Brent Crude Plunges 5% on Looming Recession Fears

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange continued its weekly positive run as it extended its gains by 0.41 per cent in the 38th week of trading in this year. The bullish posture was supported by the improvements in the share prices of six companies admitted to the alternative stock exchange in Nigeria. This increased the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by  2.30 points from 805.65 points in the previous week to 808.95 points, as the market capitalisation of the bourse was relatively unchanged on a week-on-week at N1.140 trillion. Food Concepts Plc led the price gainers’ after

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria has repaid a total of $12.56 billion in external debt as of 2022, data from Intelpoint showed. According to the latest debt figures, Nigeria’s total public debt rose by 75.3 per cent to N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 against N49.85 trillion recorded in the first quarter of the year. The rise came as the country securitised the N22.71 trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the federal government. The overdraft is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the shortfalls in the government’s

By Adedapo Adesanya The International Finance Corporation (IFC), as part of moves to boost healthcare accessibility, has announced a $12.7 million loan to a Kenyan healthcare provider, Avenue Group Limited. The loan will support the company’s strategy to grow its healthcare offering and boost its patient reach by 20 per cent over the next five years. With the fresh injection, the company will develop new healthcare facilities and upgrade existing hospitals and clinics to expand its primary care footprint and improve its secondary and tertiary offerings. Avenue currently serves more than 430,000 patients a year and is part of the

By Dipo Olowookere One of the oldest banks in Nigeria, Union Bank Plc, may likely issue Eurobond worth $250 million this year to refinance some debts. Relying on “banking sources,” Reuters said the lender was working with Citigroup and Renaissance Capital to achieve this goal. Atlas Mara owns a 22.1 percent stake in Union Bank, which plans to tap opportunities to lend to agribusinesses. Last month, the Nigerian government floated its $2.5 billion Eurobond to refinance some local debts and with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directing banks with huge loans and low capital base not to pay dividends

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Department of State Services (DSS) has been directed to release or charge the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to court within one week. This directive was given on Thursday by a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja. Mr Emefiele was first appointed as the CBN chief in 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan and was reappointed for another term of five years by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari. Before the 2023 general elections in February, the apex bank came up with a Naira redesign policy, which the

By Dipo Olowookere On Friday, April 21, 2017, Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr Dakuku Peterside, was elected the new Chairman and President of the Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA). Since April 19, 2017, maritime administrators from 32 countries had been in Abuja for the third edition of AAMA conference. Today, the event came to a close and the NIMASA boss was elected President of the association, still having its secretariat in South Africa. Mr Peterside is taking over from Mr Sobantu Tilayi, who is presently the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the South

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Despite the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, for almost a year, is experiencing the worst times due to an extensive special military operation from its neighbour Russia, it has simultaneously been stepping up efforts to support Africa. During the past year, it despatched tonnes of fertilizers, wheat, grains and other agricultural products to a number of African countries, most of them located in the Horn and East Africa. In order to boost its efforts in establishing cordial working relations, especially in the area of economic cooperation, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba last year visited a number

By Ahmed Rahma To tackle food insecurity in the state, the Nasarawa State government has donated 400 hectares of farmland to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for agricultural purposes. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Non-governmental organisations and Development Partners, Ms Munirat Abdullahion, handed over the land to the implementing partners at the project sites in Awe and Keana Local Government Areas of the state. According to her, 300 farmers each from Jangwa, Ribi, Giza and Kadarko in Awe and Keana Local Government Areas have been selected and are currently undergoing training in the modern methods of animal

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended on a positive note on Monday after news of Olam presenting a revised bid for the acquisition of Dangote Flour Plc hit the market. The equity market, which was heading south at mid-day, reversed the losses to close 0.14 percent higher to shrink the year-to-date loss to 11.97 percent. At the end of the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 38.92 points to finish at 27,669.38 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N19 billion to settle at N13.484 trillion. Despite the gains yesterday, sentiments at the market remained mixed

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The management of Erisco Foods Limited has announced the closure of its factory in Nigeria over the lingering foreign exchange crisis in the country. Addressing newsmen at a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, President/CEO of Erisco Foods Limited, Mr Eric Umeofia, explained that the company was finding it difficult to get foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Mr Umeofia noted that due to this bottleneck, the company’s tomato manufacturing plants in Nigeria has been closed and would be moved to China, where finished products would be imported and sold to consumers in Nigeria