Afreximbank’s disclosed that the total loan approvals to Nigeria has now reached $5.5 billion, accounting for 26.8% of its African portfolio. This was made public by Dr George Elombi, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Governance and Legal Services, at the intra-African Trade Fair 2021 official Nigeria high-level roadshow in Lagos on Monday, according to The Sun. Dr. Elombi highlighted that the Africa Trade and Investment under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has likely taken on an even more important role as the framework for African economic recovery in the context of COVID-19. According to Dr. Elombi,…
Author: Temitope N.
Nigerians’ household expenditure has Increased to N54.84 trillion in nominal terms in the first half of 2021, representing a 13.7% increase when compared to N48.22 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2020. This was disclosed in the recently released Expenditure and Income GDP report, by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the report, the expenses incurred by Nigerian households increased by 13.7% when compared with the corresponding period of 2020 However, in contrast with the second half of last year shows a 7.45% decline compared to N59.25 trillion. Household final expenditure consists of expenditure, including imputed…
Brazil Stock Exchange (B3), one of the world’s few exchanges trading Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is exploring ways to provide data inputs for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). Luis Kondic, managing director of listed products and data at B3, claimed that the stock exchange is considering providing oracles to bridge external data with Brazil’s projected CBDC, the digital real. The executive provided his remarks at a CBDC-related online event hosted by the Central Bank of Brazil on Sept. 30, according to reports. “We are looking at it and evaluating the best ways to interact and participate…
The Nigerian Exchange Group Plc recently disclosed that it will list 1,964,115,918 shares by introduction on the main board of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The group said it had received regulatory approval from NGX Regulation Limited to trade under the ticker NGXGROUP to list by introduction at 50 kobo each at an indicative price of N17.17 per share. Listing by introduction implies the company is not raising capital (through IPO) immediately. It has also satisfied all regulatory requirements for listing. Speaking at the virtual Facts Behind the Listing presentation of NGX Group Plc on Monday in Lagos,…
The Securities Exchange and Commission of Thailand (SEC) has a license to an asset-backed token offering service based on the Ethereum blockchain. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based fintech firm Fraction Group, has received a license permitting it to list and trade tokens for fractional ownership of physical or digital assets, the firm announced Sept. 16. The license was granted through the Thai SEC’s official portal for initial coin offering (ICO) established back in 2018. The license lays out the foundation for Fraction’s upcoming service for asset digitization and fractionalization, referred to as an initial fraction offering (ICO).…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has again confirmed that the capital market possess the potentials to bridge the infrastructure gap in the country as well as aid economic development. This was established by Executive Commissioner Operations of the SEC, Mr Dayo Obisan at the annual conference/30th anniversary of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria with the theme: Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-Covid-19 economy, which was hosted Lagos weekend. Obisan added that there are a number of options that can be explored one of which is Sukuk that is directly linked to each project and…
Nigeria’s oil production sky rocketed marginally in September to an average of 1.25 million barrels per day from 1.24 million the previous month. This disclosure was made by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on the 2021 crude oil and condensate production. According to the report, the increase represented 0.8 per cent from the August production figure — but still among the lowest since January 2021. The production output is in contrast with the Reuters survey that oil output rose by 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September 2021. By implication, the development would continue to affect the…
A professor and financial expert, Uche Uwaleke, has bluntly stated that the constant devaluation of the naira will worsen poverty and unemployment in Nigeria. Uwaleke made the disclosure in reaction to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s call on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the naira to reflect the realities of the market. At the official market, the naira is changing at N411 to $1 and N570/$1 at the parallel market. Many believe the parallel market rate is a reflection of its true value. “As for the exchange rate, I think we need to move our rates to…
The Central Bank of Nigeria has established in its revised regulatory framework for Bank Verification Number operations that violators will be sanctioned. This was made known in a circular titled “Issuance of the revised regulatory framework for Bank Verification Number operations and watch-list for the Nigerian banking industry”, and addressed to all deposit money banks, mobile money operators, super agents and payment service providers. The circular listed watch-list stakeholders to include the CBN, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), banks, other financial institutions and bank customers. Part of the circular stated that “The following infractions by participants shall attract…
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that recalcitrant debtors have taken advantage the lack of prioritization of credit recovery matters by the Nigerian judicial system to frustrate debt recovery efforts of financial institutions in the country. Emefiele established this at a workshop for judicial officers on recent reforms of the banking financial services sectors in Nigeria. The Governor was represented by the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, Aisha Ahmad. It still has 7,902 outstanding obligors with a total outstanding loan of above N3.1trn, while 350 obligors alone account for over N2.053trn, with more…
The Nigerian naira has hit another low by 2.6% to N422 per dollar, hitting an all-time low at the Nigerian autonomous foreign exchange (NAFEX) rate — the default FX reference for official and legitimate transactions. The sharp decline came days after Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo called the CBN to allow the naira to reflect the realities of the market. Osinbajo had said the exchange rate is artificially low and deterring investors from bringing foreign exchange into the country. “Prof. Osinbajo is not calling for the devaluation of the Naira. He has at all times argued against a willy-nilly devaluation of the…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given a directive on the disposal of Non-Permissible Income (NPI) for Non-Interest Financial Institutions (NIFI). This was disclosed by the CBN in a statement signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, Chibuzo Efobi, said the guidelines were issued as part of efforts to standardise the treatment and disposal of NPI by NIFI in the country. The statement addressed to all Non-Interest Financial Institutions, said the NPI shall be put in a dedicated NPI account and shall not be mingled with the funds of non-interest banks. It reads: “In line with…
Bitmain, a Chinese manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment, has been directed to stop its business in China beginning from Oct. 11 following the crypto ban imposed by local authorities. In addition to China’s blanket ban on crypto operations, the company has attributed the move to stop shipping Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency mining rigs as a response to China’s carbon-neutral policies. According to Bitmain’s announcement: “From October 11, 2021, Antminer will stop shipping to mainland China. For customers in mainland China who have purchased long-term products, our staff will contact them to provide alternative solutions.” While the company is yet to…
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday has beckoned on Petroleum Tanker Drivers to, in the interest of Nigerian people, call off its planned strike action. A statement by Garba Deen Muhammad who is the Corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, noted that the strike is about the condition of roads in various parts of Nigeria which are used for the distribution of goods and services including petroleum products. In the report, even though it is not the responsibility of the NNPC to build or rehabilitate roads, any disruption in the distribution of petroleum products to different…
The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) says the nation’s debt profile is worrisome and unsustainable for the economy. Timothy Olawale, NECA director-general, according to Vanguard, said this during the weekend, advising the federal government to adopt the public-private-partnership (PPP) approach to carry out infrastructural developments. Earlier in September, the Debt Management Office (DMO) announced that Nigeria’s total public debt (federal and state governments) rose to N35.46 trillion at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2021 — an increase of N2.3 trillion in three months. Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, had defended the federal government’s borrowing plans,…
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said the country’s infrastructure has to increase by at least between five and seven per cent for it to stimulate productivity and sustainable growth for businesses. Mr Emefiele who was represented by the apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communication, Mr Osita Nwasinobi, made this disclosure in his keynote address at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria’s (FICAN) 30th-anniversary conference and awards which had the theme: “Financing Infrastructure and SMEs for Inclusive Growth in the Post-COVID-19 Economy,” in Lagos on Saturday. He expanciated that although the Micro, Small,…
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, has come out to explain that the lack of adequate revenue to finance both human and capital infrastructure is the major problem of Nigeria, not the current debt it owes. Dr zainab Ahmed made the remarks at the Public presentation and Breakdown of the Highlights of the 2022 Appropriation Bill to justify the current level of the federal government borrowing to finance the deficit of the budget. She established that with the federal government expected to spend N16 trillion in the proposed 2022 Budget, its expenses are minute to…
The Nigerian Government has agreed that all visitors entering Nigeria, including the partially vaccinated and unvaccinated are required to do COVID-19 PCR tests on days 2 and 7 after arrival, while fully vaccinated people, will not be required to undergo 7 days isolation, but just a COVID test after 2 days. This was made known by the Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, in a statement on Friday. They added that the protocol would be effective from Monday, October 25, 2021. Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated in-bound passengers will also be…
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has unveiled that Nigeria maintained an inflation decline for about seven months, due to the introduction of policies by the government which impacted positively on most of the commodities. This disclosure was made by Mr Simon Harry, Statistician-General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday. He praised the Federal Government’s policies, which he said, reflected in the improved consumer price index. “Government is very conscious of the effects of the COVID-19 that have impacted negatively on the economy and as result, the economic sustainability plan that was…
The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele has established that Nigeria’s import of petroleum products using 30% of its forex can be reversed by the successful commencement of operations at the Dangote Refinery. Emefiele made this known during a foreign investors’ meeting held in New York while answering a number of questions raised by foreign investors. The questions hovered around Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, exchange rate, balance of payments and the country’s increasing foreign debts. The CBN Governor stated that the commencement of the Dangote refinery will be a major saver of foreign exchange for Nigeria, while also insisting that Nigerians…