Fascinating business facts

EEGA20%

xpectedly, alarm bells are ringing at OPEC capitals around the world as treasury managers of countries making up the cartel watch, almost helplessly, the unstoppable plunge in global oil prices that will have far reaching consequences for social cohesion and peace in especially countries like Nigeria which depend heavily on oil revenues.

The price of the global benchmark grade, Brent has fallen from $86 per barrel which it attained on October 3, to below $55 Friday. Analysts say this could wipe out almost 20% from Nigeria’s expected oil revenues which could fall to a mere $49bn in 2019 when the country holds crucial elections.

0.8%

There is more than a week left until the new year, but at this point, it’s almost certain European stocks will post the worst year since 2008. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.8 percent on Friday in London, taking this year’s loss to 14 percent. Meanwhile, the blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 is less than 1 percent away from entering a bear market after hitting the threshold earlier.it’s a testimony to how fragile sentiment is that even news of Chinese stimulus couldn’t lift the gloom, with U.S. futures pointing to a third day in the red on Wall Street. Tensions between America and China are simmering again after China demanded that the U.S. withdraw espionage charges against Beijing officials. A government shutdown also looms in the U.S.

2%

mbattled South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked his finance minister to begin the process to set up a council of economic advisers. South Africa which has just emerged from recession is asking itself if it is “not stuck in a thinking mode which is not relevant to the actual conditions in South Africa?” the finance minister said. Government officials are meeting in Pretoria to present policy proposals to raise the level of economic growth in South Africa’s where annual expansion hasn’t exceeded 2 percent since 2013.

85%

lobal battery prices have fallen 85 percent since 2010, Bloombergnef reports in its annual Lithium-ion Battery Price Survey, and with storage forecast to grow to 14 times its current level by 2030 as millions of electric vehicles hit the roads.

BNEF predicts demand will total 1,851 gigawatt-hours in 2030, up from the current 132. EV batteries are expected to account for 84 percent of that.

$11.7bn

frica’s troubled aviation sector is on the verge of a massive make over after it was announced that Boeing Co and Nigeria based Green Africa Airways have committed for up to 100 737 MAX 8 aircraft, in a deal that carries a list price of $11.7 billion. The deal is the largest aircraft agreement from Africa the commitment is evenly split into 50 firm aircraft and 50 options, it added. The 737 MAX 8 is the fastest-selling airplane in the Boeing fleet, accumulating more than 4,800 orders from over 100 customers worldwide. It is estimated that airlines in Africa will require 1,190 new airplanes as the continent boosts both intra-continental and intercontinental connectivity over the next couple of decades, Boeing said, citing its 20-year Commercial Market Outlook.