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Economy

IMF Predicts 0.8% Growth for Nigeria in 2017

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By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Nigeria’s economy will experience a growth rate of about 8 percent this year.

The global financial institution made this known in its latest report released on Tuesday.

According to the report, the increase would be influenced by both the sustained growth in the agricultural sector and recovery in oil production.

In the report titled ‘World Economic Outlook, April 2017: Gaining Momentum?’, the IMF also projected that the world economy would grow by 3.5 percent in 2017 from 3.1 percent in 2016 and rise to 3.6 percent in 2018.

It however warned major players in the world economy not to raise trade barriers as this could result into a problem.

IMF noted that a long-awaited cyclical recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade have caused global economic activity to pick up.

It said “structural impediments to a stronger recovery and a balance of risks that remains tilted to the downside, especially over the medium term, remain important challenges,” noting that “changes in external conditions may affect the pace of income convergence between advanced and emerging market and developing economies.”

The IMF stressed the need for credible strategies in advanced economies and emerging market and developing ones to tackle a number of common challenges in an integrated global economy.

The Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department of IMF, Mr Maurice Obstfeld, stated that, “Growth is projected to rise to 2.6 percent in 2017 and 3.5 percent in 2018, largely driven by specific factors in the largest economies, which faced challenging macroeconomic conditions in 2016.”

Mr Obstfeld noted that a slump in commodity price in 2016 and devastating drought had affected growth in several countries in the Sub-Sahara Africa, resulting in 1.4 percent growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said that South Africa, which was hit by slow growth in 2016, was expected to register a slight improvement of 0.8 percent, up from 0.3 percent in 2016, as the impact of devastating drought was beginning to recede and electricity capacity improved.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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Economy

Trade the Other Way Around: Why Mobile Apps Are Lagging Behind Desktop Terminals in Nigeria

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download mt4 for pc

Today, Nigeria’s economic landscape is sparking a revolution in the digital sphere, unfolding right before our eyes. Candidly, without seeing a bigger picture or grasping technical intricacies, even experienced Nigerian traders may get nowhere, lost in the jungle of algorithms. Thus, old-school investment methods are slowly giving way to progressive patterns, with leading-edge trading tools along the way.

Amidst macroeconomic reforms by the Central Bank, skyrocketing volatility of the national currency, and structural changes in the corporate sector, the local financial community is actively pursuing different possibilities to diversify and secure capital. In the sea of choices, retail algorithmic trading has become a leading option across Nigeria. To guarantee peace of mind, download mt4 for pc to lock in profits on your trade.

Mobile Trading in Nigeria: When Accessibility Harms Efficiency

For decades, the market was dominated by the trend of widespread financial “mobilization” on the go. Smartphones opened the windows to the world of trade, offering free access to international markets to new participants across Africa. Despite this fact, Nigeria’s professional community is facing another unforeseeable storm, as hardware restrictions in mobile infrastructure are directly diminishing profitability of retail investors.

In pursuit of milliseconds, accuracy, and stability, Nigerian traders are returning en masse to habitual computer architecture. Of course, smartphones are still a good option for passive investing, long-term planning, or periodic portfolio monitoring, but when it comes to active intraday trading or running automated trading advisors (EAs), mobile operating systems exhibit critical shortcomings. Let’s check the reasons for that.

First and foremost, phones are always about limited multithreading. The thing is, mobile processors are optimized for energy conservation and overheating prevention, but not for the arduous mathematical calculations to process a dense data stream.  The second weakness is signal latency. Wireless networks, despite their continuing development of infrastructure in major hubs like Lagos and Abuja, are massively prone to packet loss and ping instability during peak periods, making them a poor choice for high-frequency trading.

For a trader dealing with the dynamic Nigerian market, even a millisecond of delay in order execution can turn into a lost opportunity. This is why true experts go for installing specialized software on their PCs, choosing a classic desktop terminal over a laptop or a smartphone.

Dominance of PC Platforms in the Age of Automation

Many perceive the transition to the desktop version of the trading platforms as a throwback to the past. To avoid confusion, a comprehensive analysis is required to professionalize the regional market. Nowadays, a PC running a reliable software system offers perks like system resource updates and a heightened level of interaction, among others.

The main advantage for traders in Nigeria lies in the possibility of backtesting and optimization. Backtesting a strategy on extensive historical data, taking into account floating spreads and real tick volume, requires colossal computing power. A desktop platform fully utilizes all the cores of a PC’s processor, allowing it to process thousands of parameter combinations within minutes—a feature impossible on a mobile device.

Another critical aspect for the Nigerian region is the unbroken connectivity via virtual private servers (VPSs). Even expert traders prove powerless when having to cope with power supply problems and internet service outages. Working on the desktop version, on the contrary,  allows for seamless integration of the trading terminal with a remote server in proximity to liquidity providers’ data centers in London or Frankfurt. This way, traders can manage the process from their home workstations, but the trades themselves are executed remotely with minimal latency.

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Finally, ergonomics and visual control can’t be dismissed. Technical market analysis is supposed to simultaneously monitor multiple timeframes and correlated instruments, such as the dollar index, commodity prices, and gold. Desktop platforms are robust enough to deploy complex workspaces across disparate monitors, with each chart equipped with dozens of indicators, analytical panels, and graphical elements. As well, this feature is physically impossible to accommodate comfortably on a standard smartphone screen.

A New Paradigm for Nigerian Investors 

Nigeria’s contemporary financial sector is in anticipation of maturity and a systematic approach from its participants. The era when trading was perceived solely as an effortless way to make cash with a single click is irrevocably gone. Trading in Nigeria has established itself as a full-fledged technology-driven business in search of a trustworthy and fault-tolerant infrastructure.

Ultimately, the integration of automated scripts, thorough analysis of market microstructure, and rigorous risk management is possible only with desktop computing power. For traders seeking to safeguard their capital amid sweeping changes, top-notch PC software is becoming a competitive edge. Building a profound foundation, going with a reputable broker, and deploying a professional terminal on your computer, allows you to control your trading operations with absolute precision.

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Economy

NASD Bourse Opens Week Lower, Sheds N12.38bn

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Alternative Bourse NASD Securities

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange opened the week weaker by 0.47 per cent on Monday, June 15, biting N12.38 billion out of the market capitalisation to N2.605 trillion from N2.617 trillion.

This also brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 20.68 points to 4,354.33 points from last Friday’s 4,375.01 points.

The loss was witnessed despite the unlisted securities exchange closing the session with two price gainers and two price losers.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc crashed by N3.31 to trade at N80.62 per share compared with the preceding trading day’s N83.93 per share, and Geo-Fluids Plc declined by 7 Kobo to close at N2.80 per unit versus N2.87 per unit.

On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc gained 20 Kobo to sell at N2.78 per share compared with the preceding session’s N2.58 per share, and UBN Property Plc improved by 12 Kobo to N2.10 per unit from N1.98 per unit.

During the session, the volume of securities traded by investors depreciated by 68.2 per cent to 992,164 units from the 3.1 million units achieved last Friday, the value of securities moderated by 42.8 per cent to N39.2 million from the preceding session’s N68.5 million, and the number of deals decreased by 14.8 per cent to 23 deals from the 27 deals reported in the previous trading day.

At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 66.8 million units exchanged for N4.6 billion.

The most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis remained GNI Plc with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc followed with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.

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Economy

Naira Appreciates 0.55% to N1,356/$1 at Official FX Window

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devalue naira

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a positive performance against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, June 15.

At the official FX window, the Nigerian legal tender appreciated against its US counterpart by N7.56 or 0.55 per cent to sell at N1,356.27/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,363.83/$1.

The local currency also gained N12.39 against the Pound Sterling during the trading day to trade at N1,808.86/£1 versus last Friday’s value of N1,821.25/£1, but shed N2.96 against the Euro to sell at N1,575.85/€1 compared with the previous N1,572.89/€1.

At the GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the greenback yesterday by N2 to quote at N1,373/$1 versus the preceding session’s N1,371/$1, and at the black market, it maintained stability at N1,380/$1.

The pressure on the Naira has remained calm, as Nigeria’s gross external reserves surged to $50.505 billion, the highest since January 2009, driven by inflows from oil sales, affirming expectations that the local currency will remain along a stable band.

Meanwhile, the headline inflation rate rose to 15.93 per cent in May 2026, extending the upward trend recorded since the beginning of the year, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The figure shows an increase from the 15.69 per cent recorded in April, indicating that prices of goods and services continued to climb despite a slower monthly rate of inflation.

The NBS said the latest figures suggest that while prices are still rising, the rate of increase has moderated from the previous month, largely impacted by the war in the Middle East, which drove up fuel prices.

In the cryptocurrency market, top benchmarked coins reversed early losses after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high in its fight against inflation.

There had been profit-taking across the board as traders waited for Iran’s signing after US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance signed an electronic copy of a memorandum of understanding. President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, already partially open, will fully reopen on Friday.

Ripple (XRP) soared by 3.7 per cent to $1.22, Solana (SOL) grew by 3.6 per cent to $73.82, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 2.7 per cent to $1,765.24, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $66,191.45.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) slid 1.9 per cent to $0.1776, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 1.7 per cent to $0.0874, TRON (TRX) slumped by 0.8 per cent to $0.3180, and Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 0.6 per cent to $614.10, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

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