Inflation Time Bomb Threatens Nigeria’s Outlook

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated in the opening session of the week in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, November 27 against the Dollar by N19.71 or 2.5 per cent as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said the lender was committed to clearing a backlog of foreign exchange (forex). “We have initiated the payment of unsettled forward foreign exchange obligations, and these payments will continue until all obligations are cleared,” he told bankers last Friday during a dinner speech in Lagos. However, his assurance could not ease the pressure

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is planning to grow its revenue to N4.5 trillion as it plans to end the importation of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, by December 2024. The chief executive of the company, Mr Mele Kyari, while speaking on Thursday, said the nation would not need to rely on fuel from outside the country because its refineries would have been fully operational. Nigeria is currently revamping its four refineries to make the product available to residents of the country as it officially stopped the payment of subsidy on petrol

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded yet another positive week-on-week performance after stretching its gains by 1.44 per cent in Week 47. This expanded the portfolios of NASD investors by N17 billion in the week to N1.162 trillion from the N1.145 trillion recorded in Week 46, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 12.16 points to 857.29 points from 845.13 points in the previous week. The trading week was with three price gainers and three losers, with Aradel Holdings Plc on top of the advancers’ chart after it grew by 10 per cent to finish

By Adedapo Adesanya  Nigeria’s economy, measured through its gross domestic product (GDP), witnessed a 2.54 per cent growth in the third quarter (Q3) of the year 2023. In a report published on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the 2.54 per cent year-on-year growth in real terms in the third quarter of 2023 is higher than the 2.25 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2022 and higher than the second quarter 2023 growth of 2.51 per cent. The bureau further said that the performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has debunked the rumour that its marine exhibits yard in Ogbogoro jetty, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, was an illegal oil bunkering site. This was made known by the Rivers State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr Aliyu Bature, who explained that the Ogbogoro jetty has remained its marine exhibits yard for over 10 years. He added that every marine exhibit like boats, vessels, barges drums, arrested by or handed over to the Corps by sister agencies for oil theft are usually detained at the yard, pending investigation and

Georgia’s state senate has refused to pass legislation legalizing and regulating sports betting within its borders. The defeat of Senate Bill 57 is one of several efforts to legalize sports betting for Georgians in recent times in the midst of the fight against illegal gambling. Despite the opposition of some parties within the state, the proposed legislation to legalize sports betting in Atlanta has the support of various business groups and professional sports teams. Opponents of the Bill Senate Bill 57 was defeated by a vote of 37-19 in the Senate. The bill would have required the state lottery to

By FSDH Research Mutual funds provide wealth creation opportunities for low income investors. Mutual funds are pools of funds that a professional Fund Manager brings together from various investors to invest in selected underlying securities. The underlying securities can be one or a combination of the following: stocks (shares), money market instruments, fixed income securities, real estate, and commodities. The pooling of a large number of relatively small investment sums enables low income investors to gain access to all the benefits of a professional investment manager whose job is to deliver superior return on a long-term basis. Most mutual funds

By FBNQuest Research In today’s chart, we highlight the investment flows on the balance of payments. These are gross flows (ie those in the reporting economy before investment by Nigerian residents offshore). Most striking is the strength of portfolio flows in H1 2013, when Nigeria was still basking in the glow of its inclusion in the JP Morgan government bond indices (since withdrawn). These have fallen dramatically since the slide in the oil price in mid-2014 and the resulting forex scarcity (since cured). Direct investment picked up from $3.1 billion to $4.5 billion in 2016, equivalent to 4.4 percent of

By Aduragbemi Omiyale In the first quarter of 2023, which ended on March 31, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc improved its earnings by 13 per cent to N19.4 billion. In a statement, the insurer said gross earned premiums (insurance revenues) become the principal revenue indicator given the change in accounting standards, as it implemented the IFRS17 and IFRS9, which became effective on January 1, 2023. It noted that commercial activity of insurance operations will now be reported using insurance (earned) revenues as against gross written premiums (GWP). Also, the reinsurance expenses will now also be reflected as “net expenses from reinsurance

By Nneka Okumazie There are a number of debates on the worst time to have lived, but for many, the 20th century was a lot of grief. Though the most advanced century in the history of the world until its end, it was a century of grim experience – wringing casualty incessantly, almost like to keep scoring points. There were people who did great in other places around the world, in finance, business, technology, entertainment, innovation, experiments, theories, etc. that’d have had a different story and perspective, but for others caught in revulsions of that century, it was not the

Dipo Olowookere Last month, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced at a media briefing that he would likely force deposit money banks in the country to increase their minimum capital base from its present level within the next five years. The last recapitalisation of the banking sector was in 2004 under the leadership of Mr Charles Soludo as CBN Governor. During the exercise, the central bank raised the capital base from N2 billion to N25 billion and for those who could not meet this requirement on their own, they had to merge with others

By Adedapo Adesanya The price of the Brent crude futures depreciated by $1.92 or 2.3 per cent to $84.89 per barrel on Friday as supply concerns, driven by Middle East tensions, eased. Also, the price of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) went down by $1.95 or 2.4 per cent to $80.51 a barrel as jobs data raised expectations that the Federal Reserve could be done hiking interest rates in the biggest oil-consuming economy. On a week-on-week basis, both benchmarks lost more than 6 per cent. Analysts say the market is taking this conflict in its stride, as it looks