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
Three bellwether stocks lifted the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.62 per cent on Friday, December 12 with the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumping by 22.20 points to 3,600.43 points from 3,578.23 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N13.28 billion to close at N2.154 trillion from the previous day’s N2.140 trillion.
During the session, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N2.53 to close at N39.71 per share compared with the previous day’s N37.18 per share, Geo-Fluids Plc added 35 Kobo to its price to finish at N5.00 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N4.65 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by 23 Kobo appreciation to sell at N60.23 per share versus N60.00 per share.
It was observed that yesterday, the price of Golden Capital Plc went down by N1.05 to N9.45 per unit from N10.50 per unit, and UBN Propertiy Plc declined by 21 Kobo to N2.01 per share from the N2.22 per share it was traded a day earlier.
There was a significant improvement in the level of activity for the day, as the volume of transactions increased by 6.2 per cent to 37.4 million units from the previous day’s 35.2 million units, the value of trades went up by 265.1 per cent to N4.9 billion from N1.4 billion, and the number of deals soared by 13.80 per cent to 33 deals from 29 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the last trading day of this week as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, the second spot was taken by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units traded for N9.5 billion, and third space was occupied by a new comer in MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most active 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 valued at N420.3 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 537.0 million units sold for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The bullish run on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued on Friday with a further 1.00 per cent growth buoyed by gains recorded by Guinness Nigeria, Champion Breweries, and others.
Data showed that the consumer goods space expanded by 1.53 per cent during the last trading session of the week, as the insurance counter grew by 0.51 per cent, and the industrial goods sector marginally gained 0.01 per cent.
However, the banking index depreciated by 0.54 per cent due to a pocket of profit-taking, and the energy industry shrank by 0.09 per cent, while the commodity sector closed flat.
Guinness Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N217.80, Morison Industries rose by 9.84 per cent to N4.69, Champion Breweries jumped by 9.69 per cent to N14.15, Austin Laz grew by 9.66 per cent to N2.27, and C&I Leasing appreciated by 9.62 per cent to N5.70.
Conversely, eTranzact lost 10.00 per cent to finish at N12.60, Chellarams slumped by 9.00 per cent to N13.20, Eunisell depleted by 9.89 per cent to N75.15, Africa Prudential moderated by 9.77 per cent to N12.00, and DAAR Communications decreased by 9.18 per cent to 89 Kobo.
The busiest stock on Friday was Access Holdings with 107.6 million units sold for N2.2 billion, Consolidated Hallmark traded 59.9 million units worth N245.8 million, Zenith Bank transacted 48.2 million units valued at N3.1 billion, Transcorp Power transacted 42.8 million units for N13.1 billion, and Champion Breweries exchanged 36.4 million units valued at N510.2 million.
At the close of business, a total of 602.8 million units worth N30.7 billion exchanged hands in 20,550 deals yesterday, in contrast to the 529.7 million units valued at N12.3 billion traded in 18,159 deals on Thursday, representing a surge in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 13.80 per cent, 149.59 per cent, and 13.17 per cent apiece.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) soared during the session by 1,485.89 points to 149,436.48 points from 147,950.59 points and the market capitalisation moved up by N945 billion to N95.264 trillion from N94.319 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
An intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the foreign exchange (FX) market eased the pressure on the Naira on Friday.
The apex bank sold forex to banks and other authorised dealers in the official window to defend the domestic currency, helping to calm the FX demand pressure, with the Nigerian currency appreciating against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 0.11 per cent or N1.57 to sell at N1,454.50/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,456.07/$1.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N3.95 to close at N1,946.15/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,950.11/£1 but lost 10 Kobo on the Euro to quote at N1,706.46/€1 compared with the N1,706.36/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
At the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar during the session at N1,470/$1 and also traded flat at N1,463/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
Despite the sigh of relief, demand pressures outweighed the robust supply from the CBN and inflow from offshore players looking to participate at the OMO bills auction.
Gross FX reserves increased for the twenty fifth consecutive week, growing by a strong $396.84 million week-on-week to $45.44 billion.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday as pressure remained after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday, which hinted at a possible rate cut pause in January. As a result, markets now expect only two rate cuts in 2026 instead of three.
However, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who was against a December rate cut, said he expects more in 2026 than the current median projection.
Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 5.1 per cent to $3,090.61, Solana (SOL) declined by 4.5 per cent to $132.79, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 3.8 per cent to $0.4103, and Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 2.5 per cent to trade at $0.1373.
In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.4 per cent to sell at $90,342.74, Litecoin (LTC) tumbled by 1.9 per cent to $81.86, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.6 per cent to $886.93, and Ripple (XRP) slipped by 0.5 per cent to $2.02, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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