Brazil's national development bank BNDES reported first half net profits up 81.1% on the same period last year. Earnings reached 3.32 billion reais ($1.55 billion) in the first half compared to 1.83 billion reais in the first half of 2005. BNDES pocketed 682 million reais from a secondary share offer by federal bank Banco do Brasil, reducing its holding in the bank from 5.7% to 2.9%. New lending dropped 9% to 18.2 billion reais compared to the previous year, as demand in the agricultural and export sectors declined. A drop in international prices hurt agriculture while a strong real currency caused trade financing in dollars to fall in value
Slovakia’s year-on-year inflation accelerated to 5% in July from 4.5% in June, the Slovak Statistical Office said. The National Bank of Slovakia puts year-on-year inflation at 3.9% for 2006. Energy and housing prices by 13.5% in July, while prices of furniture, household equipment and home maintenance went down, by 0.2%.
Fitch upgraded the long-term foreign currency rating on India's largest private sector bank - ICICI Bank. The bank moves from non-investment to investment-grade and follows the recent upgrade of India's sovereign rating. The bank is now rated BB+ with a stable outlook, reflecting the bank’s improved financial conditions. The report also said the key challenges of the bank are to maintain asset quality, especially in view of the rapid increase in loans since 2002 and rising interest rates, which could affect the ability of borrowers to re-pay.
Officials from Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission yesterday raided the offices of Globacom, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) and Conoil. The three companies belong to Mike Adenuga, the Chairman of Globacom, who was arrested by the Commission last month but later released without charge. The Commission’s chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu said the raid was conducted to get documents to help the investigation into Adenuga. Last week the Commission arrested former military president General Ibrahim Babangida’s son Mohammed Babangida, on alleged illegal ownership of Globacom shares, though he too was released without charge. Critics accused the Commission of a political witch-hunt against companies owned by supporters of vice president Atiku Abubakar and General Babangida.