China has stated that it will forgive 23 interest-free loans to 17 African countries and will also provide food assistance to struggling nations. This was disclosed by the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi who announced the cancellations in a meeting last week at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to a post on the ministry’s website. The Minister failed to specify which countries owed the money or the amount of the loans, which it claimed had matured at the end of 2021. Nonetheless, this move is not new as Beijing has declared numerous rounds of debt forgiveness of interest-free loans to…
Author: Temitope Nlewemchi
South Africa’s unemployment rate fell to 33.9% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, from 34.5% in Q1 2022. This was disclosed in South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released today. The drop in the latest unemployment numbers is a welcome relief from the record highs reported for Q4 of 2021. This reduction in the unemployment rate was led mainly by job gains in the community and social services, trade, finance, and construction sectors. The report stated that 648, 000 more jobs were gained during the April to June period, bringing the total number of employed persons in the…
Nigeria’s Debt Management Office has disclosed that a strong and comparable revenue base will reduce the need for relatively large amounts of new borrowing for the Federal Government. This was stated by the Director-General of the DMO, Mrs Patience Oniha on Wednesday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). She also stated that Nigeria needs to earn higher revenue and manage its debt profile more efficiently so as to further reduce borrowings. Oniha stated that statistics show that relative to other countries, Nigeria’s revenue is low. “The World Bank’s World Economic Outlook for 2020 showed that Nigeria…
South Africa’s annual consumer inflation reached its highest level in 13 years, increasing to 7.8% in July from 7.4% in June, which is the third consecutive month as underlying price pressure increased. This is according to a statement posted on Statistics South Africa’s website today. South Africa is currently experiencing the fastest inflation under Lesetja Kganyago’s time as governor of the central bank, and it is still at a level last seen during the global financial crisis. The consumer price index (CPI) jumped by 1.5% between June and July this year. Based on Statistics SA, this was only the fourth…
Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure has recently concluded the first close of its real estate fund, Actis West Africa Real Estate Income Fund (NREIF) at US$45m. Anchor investors in the first close included Stanbic IBTC Pensions Managers, FCMB Pensions Limited, and Pensions Alliance Limited. The Fund will invest in market-leading, stabilized real estate assets across West Africa, with a special emphasis on Nigeria. All assets in the portfolio will attain a minimum standard of IFC Edge certification. NREIF will acquire and manage real estate assets across a range of sectors, including retail, office, industrial, education, and healthcare.…
Touch and Pay Technologies, the number one NFC & transport payments processor in Nigeria is officially announcing the launch of TAP Interstate (TAPIS). This service allows commuters to board interstate buses at any of the designated BRT terminals at Yaba, Ojota & Ewu(Mafoluku). TAPIS is a timely alternative for traveling interstate between Lagos – Abeokuta – Ibadan. They say time is money and no one appreciates waiting for so long at the park for a full bus before leaving for their destination. With TAPIS, the time of travelers is highly valued and they will no longer waste a minute waiting…
Apple said it has discovered two serious security flaws in iPhones, iPads, and Macs, which could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of devices. The company disclosed that the phones affected by the flaws include all iPhone 6s models and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation). To address this, Apple has released emergency security updates and advised the users of the devices to update their software to avoid attacks. Apple in a security update said the WebKit bug could be exploited if a…
Nigeria’s B2B e-commerce company, Omnibiz, said it has closed a $15 million pre-Series A round comprising $5 million in equity and $10 million in debt. Omnibiz said it will use the funding to double down on winning the loyalty of retail customers and driving their retention. The company also plans to begin its regional expansion this month into cities it cited during its seed raise last year: Abidjan, Takoradi, Kumasi, and Accra. The funding was led by Timon Capital. Other VC firms such as Ventures Platform, Lofty Inc, Chapel Hill Denham, Chandaria Capital, and Musha Ventures also participated. Some of these investors took part…
Neveah Limited, a commodity trading company dealing in the export of solid minerals and agricultural products, has announced the completion of its Series 5 Commercial Paper Issuance. The issuance was subscribed to by investors including asset managers and trustees. In addition, the issuance received the approval of FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited. According to the company in a statement, the successful completion of the Series 5 Commercial Paper Issuance affirms Neveah’s strategic objective to evolve into a leading dealer and exporter of world-class quality solid minerals and agro-commodities to its clients while ensuring a transparent business approach. The Chief Executive Officer,…
Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has posted a profit of N3.5 billion profit after tax for the half year of 2022, a significant jump from the loss record of N1.98 billion loss reported in the same period of last year. According to the financial report by the company, the increase in profit follows a significant rise in the premium income reported by the insurer. This is as inflation continues to witness a tremendous rise during the period, hovering at a double-digit figure. The report shows that the gross premium written and the gross premium income – from the life and non-life…
The total transactions done by domestic investors on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) grew by N1.490 trillion as against N273.16 billion recorded by foreign investors in the first seven months of 2022. According to the Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) July 2022 report which captured these transactions as well as trading figures from market operators, domestic transactions stood at N1.465 trillion in the first seven months of 2021 while foreign transactions stood at N435 billion in the same period. This meant that total domestic transactions on the NGX grew by 1.70% while foreign transactions dropped by…
FBN Holdings Plc has approved the appointment of Samson Oyewale Ariyibi and Patrick Iyamabo as executive directors of the company. According to a disclosure signed by Adewale Arogundade, acting company secretary, Samson will serve as the Executive Director, Investment Management and Oversight of FBN Holdings Plc, while Patrick will lead as the Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer of its flagship subsidiary, FirstBank of Nigeria Limited. The company however stated that that appointment is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the shareholders at the next annual general meeting of the company. Samson Oyewale Ariyibi is…
The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has disagreed with Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice on the payment of consultants for the Paris Club refund, calling such payments illegal. The NGF revealed this in a statement by its chairman, Gov. Kayode Fayemi, to State House correspondents on Wednesday after its meeting at State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, according to NAN. This comes after Malami told newsmen that the governors’ forum agreed on the engagement of consultants to provide certain services for them relating to the recovery of the Paris Club. The NGF stated that it extensively…
The Lagos State Government has said it will test run its Blue Rail Line train service project in December 2022. This was disclosed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday in Marina, at the launch of the last track beam (T-beam) for the blue line rail mass transit project, according to NAN. He added that the T-Beam of the blue line would be formally complete before December, after which the test run would start. Governor Sanwo-Olu stated that his administration is committed to ensuring the project is completed in time, as the two trains bought in China for the project will…
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has revealed that bank customers in Nigeria transferred a total of N9.2 trillion over mobile devices between January and July this year. The 7 months data just released showed a surge in the usage of mobile for financial transactions as the value of deals over the platform has surpassed N8 trillion recorded in the full year 2021. Year on year, the NIBSS data showed that the value of mobile transactions has grown by 155% in the 7 months of this year compared to the N3.6 trillion recorded in the same period last year. According…
Nigeria’s leading consumer goods companies earned a whopping sum of N504.7196 billion as revenue in the half year of 2022, outperforming their earnings in the corresponding period of 2021 of N126.08 billion. The companies are Dangote Sugar Plc, Nascon Plc, Unilever Plc, Nestle Plc, and Cadbury Nigeria Plc. According to the information contained in the half-year financial statements of these companies and compiled by Nairametrics research, the companies’ revenues rose by 33.3% compared to half the year 2021. The revenue growth recorded by the companies is remarkable, considering economic disruptions in the global economy occasioned by the ripple effect on…
Nigeria’s consumer price index (CPI), which measures the level of inflation in the country has risen by 170.2% under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, between June 2015 and July 2022. This is according to data tracked and analyzed by Nairalytics – the Research arm of Nairametrics. Recall that the president was sworn into office as the 15th President of the federation on Friday, 29 May 2015, following the presidential general election held, a position which he has occupied since then. During the period, Nigeria’s consumer price index rose from 171.6 index points recorded in May 2015 to 463.6 points in July…
The organization in its empirical survey across the 36 states of the federation expressed displeasure over certain state governments’ refusal to pay the monthly salaries accruable to civil service workers in their states as and when due. BudgIT, a civic-tech organization on advocacy for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s public finance, has revealed that at least 12 states owe their workers at least one month’s salary as of July 28, 2022. BudgIT conducted this empirical survey to spotlight and identify state governments that have consistently failed to meet the essential requirement of governance and employee compensation, thereby subjecting their workers…
Consequently, the Nigerian stock market closed negative amidst buy-interests and sell-offs as bears dominated proceedings for the sixth consecutive day. The All-share Index (ASI) depreciated by 2.25% to close at 49,350.71 index points as against 50,489.73 index points the previous day. In the same vein, the overall market Capitalization declined by N614 billion or 2.25% to close at N26.618 trillion as against N27.232 trillion the previous day. Market breadth closed negative with 16 losers against 12 gainers as Cornerstone Insurance Plc led the losers with 9.33% while NEM Insurance Plc led the few gainers with 10%. Market Indices NGX ASI: 49,350.71…
Positive sentiment witnessed on shares of some blue-chip firms quoted on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), Wednesday, has resulted in shareholders of Dangote Cement Plc recouping the N409 billion it lost the previous day’s trading session. Checks by Nairametrics showed that the cement firm gained by 9.96% to N265 per share from N241 the previous day adding exactly N409 billion it had lost the previous day (Tuesday, August 9) to the market capitalization. Further analysis showed Dangote Cement closed the day at N265 per share and N4.515 trillion in market capitalization on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) as against N241 per share and N4.106 trillion in market…