Economy
2025 Budget Scales Second Reading at Senate 24 Hours After Presentation
By Dipo Olowookere
The 2025 budget of N49.7 trillion presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday scaled the second reading at the Senate on Thursday.
The 2025 Appropriation Bill christened Restoration Budget was passed and referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriation headed by Mr Olamilekan Adeola.
This stage will allow for the committee to scrutinise the budget by inviting the different ministries, departments and agencies under the federal government to defend their spending proposals for the fiscal year.
Business Post reports that the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the plenary today, directed the committee to report back to the Senate within four weeks and then adjourned the plenary till January 14.
During debates on the 2025 Appropriation Bill on Thursday at the upper chamber of the parliament, the Deputy Senate President, Mr Barau Jibrin, expressed optimism on the budget, saying it would boost investor confidence, especially because of the attention given to insecurity.
“We all know the problems we are facing in terms of insecurity. Now, the government has taken steps to deal with it frontally. This is why defence and security got the highest allocation of N4.91 trillion. It shows the readiness of the government to deal with the problem of insecurity once and for all.
“What do you need after tackling insecurity? For a country that creates that environment of peace, what goes next is, of course, making a developing environment for the economy to thrive and for business – the private sector to thrive,” he stated.
On his part, the Senate Leader, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, said, “The 2025 budget has seen a significant increase of 74.18 per cent, reaching N47.9 trillion in nominal terms, signalling a bold fiscal strategy aimed at addressing persistent infrastructure gaps and development challenges.
“However, in dollar terms, the budget contracted by 23.22 per cent, dropping from $36.7 billion in 2024 to $28.18 billion in 2025. This reduction in real value limits the potential impact of the budget on economic growth and the population’s well-being.”
He stated that the 2025 Appropriation Bill would “consolidate the key policies instituted to restructure our economy, boost human capital development, increase the volume of trade and investments, bolster oil and gas production, get our manufacturing sector humming again, and ultimately increase the competitiveness of our economy.”
In the 2025 fiscal year, Mr Tinubu projected a revenue of N34.82 trillion, with the N13.0 trillion deficit to be financed from fresh borrowings.
Next year, the government intends to use N15.81 trillion for debt servicing, with crude oil production at 2.06 million barrels per day, an exchange rate of N1,500/$1, and an inflation rate of 15 per cent.
According to the President, “These projections are based on the following observations: (i) Reduced importation of petroleum products alongside increased export of finished petroleum products, (ii) Bumper harvests, driven by enhanced security, reducing reliance on food imports, (iii) Increased foreign exchange inflows through Foreign Portfolio Investments, and (iv) Higher crude oil output and exports, coupled with a substantial reduction in upstream oil and gas production costs.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.46 per cent gain on Thursday, December 19, boosted by three stocks, which closed higher at the close of transactions.
Nipco Plc improved its closing price by N13.64 during the trading day to N150.10 per share compared with the preceding trading day’s N136.46 per share, Geo-Fluids Plc gained 33 Kobo to end the session at N3.88 per unit versus Wednesday’s closing value of N3.55 per unit, and UBN Property Plc appreciated by 16 Kobo to settle at N1.89 per share, in contrast to midweek’s closing price of N1.73 per share.
On the flip side, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc depreciated by 1 kobo to trade at 17 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding trading session’s 18 Kobo per unit.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation of the bourse increased by N4.73 billion to finish the trading day at N1.034 trillion compared with the midweek trading session’s N1.029 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 13.77 points to wrap the session at 3,017.07 points compared with 3,003.30 points recorded in the previous session.
On Thursday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 603.9 per cent to 2.3 million units from the 59.624 units recorded a day earlier.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 48.9 per cent to N2.3 million from N4.6 million as the number of deals declined by 12 per cent to 22 deals from the 25 deals carried out on Wednesday.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.3 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units sold for N5.3 million.
Aradel Holdings Plc also remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units valued at N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.3 million units sold for N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira improved its value against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, December 19 by 0.18 per cent or N12.82 to sell at N1,541.38/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s N1,554.20/$1.
Equally, the Nigerian Naira strengthened its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N17.84 to trade at N1,936.23/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,954.07/£1.
In the same vein, the local currency appreciated against the Euro at the same market segment by N77.46 to quote at N1,537.43/€1 versus midweek’s closing rate of N1,614.89/€1.
Also, the Naira gained N10 against the greenback during the trading session to settle at N1,650/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s closing value of N1,666/$1.
A look at the digital currency market showed that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) plunged below the $100,000 level to the $96,000 mark on Thursday, triggered by the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell disappointing investors with his comments on US interest rate cut expectations for next year.
US Federal Reserve’s projection of a slower pace of rate cuts for next year and Mr Powell’s hawkish tone on rising inflation expectations led to a broad-market selloff across assets like crypto.
Business Post reports that BTC lost 4.9 per cent yesterday to quote at $96,330.89.
Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 13.7 per cent to sell at $0.313, Cardano (ADA) slid by 10.5 per cent to trade at $0.8796, Solana (SOL) slid by 9.7 per cent to finish at $189.95, and Ethereum (ETH) recorded a loss of 9.2 per cent to finish at $3,342.61.
Further, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 8.1 per cent to settle at $99.51, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 5.1 per cent to close at $666.49, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 4.5 per cent fall to end the trading day at $2.25, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) lost 0.02 per cent to quote at $0.9994, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued its positive run on Thursday with a 0.77 per cent growth as its year-to-date (YtD) return increased to 35.41 per cent.
This means that the nation’s stock market has grown above the inflation rate of 34.60 per cent recorded in November 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and a benchmark interest of 27.50 per cent.
Business Post reports that the local bourse has remained resilient amid the challenging business environment in Nigeria, giving investors succour.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 770.56 points to 101,248.02 points from 100,477.46 points and the market capitalisation increased by N467 billion to close at N61.375 trillion compared with Wednesday’s N60.908 trillion.
There were 47 appreciating shares and 17 depreciating shares on Thursday, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Honeywell Flour, UAC Nigeria and Aradel Holdings gained 10.00 per cent each to close at N5.50, N27.50, and N730.40 apiece, NAHCO expanded by 9.96 per cent to N41.95, and MRS Oil rose by 9.96 per cent to N175.60.
Conversely, Tantalizers declined by 9.77 per cent to N1.57, Multiverse slumped by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, John Holt lost 9.73 per cent to trade at N5.88, Caverton crashed by 7.78 per cent to N2.26, and Omatek shrank by 7.35 per cent to 63 Kobo.
A total of 411.4 million stocks valued at N26.3 million exchanged hands in 10,260 deals during the session versus the 389.7 million stocks worth N9.2 billion transacted in 9,573 deals at midweek, implying a jump in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 5.57 per cent, 185.87 per cent and 7.18 per cent, respectively.
The most traded equity for the day was Universal Insurance with 38.2 million units valued at N14.9 million, AIICO traded 21.0 million units worth N31.2 million, GTCO transacted 20.4 million units for N1.1 billion, UBA exchanged 18.6 million units worth N623.0 million, and Prestige Assurance sold 15.6 million units valued at N12.6 million.
When the market closed for the session at 2:30 pm, the insurance index was up by 3.79 per cent, the banking sector grew by 0.73 per cent, the consumer goods counter improved by 0.69 per cent, and the energy space rose by 0.32 per cent, while the industrial goods sector depreciated by 0.63 per cent.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking6 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN