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) Nigeria: Scorching the Resource Curse
During the 1960s, the Nigerian economy was driven by the non-oil sector, especially the agricultural sector, with an average contribution of about 70 per cent to non oil GDP. The agricultural sector was vibrant and Nigeria was self sufficient in food and was a major exporter of agricultural products, notably cocoa, groundnuts, palm kernel and rubber, among others. The oil boom of the 1970s and 80s, followed by the excessive appreciation of the exchange rate reduced agricultural competitiveness and encouraged rent seeking behaviour in the economy. Agriculture declined in importance from 41.3 per cent of GDP in the 1970s to 20.6 per cent in the 1980s. Its contribution to GDP in the last five years averaged 5.6 per cent. The sector contributed about 65 per cent of total employment in the 1970s and 80s. More>> - (
) The Debt Counsellors are Seeing More Middle and High-Income Debt Enquiries
Financial slowdown sees a surge in middle and higher income earners seeking IVA and Debt Consolidation help, according to The Debt Counsellors customer profile.(PRWEB) October 5, 2007 -- The current moneymarket confidence freeze -- caused by the recent credit crunch -- promoting a sense of fear in the money markets and making loans harder to find and more costly, is now affecting even the more well-off, as noted by recent enquiries to The Debt Counsellors.
According to a recent news report: "Second quarter figures from the Insolvency Service showed a 4.2 per cent annual rise in the number of individual insolvencies through bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements and anecdotal evidence suggests these now include borrowers on middle and higher incomes."
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) CRH May Purchase $4.5 Billion in Assets From Cemex (Update6)
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- CRH Plc, the world's second- biggest maker of building materials, may buy Cemex SAB's U.S. concrete plants, pipe-making unit and cement division for as much as $4.5 billion in what would be its biggest acquisition.CRH, based in Dublin, said the talks with Cemex also involve units in the Pacific Northwest and Europe. Monterrey, Mexico-based Cemex, North America's largest cement producer, is selling 39 concrete and aggregate plants in Florida and Arizona to gain U.S. Justice Department approval for its $14.2 billion purchase of Rinker Group Ltd.
The Irish company is willing to take on extra debt to make the purchase, even as a credit crunch makes borrowing more costly, as the strongest growth in U.S. commercial construction for two decades offsets a slump in housing. More>>