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Archive for August, 2008

Kenya confident of 10 pct growth by 2010

08 Aug

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s government said on Thursday that it was confident the east African country could boost economic growth to 10 percent a year by 2010.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga chaired a major meeting this week between industry leaders and civil servants to try to map out a route to a more a business-friendly climate in Kenya.

Those talks produced a host of measures including cutting some levies on commerce, improving security in the capital Nairobi and increasing loans to cash-strapped farmers.

“We are confident … we should be able to meet 10 percent or more by 2010,” Odinga told a news conference on Thursday.

“The only measure of success for this quite unprecedented process will be the impact it will have on the lives of our people. We will all work together to make sure we succeed.”

Working with the private sector, the government plans to organise provincial investment conferences starting next month, followed by a national one in October and an international investment conference scheduled for February next year.

The Kenyan authorities have forecast overall economic growth slowing to 4.5 percent this year from 7 percent last year due to violence that followed disputed presidential polls in December.

Source:
Reuters

 
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Angola’s Endiama says eyes 17 mln carats by 2010

08 Aug

Angola’s state-owned diamond firm Endiama said on Wednesday it hopes to produce 17 million carats by 2010 and was hoping to start mining in the northeast by the same year under a joint deal with mining giant De Beers.

Angola’s diamond industry has been growing at a fast clip since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, with Endiama’s diamond production nearing 10 million carats in 2007.

“We are now at the figure of 9.7 million carats per year worth $9.3 billion. We want to get this year to 10 million characters per year. By 2010 we want to almost double that. We want to get to 17 million carats per year,” Sebastiao Panzo, Endiama’s spokesman told Reuters.

Endeb, Endiama’s joint venture with the world’s top diamond producer De Beers is carrying out exploration to mine in north east of the country on alluvial deposits and kimberlites, or gems found in shafts of volcanic rock.

“I think they (Endeb) are doing all the efforts to see if within one year or two years we start producing,” Panzo said.

Panzo accompanied Angola’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aguinaldo Jaime to South Africa on his mission to try and lure local companies to invest in Angola’s growing economy.

Tom Tweedy, a Johannesburg-based spokesperson for De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by Anglo American Plc, said if significant diamonds deposits were found under the joint venture, the firm’s would then figure out if they were economically viable to mine.

“We are not in a position to announce anything at this time. It’s still in the exploration stage…We remain very positive, we are very positive about the joint venture and about Angola.”

source:
Reuters

 
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Posted in investment