Economy
Cardoso Targets Ease in Inflation, FX Pressures By Q1 2025
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said the lender’s efforts to tame inflation and pressures on the foreign exchange market will begin to yield results by the first quarter of 2025.
Mr Cardoso spoke during a press conference in Abuja to announce the outcomes of the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) for the sixth time by 25 basis points to 27.50 per cent.
He said the apex bank is using every possible strategy to tame inflation with a firm assurance that ongoing monetary tightening measures, which it has done six times alone this year, will have a favourable outcome.
The CBN rationalised that the 25 basis points hike is targeted at addressing rising inflation, which stood at 33.88 per cent as of October 2024.
“The central bank is resolute and committed to continuing to fight the war against inflation and there is no going back on that.
“We are going to deploy everything in our arsenal to ensure that we are able to tame it. And of course, this entails the return to orthodox monetary policies,” Cardoso stated amid agitations of rising interest rates on the economy,” the central banker said.
According to him, the Committee was unanimous in its decision to further tighten policy, though members took a decision to retain the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500/-100 basis points; Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 50 per cent and Merchant Banks at 16 per cent; as well as the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.
He also said the MPC was particularly concerned that all inflationary measures also inched up on a month-on-month basis, suggesting the persistence of price pressures, with attendant adverse impacts on the income and welfare of citizens.
Despite this, Mr Cardoso’s tone was optimistic, forecasting that current measures would be able to tame prices in coming months due to lag effect.
“It is important for people to understand that there is a time lag between when you implement policies and when they have an impact. That time lag can be anything up from six to nine months to even a year. Our own perspective is that we expect to see greater results in the first quarter of 2025.”
He said in addition, that the apex bank is working very assiduously with some of the relevant agencies to ensure that structural impediments to growth are handled appropriately.
“We are ensuring that we are on top of the game and that the foreign exchange market operates at its most optimal manner to reflect the true value of the currency, and of course, we have price discovery.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.80 per cent gain on Friday, December 27, helped by two price gainers, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Geo-Fluids Plc.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by N3.84 to trade at N43.84 per unit compared with the preceding trading session’s N40.00 per unit and Geo-Fluids Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N4.85 per share, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N4.61 per share.
However, the share price of Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc shrank during the last trading day of the week by 2 Kobo to 15 Kobo per unit from 17 Kobo per unit.
At the close of transactions, the market capitalisation increased by N8.24 billion to wrap the session at N1.040 trillion versus the preceding trading day’s N1.032 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) expanded by 24.02 points to 3,035.61 points from the 3,011.59 points recorded in the previous session.
The volume of securities traded in the first session after the Christmas break surged by 41.8 per cent to 7.5 million units from the 5.3 million units recorded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday increased by 117.4 per cent to N51.7 million from N23.8 million, and the number of deals went up by 200 per cent to 32 deals from the eight deals carried out on Tuesday.
When the alternative stock market ended for the session, Geo-Fluids Plc maintained its position as the most active equity by volume on a year-to-date basis with 1.7 billion units sold for N4.0 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.4 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.4 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session after the 2024 Christmas break on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Friday.
The local stock exchange closed lower by 0.05 per cent during the trading session as the market participants embarked on profit-taking.
The sell-offs were prominent in the banking and energy sectors, crumbling by 1.16 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.
However, the insurance index maintained its upward movement with a 2.31 per cent growth, as the consumer goods and industrial goods counters gained 0.15 per cent and 0.01 per cent apiece.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 52.73 points to 102,133.30 points from 102,186.03 points and the market capitalisation declined by N32 billion to N61.912 trillion from N61.944 trillion.
Despite the loss suffered by the bourse, investor sentiment was bullish after 45 equities ended on the gainers’ chart and 18 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.
Honeywell Flour shed 9.09 per cent to trade at N6.30, RT Briscoe waned by 5.66 per cent to N2.50, Neimeth slowed by 5.47 per cent to N1.90, Eterna gave up 5.00 per cent to settle at N28.50, and Tantalizers soured by 4.44 per cent to N1.72.
Conversely, University Press expanded by 10.00 per cent to N3.85, Coronation Insurance grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.87, Universal Insurance rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, Ikeja Hotel jumped by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, and May and Baker inflated by 9.94 per cent to N9.40.
The busiest stock yesterday was UBA with 41.7 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Access Holdings traded 35.4 million units worth N871.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 33.3 million units valued at N1.5 billion, GTCO transacted 22.9 million units worth N1.3 billion and Jaiz Bank sold 19.2 million units for N57.2 million.
When trading activities ended for the session, the value of shares went down by 4.37 per cent to N17.5 billion from N18.3 billion, the volume of transactions increased by 4.61 per cent to 451.7 million shares from 431.8 million shares, and the number of deals surged by 49.97 per cent to 12,551 deals from 8,369 deals.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar by 0.16 per cent or N2.15 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, December 27 as festive activities wound down in the country.
During the last trading session of the Christmas week, the domestic currency was exchanged at N1,538.50/$1 in the official window, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,540.65/$1.
The official market closed on Wednesday (December 25) and Thursday (December 26) for the holidays but resumed yesterday, with two more trading sessions left in the year.
December activities are winding down and the influx of FX from foreigners in the country will start reducing, with more demand for the Dollar set to occur in the coming days.
At the spot market on Friday, the local currency depreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N1.31 to wrap the session at N1,934.22/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N1,932.91/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N5.51 to sell for N1,605.47/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,599.96/€1.
A look at the parallel market showed that the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the greenback yesterday at N1,640/$1.
The Naira for most of December trended upward since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) launched on December 2.
The platform which set new guidelines for authorised Foreign Exchange (FX) dealers made it harder to sell at inflated rates to avoid CBN’s punishment.
Last week, to further alleviate pressure on the official market, the apex bank granted Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators temporary access to NAFEM, which is the official market, as part of efforts to further strengthen the Naira in the currency market.
In the cryptocurrency market, there was a mixed outcome as the landscape cooled ahead of next year’s promises, including a more relaxed crypto environment in the US.
Litecoin (LTC) declined by 3.4 per cent to $99.59, Solana (SOL) shed 1.4 per cent to sell at $185.53, Bitcoin (BTC) slid by 1.00 per cent to $94,327.94, Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $3,337.53, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) fell by 0.06 per cent to $0.9983, and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) lost 0.01 per cent to settle at $0.9998.
On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.9 per cent to $0.3159, Ripple (XRP) gained 0.2 per cent to quote at $2.16, Cardano (ADA) also improved by 0.2 per cent to $0.8076 and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.06 per cent to $696.24.
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