The director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde urged developing countries on Monday to shore up their defences, especially foreign exchange reserves, against a possible European recession next year.
Lagarde was speaking during a visit to Nigeria in which she met President Goodluck Jonathan and Finance Minister Ngosi Okonjo-Iwaela and praised their planned economic reforms.

European finance ministers were discussing ways of boosting IMF resources to build a better firewall against the debt

Cocoa purchases declared to Ghana's Cocobod reached 448,528 tonnes by Dec. 8 since the start of the season on Oct. 14, data from the industry regulator showed on Tuesday.

The figures compare with 421,711 tonnes of official purchases recorded during the corresponding eight weeks of the previous season, which ran from Oct. 1 to Nov. 25, according to the data seen by Reuters.

Total purchases for the week ending Dec. 8 were 36,822