Manufacturing’s robust performance in 2014 justifies call for industry-specific incentives

A leap in manufacturing’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), huge investments in cement, sugar and automotive industries, as well as a surge in capacity utilisation within the year are indications that the sector can perform better in 2015 if the Federal Government pays more attention to broad-based, industry- specific incentives, rather than the individual-type motivations, stakeholders say.

“Majority of the members interviewed are of the opinion that once the government continues with broad-based incentives, the possibility of capacity utilisation improving further is high,” says the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), in its most recent economic review.

“What this translates to in the economic-wide aggregate, is

China's central bank said to inject $81bn into system

China's central bank is said to be injecting 500bn yuan ($81bn; £50bn) into the five biggest state-owned banks to counter slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is reportedly giving each bank a $100bn low-interest loan over three months.

The move may be the first of several stimulus measures, analysts say.

It is aimed at lifting business confidence and investment following a string of weak economic data.

China's economy showed more evidence of a slowdown with industrial production and foreign direct investment hitting multi-year lows in August.

The five lenders said to be receiving the stimulus are the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and Bank of Communications.

The move was