2024-02-23 20:03

PARIS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - France has set aside 5 million euros ($5.41 million) to help its beekeepers, the agriculture ministry said on Friday, a group of producers that has joined protests this month by farmers over higher costs, red tape and other grievances. French beekeepers are suffering from a buildup of stocks, foreign competition, production losses linked to climate change, and the invasive Asian hornet, an insect that can eat through an entire hive in a few hours, the ministry said in a statement. The new money will help support the cash flow of struggling beekeepers, while the government also aims to tackle the issues beekeepers are facing, it said. France is one of the largest producers of honey in the European Union. It has more than 71,000 beekeepers who together maintain nearly 1.4 million beehives, ministry data shows. In January, the EU agreed to introduce harmonised methods of analysis to detect honey adulteration with sugar to limit fraudulent practices. ($1 = 0.9237 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-offers-aid-its-struggling-beekeepers-amid-farmer-protests-2024-02-23/

2024-02-23 19:04

GEORGETOWN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Guyana is open to changing its oil-contract terms to secure investment in the country, but will not alter the royalties or other fiscal terms, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said at the conclusion of a four-day energy conference. The South American nation has become the fastest-growing oil producing country, with about 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) up from zero five years ago. Last year, it unveiled a new oil production sharing agreement model in the hopes of increasing its share of oil wealth and attracting new producers. Results of its first competitive bidding round for oil blocks will be announced in coming weeks, an official said this week. Guyana could allocate up to eight areas to several consortia, including an Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab-led group that is responsible for all the nation's output today. The new production sharing agreement (PSA) includes a 10% royalty, up from 2% paid by the Exxon group, a lowering of cost-recovery share for producers, and a new corporate tax. "We had to ensure that we, having such a fiscal model, remain globally competitive," he said in a media briefing late on Thursday, adding that some oil firms had paused investment in exploration when the auction was launched in 2023. The government in 2022 eased the proposed terms of local rules that required the use local workers, a provision companies had anticipated would be too tough to meet, saying there were insufficient qualified workers and local contractors. 'TOO TOUGH' CONDITIONS "We don't want, because of the non-fiscal terms, to kill interest," he said. There were several areas of the terms that bidders raised objections to, he said, without providing details. Some of "the conditions were too tough," he added. The changes could be applied before the next bidding round, which will likely be launched later this year and will include up to 20% of the Exxon-group's prolific Stabroek block, which must be relinquished by October. A separate drilling consortium by Toronto-listed Frontera Energy (FEC.TO) , opens new tab and CGX Energy (OYL.V) , opens new tab that could be the next oil producer in Guyana, is looking for a financial partner, which according to analysts could take time to find support, further adding complications to the development plans. The firms have given the government assurances that they are going to secure partners, Jagdeo said. "They have obligations, according to the prospecting licenses they have, and they have to meet those obligations. I don't know whether the new fiscal regime or the new PSA is a deterrent to them securing partners as yet," he said. Talks with the Exxon group on its seventh project in the country, which could include a liquefied natural gas (LNG) development, have not started as discussions on the sixth project are ongoing. Government approval for the sixth project could be issued by the end of the first quarter, he said. Guyana has hired S&P Global energy consultancy IHS to help devise a strategy to develop its offshore natural gas reserves. Those deposits are central to developing a second energy sector that would include power plants, gas-processing and petrochemical projects. "We are looking to monetize the gas," Jagdeo said, adding "we want all the gas to come onshore for industrialization." However, given the country's lack of infrastructure and a rising global demand, the feasibility study might say that Guyana will only be able to bring a portion of the gas to shore for domestic use and to export to neighbors Brazil or Suriname, and process another portion offshore for exports. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/guyana-says-open-changing-non-fiscal-terms-oil-contracts-2024-02-23/

2024-02-23 18:30

Feb 23 (Reuters) - New York Federal Reserve President John Williams sees the U.S. central bank on track to cut interest rates "later this year," despite stronger-than-expected inflation and labor market data in January, according to an interview with Axios. "My overall view of the economy basically hasn't changed based on one month of data," Williams said in an interview , opens new tabthat was conducted on Thursday and published on Friday, noting that inflation's progress toward the Fed's 2% goal can be "a little bit bumpy," but that overall it and the economy more broadly are headed "in the right direction." "At some point, I think it will be appropriate to pull back on restrictive monetary policy, likely later this year," Williams said, remarks that are in synch with those of other Fed policymakers who have been sounding somewhat cautious lately about starting to cut rates without more confidence on inflation's downward trajectory. As vice chair of the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Williams is an influential voice at the U.S. central bank, which has held its benchmark overnight interest rate steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range since last July. He did not give any sense of his preferred timing for the start of rate cuts, nor of exactly what would trigger them, apart from an overall assessment that inflation is indeed headed sustainably toward the 2% target. "It's really about reading that data and looking for consistent signs that inflation is not only coming down, but is moving towards that 2% longer-run goal," he told Axios. "I don't think there's any formula, or one indicator, or something that will tell you that. It's really looking at all the information together, including these signs in the labor market and others and extracting the signal." While a material significant change in the economic outlook could require a rethink, he said, "rate hikes are not my base case," Axios cited him as saying. BALANCE SHEET Fed policymakers are expected to start in-depth discussions next month about slowing the central bank's ongoing reductions to its $7.63 trillion balance sheet. The goal, Williams said, "is to make sure that we get a nice, smooth process of continuing to reduce the balance sheet down to the ultimate level that we want to get to and allowing us to monitor and analyze and understand how that reduction in the balance sheet is meeting that test that we set out for ultimately stopping." In other words, he said, slowing the balance sheet reductions will give the Fed time to assess where and when it ought to stop altogether, and help it avoid the kind of market disruptions that occurred when it was trimming its balance sheet in September 2019. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-williams-rate-cuts-likely-appropriate-later-this-year-2024-02-23/

2024-02-23 17:16

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Canadian budget airline Lynx Air has filed for court protection from creditors and will cease operations on Feb. 26, it said on Thursday, as it struggles with rising operating costs, high fuel prices and increasing airport charges. Despite substantial growth in the business, cost reductions and efforts to explore a sale or merger, the challenges facing the business have become "too significant to overcome", the company said. The Calgary-based airline, which launched its inaugural flight in April 2022, said flights will continue to operate until 12:01 a.m. MT (2:01 a.m. ET) on Feb. 26. Lynx will seek protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, a Canadian Federal Act that allows large corporations to restructure their finances and avoid bankruptcy, while allowing creditors to receive some form of payment for amounts owed to them. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/canadas-lynx-air-files-bankruptcy-protection-cease-operations-feb-26-2024-02-23/

2024-02-23 16:37

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Nigeria is set for two aggressive interest rate hikes within a little over a month to subdue inflation and boost the naira after a couple of missed monetary policy meetings, a Reuters poll found on Friday. A survey taken in the past week suggests that Nigeria's monetary policy rate will be hiked 225 basis points to 21.00% on Feb. 27, in Governor Olayemi Cardoso's first monetary policy meeting since he took office a couple of months ago. There was no clear majority in the sample of 15 analysts, with one expecting a 50 bps hike to 19.25% and one a 1,000 bps increase to 28.75%. That sets the stage for Cardoso to possibly act aggressively, though some doubt authorities have the appetite. "We expect significant policy tightening and the announcement of de facto system-wide tightening measures," wrote Razia Khan at Standard Chartered. "We think both steps are needed to attract greater foreign portfolio investment and anchor inflation expectations," she added. A 175 bps jump to 22.75% is expected in March. Consumer inflation in Africa's biggest economy quickened for the 13th straight month in January to 29.90%, raising the cost of living to unbearable levels for many in the continent's most populous nation. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not had a policy meeting since July, putting it out of kilter with the rest of the continent's key central banks that hold meetings almost every second month. "Reassuringly, the CBN has announced that it will hold its first two MPC meetings of the year in quick succession, on February 27 and March 26," wrote analysts at Barclays. "This suggests to us that it is aware it is well behind the policy curve, and will need to deliver at least two strong doses of policy tightening." The naira fell to its weakest level at 1,680.5 per dollar on Wednesday in the official spot market amidst a chronic shortage of the U.S. currency. David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, wrote that the latest devaluation may be enough to put the balance of payments on a stable footing, though as things stand the currency has continued to weaken on the parallel market. A poll last month suggested economic growth in Nigeria would be 3.0% this year and 3.7% next. "Nigeria needs to take a leaf out of Kenya or Zambia's book - and 'tighten' monetary policy with rate hikes," said Charlie Robertson, head of macro strategy at FIM Partners. Stabilising the naira is probably the most pro-growth move the CBN could make, so interest rate hikes would benefit Nigeria more than harm it, he added. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigeria-set-two-aggressive-interest-rate-hikes-q1-2024-02-23/

2024-02-23 15:21

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The South African rand weakened on Friday, extending the previous day's losses to hit its lowest level since October, with analysts citing the impact of this week's 2024 budget on investor sentiment. At 1512 GMT, the rand traded at 19.3650 against the U.S. dollar , almost 1% weaker than its previous close. The dollar index was up about 0.03%. The rand initially strengthened after the finance minister's budget presentation on Wednesday, but the gains were short-lived. The minister announced that the government would draw down 150 billion rand ($7.8 billion) from contingency reserves at the central bank over the next three years to limit rising debt, but he offered little in the way of broad structural reforms to fix problems such as high unemployment and stagnant economic growth. "Once everyone has had a chance to dissect the data and assess it for what it is, it is not surprising to see the general reaction and narrative turn negative," ETM Analytics said in a research note. The dollar, meanwhile, was supported by a senior U.S. Federal Reserve official saying that the central bank should be in no rush to reduce interest rates, which also contributed to the rand's weakness, ETM added. South Africa has elections on May 29 in which the governing African National Congress (ANC) party is widely predicted to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years, which analysts say has made some investors cautious. On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI) , opens new tab index closed 0.2% higher. The benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 13 basis points at 10.135%. https://www.reuters.com/markets/south-african-rand-extends-losses-four-month-low-2024-02-23/