Nigeria's foreign currency reserves rose this week to 59.7 billion dollars said the Central Bank of Nigeria. The rise breaks a trend over the last months still dropping crude oil prices in the international market. Oil prices have more than halved since hitting record levels of above 147 dollars in July on concerns about the faltering global economy. Since the beginning of 2006, militant attacks have cut Nigeria's oil output from 2,6 million barrels to around 1,9 million barrels.

The Euromoney Nigeria conference that we attended yesterday was fascinating in its upbeat nature despite the carnage in the stock market. Turns out the property market is still on rising sharply. Also, although there is some USD 20bn in margin loans, even if all that were written off, the banks would still be over capitalised. Infrastructure and private equity are clearly the place to be.