Economy
FG to Accelerate Nigeria’s Emergence as Top 20 Global Economy by 2025
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The federal government has promised to continue to support and implement policies aimed at accelerating the emergence of Nigeria as a top 20 global economy by 2025.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made this known in Abuja on Monday when she received the Revised Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan (2021-2025) from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
She explained that the review of the plan underscores the fact that capital market growth resonates with the current administration’s unwavering commitment to deepening and re-positioning the country’s financial markets as a key anchor to achieving a private sector-led development of the economy as encapsulated in the National Development Plan objectives.
According to her, under her watch, the Ministry has supported the Capital Market Master Plan implementation efforts since inception, adding that the scheme represents the collective aspirations of the capital market community which is focused on driving initiatives geared towards growing and deepening the market, noting that that the initiatives are being implemented with the ultimate goal of accelerating the emergence of Nigeria as a top 20 global economy by the year 2025.
Mrs Ahmed commended the agency and other stakeholders for the laudable accomplishments so far recorded in the implementation journey, especially in the areas of dematerialization of share certificates, e- dividend mandate, facilitation of access to alternative investments like Sukuk and specialized funds, review of CAMA and ongoing review of the ISA, demutualization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, enhancing the commodities eco-system, design of a National Savings Strategy among others.
“Our capital market is growing and evolving. To sustain this growth and eventually transform it into a world-class capital market, transparency and investor confidence are key.
“Investor confidence will accelerate the growth of our market and increase both domestic and foreign investor participation. To this end, we will continue to support and strengthen the regulator to effectively do its job of regulating and developing the capital market.
“I see the capital market as an important driver of our economic growth objectives and we will continue to support efforts to position our market where it deserves to be – a capital market that will broaden access to economic prosperity by enabling the emergence of financially responsible citizens, accelerate wealth creation and wealth distribution, provide capital to small and medium scale enterprises, and catalyse housing finance.
“As you chart the course for the next phase of the Capital Market Master Plan’s implementation, I assure you of this Administration’s support and look forward to working with you and other stakeholders in the financial market to realize the plan’s outcomes,” she said.
The Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said through the implementation of the 10-year Nigeria Capital Market Master Plan (2015 – 2025), the commission and other stakeholders have recorded significant milestones over the years.
He listed some of them to include full dematerialization of certificates, direct cash settlement, recapitalization of CMOs, E-Dividend Mandate Management System, National Savings Strategy to grow domestic risk capital formation, the Roadmap on Enhancing Commodities Trading Ecosystem, Establishment of the West African Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) to encourage the integration of capital markets in West Africa, among others.
The DG stated that the Master Plan document recommends a periodic review of the assumptions, goals and objectives of the Plan to better align it with current realities and innovations in the global financial system.
As part of the review, he said the agency embarked on a comprehensive review of the Plan, driven by PriceWaterHouseCoopers with funding support from Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA).
The main objective of reviewing the Master Plan, he noted, is to produce an updated version of the document primarily to engage stakeholders on the current level of market development and opportunities for further capital growth; review and update the assumptions and vision of the CMMP and develop targets for the various thematic areas of the CMMP.
Other objectives of the review are to introduce a Strategy Map and Key Performance Indicators for the CMMP and use the Balanced Scorecard Approach for performance measurement; align existing and derive new initiatives based on targets and strategic objectives; develop an implementation plan for initiatives with clear milestones, deliverables, timelines, resource requirements, dependencies, and identify challenges, opportunities and risks associated with the CMMP implementation and recommend ways of effective and more efficient implementation.
He said, “The comprehensive review of the Master Plan is now complete and a Revised Capital Market Master Plan has been produced.
“The revised Plan has incorporated the views and aspirations of stakeholders in our market as well as best practices globally to produce a well-articulated strategic plan for the next four years.
“The revised Capital Market Master Plan is designed to chart the strategic position and future direction of the capital markets while providing both the SEC and market participants clarity on the vision of the capital market and the road map required to facilitate a conducive business environment to encourage innovation, investment, growth and expansion of economic and employment opportunities in our country.
“Our vision is to be Africa’s most modern, efficient, and internationally competitive market that catalyses Nigeria’s economic growth and development. We believe the Plan provides a solid roadmap for achieving this vision as we collaborate with all our stakeholders under your continued support and proven leadership.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Five securities pulled down the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.72 per cent on Friday, August 14, cutting the market capitalisation by N47.04 billion to N2.689 trillion from N2.727 trillion, and slicing the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 78.37 points to 4,465.83 from 4,532.03 points.
11 Plc led the price decliners yesterday after its price went down by N15.03 to N230.00 per share from N245.03 per share. MRS Oil Plc weakened by N13.20 to N118.80 per unit from N132.00 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc slid by N10.30 to N99.46 per share from N109.76 per share, Okitipupa Plc fell by N6.99 to N270.01 per unit from N277.00 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc dipped by N2.00 to N20.00 per share from N22.00 per share.
Business Post reports that the OTC securities exchange recorded four gainers during the session, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which appreciated by N9.85 to N169.85 per unit from N160.00 per unit. IPWA Plc gained 70 Kobo to close at N10.41 per share versus N9.71 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc rose by 4 Kobo to 54 Kobo per unit from 50 Kobo per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc improved by 1 Kobo to N2.06 per share from N2.05 per share.
The volume of trades soared by 64.8 per cent to 3.2 million units from the previous session’s 1.9 million units, the value of transactions jumped by 78.2 per cent to N375.7 million from N210.8 million, and the number of deals surged by 35.3 per cent to 46 deals from 34 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.0 million units exchanged for N5.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The dominance of the bears on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was consolidated on Friday, after further inflicting an 0.12 per cent loss at the close of trading activity.
All the key sectors of the local stock market turned red yesterday as a result of sustained profit-taking, though the industrial goods space was flat.
The insurance counter lost 1.49 per cent, the energy index shed 0.63 per cent, the consumer goods segment declined by 0.46 per cent, and the banking sector tumbled by 0.23 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 398.18 points to 242,619.20 points from 243,017.38 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N257 billion to N156.624 trillion from N156.881 trillion.
Fortis Global Insurance lost 9.31 per cent to trade at N2.63, Omatek depreciated by 9.04 per cent to N1.51, John Holt slipped by 9.00 per cent to N9.10, RT Briscoe slumped by 7.94 per cent to N11.60, and Dangote Sugar went down by 7.79 per cent to N64.55.
But International Energy Insurance gained 9.92 per cent to sell for N5.32, Trans-Nationwide Express appreciated by 9.65 per cent to N2.84, Guinea Insurance improved by 6.67 per cent to 80 Kobo, Regency Alliance grew by 6.25 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Japaul jumped by 5.36 per cent to N2.95.
The market breadth index remained negative, with 30 price losers and 21 price gainers, indicating weak investor sentiment.
The level of activity contracted yesterday, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals down by 66.67 per cent, 10.65 per cent, and 5.60 per cent, respectively.
This was because market participants transacted 1.4 billion shares worth N45.3 billion in 39,134 deals during the session compared with the 4.2 billion shares valued at n50.7 billion traded in 41,454 deals on Thursday.
Fortis Global Insurance was the most active equity for the day, with a turnover of 874.1 million units valued at N2.4 billion, Cornerstone Insurance sold 100.3 million units worth N506.5 million, Universal Insurance traded 56.7 million units for N44.5 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 53.3 million units worth N402.9 million, and MTN Nigeria transacted 44.6 million units valued at N31.4 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira maintained stability against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, August 14, according to data obtained by Business Post.
At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency remained unchanged at N1,357.65/$1, but lost N6.05 against the Pound Sterling to trade at N1,840.10 versus the previous session’s N1,834.05/£1, and depreciated against the Euro by N4.70 to sell for N1,571.70/€1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,567.00/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the Dollar at N1,395/$1, but gained N3 at the GTBank forex desk to quote at N1,364/$1 versus Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,367/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX transactions surged by 51.2 per cent to $119.594 million from $79.097 million. These transactions were executed in 137 deals, higher than the 98 deals recorded a day earlier.
FX inflows from exporters, remittances and other sources, alongside demand from importers and individuals requiring Dollars, continue to shape market conditions.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market recovered yesterday after experiencing a downturn in the previous sessions following reports that index provider MSCI has proposed new “non-operating company” screens for its Global Investable Market Indexes. Although the framework does not explicitly target cryptocurrency, it evaluates whether a company’s core operating assets constitute more than 50 per cent of its total holdings.
Heavy digital asset treasury adopters, including Strategy and Metaplanet, fail the proposed criteria and face potential removal during upcoming index rebalancings. While inclusion in major equity benchmarks previously allowed passive index funds and ETFs to automatically acquire these stocks, their removal could trigger forced institutional selling.
Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.7 per cent to $0.07, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $611.34, Ethereum (ETH) added 0.4 per cent to trade at $1,879.65, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 0.2 per cent to $63,045.87, with Ripple (XRP), the US Dollar Tether (USDT), and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) flat at $1.00, respectively.
But Cardano (ADA) lost 1.2 per cent to trade at $0.1795, TRON (TRX) shed 0.4 per cent to finish at $0.3323, and Solana (SOL) declined by 0.2 per cent to $75.60.
