Foreign investors welcomed Nigeria’s recent macroeconomic reforms but flagged persistent concerns about oil price volatility, capital repatriation risks, and high transaction costs during a private investor forum hosted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on April 17, 2025.

The event, themed “The Nigeria Investment Agenda: Pathways for Growth & Global Partnerships,” was held in collaboration with NGX Group, J.P. Morgan and AVCA.

It attracted representatives from top global financial institutions, including Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, and Jadara Capital Partners.

Although the CBN’s reform agenda was broadly acknowledged as a step in the right direction, foreign investors made it clear that sustained investor confidence will depend on Nigeria’s ability to manage key structural and external risks, especially oil market volatility.

Investors welcomed reforms but flagged oil risks 

Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research at JPMorgan Chase, commended Nigeria for making progress on long-standing structural issues, including the removal of fuel subsidies and FX liberalisation.

However, she noted that the global environment had changed significantly, citing U.S. tariff hikes and a higher risk of recession.

“We’re now dealing with a potential 3% of GDP tax effect from recent U.S. tariffs,” Chang said. “Nigeria has made strides, but oil price volatility remains a key risk.” 

JPMorgan now places the probability of a U.S. recession at 60%, up from 40% before the new tariffs were announced.

Oil prices, a key source of Nigerian revenue, are expected to fall into the $50s range by 2026. This dynamic, Chang said, introduces macroeconomic fragility that investors must price in.

Source: Nairametrics

Energy Expert Vally Padayachee says Eskom needs to bring the country into its confidence following reports of a R3.6 billion diesel spend in just 30 days.

Action SA has raised concerns over the utility’s spending, describing it as an “unaffordable illusion” masking the country’s ongoing electricity crisis.

Eskom’s 2024 data shows that diesel-powered generation through Open-Cycle Gas Turbines costs R6 579 per megawatt-hour, compared to R541 for coal and R113 for nuclear.

Professor Padayachee echoes ActionSA’s view, stressing that load shedding has not truly ended.

“At the moment, the planned outage is quite high, it’s about 12% – that will decrease as we get to May and the energy availability factor is too low. I presume there are a number of forced outages. So given that situation, there was a requirement for Open-Cycle Gas Turbines to be generated and and of course, there are diesel-fired gas turbines and that’s where the huge cost is.”

Source: Sabcnews

The Kano state government says it will attract over 10 billion dollars investment in renewable energy and solid minerals development from its partnership with prestigious Moroccan companies in the next five years.

The state government also said the stage was set for the signing of a series of investment Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Kingdom of Morocco.

This is contained in a statement on Sunday in Kano  by Sunusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, the media aide to Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf.  He said the agreements would focus on renewable energy, agriculture and commerce, as part of the state government’s drive to reposition its economy.

Mr Dawakin-Tofa said the development was sequel to a high level investment mission to Morocco led by the governor.

He said the delegation held strategic meetings with key Moroccan institutions including the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), the Moroccan Agency for Africa (OCP Africa) and the Casablanca Chamber of Commerce.

According to Mr Dawakin-Tofa, the agreements will also explore areas such as investor identification, financing models, and cutting-edge technologies for energy storage and efficient distribution, particularly for industrial use in Kano.

He said the Casablanca Chamber of Commerce, one of Africa’s leading private sector platforms, expressed its willingness to collaborate with the state in areas of renewable energy and solid minerals development.

“This partnership is expected to boost the state’s economy and contribute to the projections of attracting up to $10 billion in investments over the next five years in line with the state’s strategic investment plan.

Source: Gazettengr

The strong investment growth in Saudi Arabia’s economy has led 50 British companies to set up regional headquarters, joining over 1,300 UK firms already operating in the Kingdom, said a senior UK trade official.

The UK is positioning itself as a long-term partner in the Kingdom’s economic transformation, with bilateral trade already surpassing £17 billion ($22.55 billion) and expected to grow further in line with Vision 2030.

“The UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have enjoyed a warm and deep trading relationship for a long time,” said Peter Ashby, deputy UK trade commissioner for the Middle East, in an interview with Al-Eqtisadiah.

“So, we are starting from strong foundation and a place of friendship and mutual respect,” added Ashby, who is also the director of trade and investment at the British Embassy in Riyadh.

Both governments, he said, “are working extremely hard to strengthen our trading relationships and to create quality jobs in new sectors under Vision 2030 and the UK’s upcoming Industrial Strategy.”

Ashby said the UK-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council — led by Saudi Commerce Mnister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds — has been central to advancing bilateral initiatives across economic and social pillars.

A flagship effort under that framework is the ‘Great Futures’ campaign, which Ashby described as a “joint initiative to promote trade, tourism, innovation and cultural partnerships.” It has supported deals in priority sectors such as critical minerals and AI-enabled technology.

“The campaign continues, with GREAT FUTURES supporting business engagement in the UK and Saudi Arabia, including bespoke events such as the UK-Saudi Skills Forum at the upcoming HCI (Human Capability Initiative) and EDGEx Education Global Exhibition.

Source: Arabnews

China missed several key targets from its 10-year plan to become self-sufficient in technology, while fostering unhealthy industrial competition which worsened global trade tensions, the European Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report this week.

When Beijing released its “Made in China 2025” plan in 2015, it was met with significant international criticism for promoting Chinese business at the expense of their foreign counterparts. The country subsequently downplayed the initiative, but has doubled-down on domestic tech development given U.S. restrictions in the last several years.

China’s targets are generally seen as a direction rather than an actual figure to be achieved by a specific date. The Made In China 2025 plan outlines the first ten years of what the country called a ‘multi-decade strategy’ to become a global manufacturing powerhouse.

The chamber pointed out that China’s self-developed airplane, the C919, still relies heavily on U.S. and European parts and though industrial automation levels have “increased substantially,” it is primarily due to foreign technology. In addition, the growth rate of manufacturing value add reached 6.1% in 2024, falling from the 7% rate in 2015 and just over halfway toward reaching the target of 11%.

Source: CNBC

After six weeks of hovering between 6.6% and 6.7%, mortgage rates rose sharply this week, according to Freddie Mac’s latest survey, reflecting recent bond market volatility.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.83% for the week through Wednesday, compared with 6.62% a week earlier. The average 15-year mortgage rate was 6.03%, up from 5.82% a week earlier. Mortgage rates have been on a wild ride in recent weeks as the bond yields that underpin them whipsawed in the aftermath of President Trump’s tariff announcement and later delay of some levies. Most rate surveys showed a sharp rise last week, as 10-year Treasury yields approached 4.5%.

In a sign of how quickly rates have been moving, recent mortgage rate surveys have diverged based on when their data was collected. Mortgage News Daily put the average 30-year mortgage rate at 6.86% on Wednesday, down about 9 basis points from a week earlier. The Mortgage Bankers Association had them at 6.81% in the week through Friday, a 20 basis point leap from the week prior.

Source: Financeyahoo

TK Elevator’s owners are weighing the United States as a location for a potential initial public offering next year, despite market turmoil triggered by U.S. tariffs slowing the pace of dealmaking.

Deliberations are at an early stage and preparations are expected to be formalised towards the end of 2025, with a view to conducting a sale or listing of the company next year, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

The business is likely to be valued at more than 20 billion euros ($22.7 billion) in a transaction, the people said, adding there was no certainty of a deal and that the timing could still change depending on market developments.

The United States accounted for around 35% of TK Elevator’s total sales, which stood at 9.3 billion euros in the 2023/2024 financial year, the company said. The U.S. is also home to sector-leader Otis, which commands the highest multiple among peers, making it one of the reasons why it is being considered as an IPO location, one of the people said.

Thyssenkrupp in 2020 sold its elevator technology business – later renamed TK Elevator – for 17.2 billion euros to a consortium of bidders led by private equity firms Advent, Cinven and Germany’s RAG foundation.

Source: Globalbankingandfinance

Russia’s richest people saw their wealth rise by more than 8% to $625.5 billion over the past year, with at least 146 billionaires listed by the Forbes Russian-language list of the wealthiest people in Russia, the magazine said on Thursday.

Vagit Alekperov, former boss of the Lukoil oil company, topped the Forbes list for a second year, with a fortune of $28.7 billion. He resigned as president of Lukoil in 2022 after Britain imposed sanctions against him.

Alexei Mordashov took second place in the rating with wealth of $28.6 billion, rising from fourth place in last year’s list.

Forbes said there were 15 completely new billionaires in the ranking, the richest of which was Indian-born Vikram Punia, owner of pharmaceutical company Pharmasyntez. Forbes said he had a fortune of $2.1 billion.

None of the billionaires listed by Forbes could be immediately reached for comment.

The richest 10 billionaires are listed below:

1) Vagit Alekperov – $28.7 billion

2) Alexei Mordashov – $28.6 billion

3) Leonid Mikhelson – $28.4 billion

4) Vladimir Lisin – $26.5 billion

5) Vladimir Potanin – $24.2 billion

6) Gennady Timchenko – $23.2 billion

7) Andrei Melnichenko – $17.4 billion

8) Pavel Durov – $17.1 billion

9) Alisher Usmanov – $16.7 billion

10) Suleiman Kerimov and family – $16.4 billion

Source: Globalbankingandfinance

China’s State Council Information Office on Wednesday released a white paper titled “China’s Position on Some Issues Concerning China-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations.”

The Chinese government issued the document to clarify the facts about China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and elaborate the position of the Chinese side on relevant issues, according to the white paper.

The white paper came as rising unilateralism and protectionism in the United States have significantly impeded normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Since the beginning of trade friction in 2018, the U.S. side has imposed tariffs on Chinese exports worth more than 500 billion U.S. dollars, and has continuously implemented policies aimed at containing and suppressing China. Recently, the United States levied comprehensive additional tariffs on Chinese products, including tariffs citing the fentanyl issue as the pretext, “reciprocal tariffs,” and an additional 50 percent on existing tariffs.

These measures — revealing the isolationist and coercive nature of U.S. conduct — run counter to the principles of the market economy and multilateralism, and will have serious repercussions for China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the white paper said.

In response to the U.S. moves, China has taken forceful countermeasures to defend its national interests, and has remained committed to resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation, with multiple rounds of consultations with the U.S. side to stabilize bilateral economic and trade relations.

Source: Englishnews

With the comprehensive strategic partnership between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China, the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) hosted a 35-man delegation of Chinese business leaders interested in investing and establishing partnerships in Nigeria.

The delegation, whose visit was facilitated by Pan-African Expansion Industrial Nigeria Ltd, comprised companies with interests in Science and Technology, Mining, Construction, Real estate, Healthcare, Tourism, and E-commerce. They were received by the Director-General of the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership, NCSP, Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe.

Jason Zhu, the delegation leader, highlighted areas of desired investment in Nigeria, leveraging China’s industrial and technological advancements.

While welcoming the delegation, the Director General of NCSP noted that Nigeria offers a dynamic and increasingly attractive business environment, marked by significant growth and abundant opportunities for investment.

As the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria significantly contribute to the continent’s GDP, boasting a vibrant and resilient market and a business climate that benefits from a large and youthful population, a strategic geographic location, and a government dedicated to implementing reforms that enhance economic stability and investor confidence. He highlighted policies and programmes that investors can key into, including investment in Free Trade Zone to boost exports from Nigeria.

Source: Apanews