Economy
18 African Countries Grew GDP Above 5% in 2017—AfDB
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has revealed that in 2017, the average GDP growth in Africa was 3.6 percent, up from 2.2 percent in 2016.
According to him, last year, 18 African countries grew above 5 percent in 2017, and 37 others above 3 percent.
Mr Adesina further disclosed the average GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 4.1 percent in 2018 and 2019.
The AfDB boss rolled out these figures when the bank hosted the annual luncheon of diplomats accredited to Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan on Tuesday.
During the event, he urged the bank’s member countries to contribute to the 7th General Capital Increase to enable the institution to realise its development objectives.
Welcoming the diplomats on behalf of the Board of Directors, management and staff of the Bank Group, Mr Adesina shared perspectives on the performance of African economies, updated them on the institution’s activities and highlighted emerging economic issues for the Bank and the continent.
“The African Development Bank, your Bank, is reforming, innovating, leading and delivering more for Africa than ever before.
“With the strong support for a General Capital Increase by our Board of Directors, Governors of the Bank, and you, the Ambassadors representing our shareholder countries, Africa will indeed experience a much brighter and impactful future,” he said.
Mr Adesina said the continent remains resilient to global economic headwinds and climate shocks as related by the Bank’s 2018 Africa Economic Outlook published in Abidjan on January 17, 2018.
Bank makes impressive development impacts
In 2017, the Bank achieved impressive development impacts. Its ‘Light up and power Africa’ High 5 reached 4.4 million people with access to electricity.
Its ‘Feed Africa’ goal reached 8.5 million Africans with access to improved agriculture technologies, while its ‘Integrate Africa’ provided 14 million Africans with improved access to transport and the ‘Industrialize Africa’ provided 210,000 small businesses with access to financial services.
Also, the lender’s ‘Improving the quality of life’ High 5 provided 8.3 million Africans with improved access to water and sanitation.
Mr Adesina also shared important landmarks on the bank’s ongoing reforms and achievements over the past two years: achieving its highest annual disbursement ever in its history at $7.67 billion while maintaining its Triple ‘A’ rating by the major global rating agencies; investing $1.39 billion in 31 operations in the energy sector in 23 countries representing a 30 percent increase over 2017; launching its largest bond transaction, with a $2.5 billion 3-year global benchmark, followed by its largest ever 5-year global benchmark for $2 billion; and continues to grow its income, reversing a two-year declining trend; and recording a rise in 2016 in its net operating income to $556.6 million, which shot up to $855 million in 2017, and increased by almost 54 percent over 2016, and 73 percent increase over 2015.
Currently, the Bank is spearheading the development of the Desert-to-Power initiative to harness electricity from the sun all across the Sahel, designed to generate 10,000 MW of power, connect 250 million people to electricity, including providing 75 million people with off-grid systems.
A generous General Capital Increase will enable Bank to do more
The Bank is “reforming, changing, delivering and leading,” through the strong support it receives from it member countries, Mr Adesina said, adding that such support will be most needed during the General Capital Increase to help the Bank do more for Africa.
“At a time that we need to ramp up support to Africa for the SDGs, the Bank needs more resources through a General Capital Increase (GCI). The message could not have been heard louder than when the Ministers and Governors of the Bank from West and Central Africa came to the Bank recently. They unanimously supported the General Capital Increase for the Bank,” he said.
“The support of all shareholders will be crucial for the General Capital Increase of the Bank. The Bank should do more for Africa and we are working extremely hard to revamp the Bank, and put it in a much stronger position, with more highly capable staff and institutional capacity to deliver more … better and faster. Our ability to deliver in the past and now is a good indication that you can depend on us to deliver more in the future.”
Johannesburg to host Africa Investment Forum in November 2018
To mobilize African and global pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors, to invest in Africa, the Bank has launched the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) to be held November 7-9 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The transactional forum is expected to become Africa’s premier investment marketplace, Mr Adesina said, noting that several peer institutions have indicated their interest in participating in what could become Africa’s largest private-sector investment accelerator.
In his response, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Apostolic Nuncio to Côte d’Ivoire, Monsignor Joseph Spitieri, congratulated Mr Adesina on his 58th birthday and commended the Bank for helping pull people out of poverty.
“The success of your strategy encapsulated in the High 5s is testimony to your commitment to help people in Africa and reduce poverty,” the cleric said.
“We wish the Bank success in its endeavours to improve the lot of the most deprived people in Africa,” he added.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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