozambican government granted licenses to Anadarko (United States), Artumas (Canada), ENI (Italy) and Norsk Hydro (Norway). The four companies have already invested around US$300 million on testing work, in five blocs in the Rovume basin. Malaysian company Petronas is currently searching for oil in the Zambezi basin and, recently, South Africa’s Sasol and the Osho Energy consortium (controlled by companies from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates) were granted a license to explore two blocs on land in Inhambane, to the west of the Natural gas fields of Pande and Temane.
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Angola: Angolan government and China’s Development Bank seek to cooperate 2008-09-24 Luanda, Angola, 24 Sept – Operational aspects about going ahead with a cooperation agreement, signed in August between the Angolan government and China’s Development Bank, were the main subject of a meeting Tuesday between Angolan deputy minister to the prime minister, Aguinaldo Jaime, and a delegation from the Chinese bank. According to Angolan news agency Angop, Jaime said that the meeting had been to discuss the practicalities of moving ahead with the agreement, which included projects linked to construction of social housing and the agricultural, transport and telecommunications sectors. The deputy minister specifically mentioned the plan to build social housing in Camama, in the municipality of Kilamba-Kiaxi, and renewal of the Cazenga municipality, the aim of which is to provide medium and low standard housing to the population. According to Jaime, the two side dealt with operational issues such as setting up a joint team to select projects, choosing Chinese contractors and the frequency of bilateral meetings. An important aspect noted by Jaime was that the agreement was, "not based on supplying oil," but rather on guarantees presented by the Angolan government, mainly due to an improvement of macroeconomic conditions.
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Angola: Chinese companies rebuilds railway line between Lobito and Luau 2008-09-24 Luena, Angola, 24 Sept – Railway transport will be re-launched on the stretch of track between the Angolan cities of Lobito (Benguela province) and Luau (Moxico province), 20 years after it was last in operation, said Liu Feng, director of the Chinese company responsible for the work in Luena Tuesday. Feng, chief engineer of China Ferrovia, told Angolan news agency Angop that the project, which is due to begin this year, represents an investment of US$1.8 billion and would be carried out by 3,000 Angolan and 1,500 Chinese workers. He also said that in the first three months the work would consist of removing the old tracks and setting up a sleeper and gravel factory in the Liangongo area (over 70 kilometres east of Luena, the capital of the province). “Reconstruction work on this stretch of the Benguela railroad (CFB) include preparation of the base on which the track will be laid, repositioning sleepers and tracks to international sizes and construction of bridges where necessary.” Reconstruction of the CFB, according to some local economic agents, will drive development of the central and eastern regions of the country, as well as strengthening regional integration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as the railroad passes through three countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe) in the region.
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Sao Tome and Principe: Sonangol becomes biggest shareholder of oil company ENCO 2008-09-23 Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe, 23 Sept – The government of Sao Tome and Principe has sold 35 percent of the capital it held in oil and fuel company Empresa Nacional de Combustíveis e Óleo (ENCO), to Angola’s Sonangol, Sao Tome’s minister for Planning and Finance said Monday. Ângela Viegas said the sale was due to the need to make the states shares in ENCO profitable as well as complying with the “programme that aims to remove the state from public companies.” In the sales contract, the minister said, a safeguard was implemented, "that the Sao Tome state would continue to have the last word before any fuel price rises were put in place." ENCO currently owes a large debt to Sonangol, due to fuel prices not having been updated, whilst prices have risen on the international market. With this acquisition, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) now has a 75 percent stake in ENCO. The Sao Tome state has kept 16 percent of ENCO, and the remaining 9 percent of shares are distributed amongst a group of small shareholders.
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Angola/Oil: Petrobras to explore Angola’s pre-salt layer in 2009 2008-09-23 Sao Paulo, Brazil, 23 Sept – Brazilian oil company Petrobras next year plans to explore 11 oil wells in the “pre-salt” layer, which is geologically identical to Brazil’s Santos basin where huge oil strikes have been made recently, said the company’s International Director. “It is possible that oil will be found [in Angola] as well and, based on seismic surveys we will know if it is worth drilling to the African pre-salt layer,” Samir Awad told Sunday’s edition of Brazilian daily newspaper Estado de São Paulo. Awad added, however, that the fact that geological conditions were similar did not imply that the quantity and quality of oil would be the same. Geologists note that the African and American continents separated 230 million years ago and, on both sides of the ocean a salt layer was created, covering deposits of organic material. The decision to drill in Angola has been made at a time when it is though likely by the Brazilian press that Petrobras’ expansion plan will be reviewed.
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Mozambique: Special economic area of Nacala to have master plan in 2009 2008-09-22 Maputo, Mozambique, 22 Sept – The Special Economic Area of Nacala is in 2009 scheduled to have a master plan to guide its development over the next few years, the director of the Office for Economic Areas with Accelerated Development (Gazeda) said in Maputo. Danilo Nalá told newspaper Notícias that a consulting mission contracted by the Japanese Bank for International Development had recently been in Macala, where it collected information to prepare the master plan. “We have been working on preparing the legal basis to move ahead with the Nacala special economic area. Usually these are long term projects and that means attracting anchor investments to develop a certain region, in this case the two districts of Nacal and Nacal-a-Velha,” he said. According to the director-general of Gazeda, the expectation is that this preliminary phase will end in October after which there will be negotiations with the Japanese bank in order to move ahead with a more in-depth study that will determine what to do and where. “We still don’t have an end date for conclusion of the study. We want to decide when to meet with the Japanese bank, but we hope that in January we will have everything ready. The biggest attraction of the Nacala Special Economic Area is the deep water port and respective corridor that make it possible to distribute products (import and export) without constraints. The Nacala Special Economic Area was set up last year and includes the districts of Nacala-a-Velha and Nacala-Porto.
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Macau: Guinea Bissau wants to attract more investments from Macau businesspeople 2008-09-22 Macau, China, 22 Sept – Guinea Bissau’s President, Nino Vieira Saturday invited Macau businesspeople to invest in his country reminding them that it had a multitude of natural resources, including oil. “We don’t only want to receive. We also want to give,” said Vieira who was in Macau following an official visit to Beijing to review Chinese-Guinean cooperation and look to the future. Projects supported by China in Guinea Bissau included, Vieira said, the Government Palace, the Palace of Justice, hospital and the capital’s fishing port and he noted they were fundamental to the development of Guinea Bissau. Vieira also said that he had left an invitation in China for Chinese businesspeople to invest in Guinea Bissau, choosing whichever areas they wished. He also noted the role of Macau in boosting cooperation between China and Guinea Bissau, an issue which was also noted by Macau Economy and Finance Secretary Francis Tam during a meeting with the Guinean president. “Macau is a platform on which Guinean and Macau citizens move. Macau wants to be a multi-continental platform for continuous development that is mutually advantageous for the economic and trade relations between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries,” said Tam. Vieira also told Portuguese news agency Lusa in Macau that, “Guiena Bissau has already approved the biofuel investment by Geocapital, the holding company of businessmen Stanley Ho and Ferro Ribeiro, but is studying the project more closely.” During his stay in Macau, Nino Vieira nominated businessman John Lo as consul of Guinea Bissau to the Special Administrative Region of Macau. The Macau businessman, who is a director of Sociedade Internacional Grupo Excelente, in May announced and investment of US$8 million in building a 100-room hotel. John Lo, who has been investing in Guinea Bissau since 2001, particularly in the Agricultural sector, meanwhile announced that he was preparing a trade mission from Macau to visit Bissau in October of this year.
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Cape Verde: Cape Verde signs agreement with China to fund e-governance 2008-09-22 Praia, Cape Verde, 22 Sept – The Cape Verdean government has signed a funding agreement with China’s Eximbank for the first phase of the e-governance project for the archipelago, worth US$17 million, the Economy Ministry said in Praia Friday. The agreement was signed in China, as part of a visit by the Cape Verdean secretary of state for the economy. Humberto Brito visited China and Macau and also took part in a seminar on the role of the territory as a platform for economic and trade relations between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. As part of the visit, businessmen from the energy sector showed interest in investing in the archipelago, and a team of engineers is expected to travel to Cape Verde next week for meetings with Cape Verdean technicians. The government also planned, according to the ministry to boost cooperation relations with the China National Fisheries Corporation, a company which currently repairs the fishing fleet at the Cabnave shipyard, on S. Vicente Island.
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