Economy
Deeper Trade Integration will Speed up Africa’s Development—Karingi
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Boosting intra-African trade is the most effective channel for trade to deliver development on the African continent, Economic Commission for Africa’s Capacity Development Division (CDD) Director, Mr Stephen Karingi has submitted, adding that deeper trade integration was the surest way to speed up Africa’s economic transformation.
Mr Karingi made this submission at the Aid for Trade Global Review 2017, which opened at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva.
“Trade contributes towards industrialization and structural transformation. Intra-African trade currently stands at a mere 13 percent of the continent’s total trade, which is very low.
“As the ECA we are saying there’s need for African governments to do more to grow intra-African trade,” he said, adding Africa’s relatively low intra-regional trade is also as a result of barriers created by limited connectivity within the continent.
“With this we should think of physical connectivity, infrastructure, where the gaps remain significant,” said Mr Karingi to participants attending the Africa Session of the Aid for Trade Global Review 2017.
“Equally, we should consider softer aspects of connectivity. Non-tariff and tariff costs both influence how African countries can link with each other.”
Higher volumes of intra-African trade, said Mr Karingi, are essential so African countries can do business with each other more frequently and with wider margins. He said policies to enhance intra-regional trade on the continent are crucial, adding strategies to implement, enforce and monitor their progress and impact are also needed.
This year’s Global Review is dedicated to the theme of “Promoting Trade, Inclusiveness and Connectivity for Sustainable Development”, and will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to look at how Aid for Trade (AfT) can contribute to the integration of developing countries and least developed countries into the multilateral trading system and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mr Karingi said key initiatives on the continent for boosting intra-African trade include the on-going Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) negotiations, which are set to be concluded this year, and the Boosting Intra-African Trade initiative (BIAT).
BIAT, he said, is a useful framework for addressing connectivity issues in Africa while the CFTA aims to, among other things, create a single continental market for goods and services, promote the free movement of business persons and investments and expand intra-African trade. The CFTA is also expected to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise levels.
Mr Karingi also spoke about the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade which has seven priority clusters: trade policy, trade facilitation, productive capacity, trade-related infrastructure, trade finance, trade information and factor market mobility.
“For Aid for Trade to deliver on Africa’s priorities, it should be aligned with these frameworks and the continent’s priorities,” he said.
The entry into force of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) on 22 February 2017 has given trade policymakers a powerful tool for reducing the physical trade costs that prevent many firms in developing countries from participating in international trade.
Implementation of the TFA, and the benefits to developing countries from the associated reforms, will be one of the key themes addressed at the Global Review.
Another key theme of the Global Review is how firms are using digital technology to log on to the multilateral trading system.
Action to bridge the digital divide, and in particular the strong gender dimension to this divide, will also be discussed as it the Review aims to address women’s economic empowerment and examine how Aid for Trade is promoting women’s empowerment as part of broader efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units exchanged for N524.9 million.
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