Economy
FG, CBN’s Silence Create Confusion as Traders, Supermarkets, Others Reject Old Naira Notes
By Dipo Olowookere
The inability of the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to give a direction on the old Naira notes, which the apex bank earlier said would cease to be legal tender in the country from February 10, 2023, is creating confusion.
Business Post gathered that in Lagos, some traders, supermarkets, eateries and others now reject old Naira notes; N200, N500, and N1,000. They insist on collecting the redesigned currencies or being paid through the Point of Sale (POS) machine.
At one of the prominent eateries on the Egbeda-Idimu Road in the Egbeda area of Lagos, customers expressed bitterness over the refusal of the management of the facility to accept payment with the old notes on Friday night.
“I wanted to pay for the food I bought, but I was told they would not accept the old currency notes except the new ones. I had to use my debit card to pay through their POS machine,” one of the customers, Mr Aigbe James, told this reporter.
Recall that on Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted an interim injunction sought by the Governors of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara States, to stop the implementation of the deadline of the currency swap policy of the central bank.
The Governors claimed that the policy was making residents of their states go through untold hardship as it was already causing protests in some parts of the country.
The apex court ruled that the status quo should be maintained until the matter is heard next Wednesday. This meant that the old and new notes should be allowed to co-exist until a final judgement is given.
On Friday, an emergency Council of State meeting was conveyed by President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the policy and others, including the general elections starting in two weeks’ time.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, said the council threw its weight behind the policy but advised the CBN to print more banknotes or recirculate the old Naira notes to ease the cash crunch in the country. He also said the government was advised to obey the Supreme Court order, meaning the deadline will no longer be applicable.
But some banks sent messages to their customers yesterday, informing them that the deadline remained February 10.
“The old designs of N200, N500 and N1000 will no longer be accepted as legal tender after today, February 10, 2023. Deposit your old notes now at any of our branches,” one of the banks stated.
At the Ikeja area of Lagos State on Saturday, some traders at the popular Computer Village refused to accept the old notes.
It was a similar story in Maryland as a few supermarkets visited by this reporter rejected the old Naira notes, insisting on the new currency notes or card payments.
Those who spoke with this newspaper stressed that their refusal was because the government was yet to speak on the deadline and do not want to lose their money.
When reminded that the CBN had earlier said after the deadline, Nigerians could still deposit their old notes till February 17, the respondents said they just want to be on the safer side.
Meanwhile, some POS operators still accept the old banknotes, especially as they battle with getting the new notes.
“I still accept the old notes because I can still take them to the bank before February 17.
“Getting the new notes is very difficult, and we purchase the old notes at an exorbitant price. I pay between 10,000 and N17,000 to get N100,000 in old notes in this area; that is why we charge our customers almost N2,000 for N10,000.
“Some people think we are taking advantage of the situation to hike our charges, but it is not our fault. I am only buying [the old notes] because I don’t want to go out of business,” one of the operators in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State, Ms Toyin Sokoya, informed Business Post.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded a 0.06 per cent loss on Friday as a result of the selling pressure on some blue-chip stocks at the bourse.
It was observed that the decline was mainly driven by the poor performances of financial and industrial goods shares during the trading session.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the insurance space lost 1.01 per cent, the industrial goods counter depreciated by 0.66 per cent, the banking sector declined by 0.25 per cent, and the consumer goods category shed 0.21 per cent, while the energy index remained flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 31.55 points to 54,892.53 points from 54,924.08 points, and the market capitalisation went down by N18 billion to N29.903 trillion from N29.921 trillion.
A total of 137.6 million shares valued at N3.9 billion exchanged hands in 2,912 deals on the last trading session of the week compared with the 117.9 million shares worth N1.4 billion traded in the preceding session in 2,575 deals, representing an improvement in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 16.71 per cent, 178.57 per cent, and 13.09 per cent, respectively.
Fidelity Bank closed the session as the most traded equity after it sold 21.5 million units and was trailed by GTCO, which sold 14.9 million units. Neimeth traded 14.0 million shares, UBA exchanged 12.8 million equities, and Transcorp traded 8.9 million stocks.
Investor sentiment was slightly strong yesterday as the market breadth was positive with 13 price gainers and 11 price losers led by AIICO Insurance, which fell by 5.00 per cent to 57 Kobo.
Linkage Assurance depleted by 4.76 per cent to 40 Kobo, Coronation Insurance went down by 4.76 per cent to 40 Kobo, International Breweries depreciated by 2.25 per cent to N4.35, and Transcorp lost 2.19 per cent to trade at N1.34.
On the flip side, NPF Microfinance gained 6.94 per cent to finish at N1.85, Geregu Power appreciated by 6.25 per cent to N323.00, Lasaco Assurance rose by 5.00 per cent to N1.05, Chams grew by 4.17 per cent to 25 Kobo, and Japaul improved by 3.57 per cent to 29 Kobo.
Analysis of the market data indicated losses reported by BUA Cement (1.60 per cent), Nigerian Breweries (0.55 per cent), GTCO (0.25 per cent), and Zenith Bank (0.15 per cent) caused the downfall of the exchange on Friday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The market capitalisation of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 5.3 per cent appreciation at the final session for the week, Friday, March 24, to close at N1.01 trillion from N959.06 billion on Thursday.
Business Post reports that this is the second time the value of the NASD OTC exchange would cross the N1 trillion mark.
The first was when Access Bank Plc was admitted to the alternative stock exchange in March 2022 and about a year later, it again crossed the same mark after Purple Real Estate Income Plc joined the platform on Thursday and began trading the next day.
Meanwhile, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) grew by 0.5 points or 0.07 per cent yesterday to wrap the session at 730.37 points compared with 729.87 points recorded in the previous session.
The day’s single price gainer was Geo-Fluids Plc, which improved its value by 16 Kobo to close at N1.80 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N1.64 per share.
The volume of securities traded by investors depreciated on Friday by 67.3 per cent to 1.7 million units from 5.2 million units, the value of transactions slumped by 87.2 per cent to N3.1 million from N24.3 million, while the number of deals decreased by 78.6 per cent to three deals from the 14 deals carried out in the previous trading day.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 462.1 million units valued at N505.0 million, UBN Property Plc stood in second place with 365.8 units valued at N309.5 million, while IGI Plc was in third place with 71.1 million units valued at N5.1 million.
In terms of the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, VFD Group Plc was on top of the chart for exchanging 7.3 million units worth N1.7 billion, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 462.1 million units valued at N505.0 million, and UBN Property Plc with 365.8 million units valued at N309.5 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a mixed bag for the Naira at the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday as its value closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) side of the market but was weaker in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market.
Data showed that the local currency gained 34 Kobo or 0.07 per cent against its American counterpart to trade at N461.33/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N461.67/$1.
It was observed that the Nigerian currency gained weight during the session despite being pressed by FX demand pressure, resulting in the sale of $241.38 million worth of forex at the close of transactions, $161.35 million or 66.8 per cent higher than the $80.03 million recorded in the preceding session.
In the P2P window, the domestic currency lost N1 against the US Dollar to settle at N756/$1, in contrast to the N755/$1 it was sold a day earlier.
In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the greenback in the black market yesterday by N1 to close at N743/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing rate of N742/$1.
However, in the interbank segment, the Nigerian Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro on Friday at N566.08/£1 and N497.72/€1, respectively.
In a related development, the digital currency market was in the red as most of the tokens tracked by Business Post depreciated in price, as the markets reacted to the latest Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The Fed opted to increase rates by 25 basis points (bps) as many had anticipated and signalled one more hike this year.
Bitcoin (BTC) slid by 3.0 per cent to $27,458.80, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.8 per cent to $1,745.28, Solana (SOL) lost 6.3 per cent to trade at $20.61, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 2.9 per cent to $92.64, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 2.3 per cent to $0.0748, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.2 per cent to $0.3586, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 1.1 per cent to trade at $323.15, while Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.4465, with Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) flat at $1.00 apiece.
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