BDC Operators Want IMTOs Cash at N330/$

By Adedapo Adesanya The average price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, surged by 230.8 per cent on a year-to-year basis to N626.70 per litre in August 2023 versus N189.46 per litre in the same period of 2022. This is according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch (August 2023), which showed that the average retail price increased on a month-on-month basis by 4.39 per cent from N600.3 per litre in July. The skyrocketing cost of petrol came as President Bola Tinubu, during his inauguration speech on May 29,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira closed mixed at the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, depreciating against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments and appreciating in the parallel market amid a new leadership at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). On Friday, the CBN announced the resumption of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the next head of the apex bank, in an acting capacity pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate. He is taking over the role amid a worrying FX market, high inflation, and increased call to halt interest rate hikes which currently

By Adedapo Adesanya All is not well with the Naira in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria, with its exchange rate against the Dollar nearing N1000. At the black market on Thursday, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N25 to sell at N995/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N970/$1. It was a similar story with the local currency in the P2P wing of the forex market as it lost N22 against the greenback yesterday to quote at N992/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, has said the country is unable to clear up to $6.8 billion of overdue forward payments in the foreign exchange market, noting that this is preventing the Naira from gaining stability. Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mr Edun lamented that the country’s FX market is facing a serious liquidity crisis due to low flows. “The issue we have now is that the market is not liquid enough,” he said in an interview in New York, per Bloomberg. The Minister said that resolving the overdue contracts would allow the Naira

Superbet, the largest omni-channel sports betting and gaming operator in Romania, and Blackstone have announced a €175 million strategic minority equity investment in Superbet by funds managed or advised by Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities business. Founder and Group CEO of Superbet, Sacha Dragic, stated that, “We look forward to our strategic partnership with the Blackstone team. “Blackstone’s equity investment and extensive experience will help us maintain and grow our market-leading position in Romania and pursue expansion opportunities in Central Eastern Europe and globally.” Andrea Valeri, senior managing director of Blackstone, said, “We look forward to working with Sacha Dragic and the

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has said it would recover £200 million stashed in the United States as it embarks on a massive recovery of assets belonging to the country. The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami, disclosed this while speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, USA. Speaking on the fight against corruption and illicit financial flow in the country, he said, “We are looking at the possibility of recovering further £200 million among others but then, that does not mean they are not other associated assets being pursued,

By Dipo Olowookere One of Nigeria’s most Innovative banking services providers, Heritage Bank, has rewarded 24 loyal customers in its on-going Happy Days Promo with 42-inch LED flat screen TV at a monthly raffle draws held in Lagos yesterday. The bank recently launched the six-month promo to reward customers who made N20,000 deposits into its account on a monthly basis with a 42–inch LED flat screen TV, a customer with N100,000 deposit at the end of April will be qualified to win N1 million while a customer with N500,000 deposit at the end of May will be qualified  to win

By Emmanuel Nwachukwu The outbreak of the novel COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world economy negatively and has led to significant shifts in customer needs and behaviour as well as reconfiguration business operating models. The resultant socio-economic reality has created unprecedented challenges for sellers, thus making businesses explore new territories to maintain relevance and grow sales, with digital tools and e-commerce platforms proving crucial in achieving these objectives. An Adobe report released mid-July revealed that the pandemic has massively accelerated the growth of e-commerce, as data showed total online spending in May hit $82.5 billion, up 77% year-on-year. The report

By Cowry Asset In the just concluded week, the local currency appreciated week-on-week in most foreign exchange market segments. The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by at the Investors & Exporters Forex Window (I&E FXW) by 0.06 percent to N360.25/USD while it weakened by 0.05 percent to N329.42/USD at the interbank market (NIFEX). This was despite injections by the CBN worth $195 million into the foreign exchange market of which $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $50 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $45 million was sold for invisibles. The Naira however closed steady

By Adedapo Adesanya Former Manchester United Football Club legend, Wayne Rooney, has retired from playing football to become the full-time manager of Derby County FC. The Championship club confirmed the appointment of the former Everton FC and England international in a statement issued on Friday. Derby confirmed the 35-year-old former United and England forward has agreed to a permanent deal until 2023, having succeeded Phillip Cocu on an interim basis last November. “We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Wayne Rooney as our new manager,” Derby County’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Stephen Pearce said in a statement on the

By Dipo Olowookere The management of AIICO Insurance Plc has revealed the strategy it intends to deploy to boost its share price on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The Managing Director/CEO of the underwriting firm, Mr Babatunde Fajemirokun, while addressing some market participants recently, said his team will adopt a regular management/shareholders engagement policy to support the equity price of the company. However, he stressed that this plan will likely kick off in 2021, noting that the platform would be used to update investors on the various plans being put in place by the management to improve

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Federal Government on Thursday, held the debut green bond public private advisory group meeting as part of steps to issue its first sovereign green bond. The meeting was hosted by the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, in partnership with her counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun. Speaking at the event, Mrs Mohammed explained that the advisory group will provide advice and also identify likely impediments to the issuance process and provide guidance on how projects can be certified ‘Green.’ She said the group will give support to the Federal Ministry of Environment