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
Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.
The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.
During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active 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 worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.
This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.
Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.
The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.
As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.
Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.
Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.
If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.
At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.
On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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