Five things to know to start your weekend

“This agreement represents a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to monetize Nigeria’s vast gas reserves,” Ella said.

Nigeria is Africa’s top energy producer and holds the continent’s largest gas reserves of more than 200 trillion cubic feet. The country seeks to develop the commodity to boost supplies to industries, power plants and exports, and to end routine flaring by 2030.

“In addition to boosting exports, the project will reduce fertiliser imports by 30%, saving Nigeria approximately $200 million in foreign exchange annually,” Ella said.

Moody’s upgrades Ghana’s ratings to ‘Caa2’

On Friday, global credit ratings agency Moody’s upgraded Ghana’s long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings to “Caa2” from “Caa3” and “Ca,” respectively. It cited extensive debt treatment that has significantly alleviated the government’s financial burdens.

The agency also revised the West African country’s outlook to “positive” from “stable.”

The “positive outlook reflects the potential for liquidity risk to ease amid ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts supported by an IMF programme,” Moody’s said in a statement.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund staff and officials in Ghana reached an agreement on their third review of the country’s $3 billion loan programme.

In October, more than 90% of Ghana’s bondholders approved a $13 billion debt overhaul, paving the way for the gold and cocoa producer to emerge from its nearly $30 billion debt default in 2022.

Boeing will cut 17,000 jobs, delay the first deliveries of its 777X jet by a year and record $5 billion in losses in the third quarter.

Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO, said in a message to employees that the company must shrink its workforce “to align with our financial reality”.

The U.S. planemaker has continued to spiral after an ongoing strike by 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers shuttered production of its 737 MAX, 767 and 777 jets.

“We reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and to a more focused set of priorities. Over the coming months, we are planning to reduce the size of our total workforce by roughly 10 per cent. These reductions will include executives, managers and employees,” Ortberg’s message said.

US imposes sanctions on Iran’s oil sector over missile attack on Israel

The United States has imposed sanctions on companies and vessels that are allegedly engaged in trading and transporting Iranian oil, to punish Tehran for its recent missile attack on military sites in Israel.

The US Treasury and State Department announced the sanctions on Friday, as Israeli officials continue to pledge a forceful response to the Iranian attack.

Tehran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian general in Beirut.

“In the aftermath of Iran’s unprecedented October 1 attack against Israel, the United States made clear that we would impose consequences on Iran for its actions,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

“To that end, we are taking steps today to disrupt the flow of revenue the Iranian regime uses to fund its nuclear program and missile development, support terrorist proxies and partners, and perpetuate conflict throughout the Middle East.”