Economy
2016 Budget: MDAs in Non-Implementation Mess
By Dipo Olowookere
Barely one month to the implementation of the capital budget for 2016, several Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are yet to come to terms with the current economic recession by not implementing the capital budget to the letter and spirit of the 2016 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly, Economic Confidential can report authoritatively.
Foremost among the Ministries is the Ministry of Budget and National Planning with the highest allocation of N1.14 trillion, having a capital vote of N404.86 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N142.40bn but nothing to show at the time of writing this report.
Recall that the capital budget is more than the total budget for Agriculture, Health, Youth and Sports combined!
Facts reaching Economic Confidential reveals that the department of Monitoring and Evaluation of the ministry have been busy inspecting almost completed projects initiated by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, while those initiated by the current administration are yet to take off, says an official who pleaded anonymity, despite the fact that they were captured in the 2016 budget Act.
Other Ministries who have shown lacklustre attitude to the implementation of the capital projects for 2016 budget are Ministry of Interior with a whopping N513.65 billion and N61.71bn for capital projects and a recurrent expenditure of N451.94bn.
As for Interior Ministry, no appreciable progress has been made as what goes on there is business as usual. This is closely followed by the ministry of Education with N480.27bn, and a capital budget of N35.43bn and a recurrent expenditure of N444.84bn.
Even though arrangements were made in the 2016 appropriation Act to settle the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the respective federal government Universities are yet to receive such monies, thereby paving way for imminent industrial action by the universities lecturers, which had in the past paralyzed the educational system in the country.
The same cannot be said about the ministry of Power, Works and Housing as it has followed up with project initiation and implementation.
With a budget of N456.93 billion for 2016 and a capital allocation of N422.96 billion, the ministry has embarked upon several projects, which if completed, would impact positively on the lives of Nigerians, notably the roads.
The Ministry of Defence is rated number five in the allocation of 2016 budget as it garnered a total of N443.07bn with a capital budget of N130.86 bn.
The ministry has been grappling with projects in the three formations of the armed forces, namely the Army, Navy and the Air Force as the releases are not coming as and when due.
Health Ministry is number six in the allocation of budget for 2016 with N250bn.
With the much mouthed taking care of maternal and child mortality, HIV/AIDS pandemic and Primary Health Care across the country, a capital allocation of N28.65billion was granted to the ministry.
Apart from the current rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja which had prompted the redirection of all flights to Kaduna, no meaningful projects have been embarked upon by the Ministry of Transportation.
Meanwhile, a total budget of N202.34bn was allocated in 2016 with a capital expenditure of N188.67bn and a recurrent of N13.66bn.
The Ministry becomes number seven in the highest allocation for 2016. The office of the National Security Adviser where all security pools are hosted had a total budget of N88.87bn with a capital allocation of N32.08bn, becomes the number eight of all MDAs with a recurrent expenditure of N56.79bn.
Findings equally show that no meaningful project has been embarked upon by the office as far as budget implementation is concerned. Agriculture, Youth and Sports each have a budget of N75.97bn and N75.47bn respectively.
They are tagged numbers 9 and 10. While the capital allocation for Agric Ministry stands at N46.17bn, the youth and Sports counterpart has N4.66bn, with a recurrent of N70.81 bn.
The ministry that has the least allocation is Special Duties with N65 million for 2016 and designated at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
It has no capital vote for 2016. Economic Confidential recalls that the thrust of the 2016 budget was the recovery and revitalization of the economy to take it out of recession, but the activities of most MDAs are a far cry from what is envisaged.
http://economicconfidential.com/2017/02/budget-2016-mdas-implementation/
By Adedapo Adesanya
Food Concepts Plc neutralized the gains recorded by three securities, returning the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into the negative territory with a 0.27 per cent loss on Thursday, December 4.
Yesterday, the share price of the parent company of Chicken Republic and PieXpress declined by 34 Kobo to sell at N3.15 per unit compared with the previous day’s N3.49 per unit.
This shrank the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N5.72 billion to N2.136 billion from N2.142 trillion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 9.57 points to 3,571.53 points from 3,581.10 points.
Business Post reports that Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by 50 Kobo to N38.50 per share from N38.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained 29 Kobo to sell at N55.79 per unit versus N55.50 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc added 5 Kobo to close at N4.60 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N4.55 per share.
Trading data indicated that the volume of securities recorded at the session surged by 6,885.3 per cent to 4.3 million units from the 61,570 units posted a day earlier, the value of securities increased by 10,301.7 per cent to N947.2 million from N3.3 million, and the number of deals went up by 146.7 per cent to 37 deals from the 15 deals achieved in the previous trading session.
At the close of business, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 5.8 billion units for N16.4 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units worth N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units valued at N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
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