Economy
LCCI Urges CBN to Leave Interest Rate at 18.75%
By Adedapo Adesanya
Ahead of next week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 26, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pause its interest rate hike.
In a statement signed by the Director-General, Mrs Chinyere Almona, the group said this was necessary to relieve Nigerians of the pressure on the supply side following a further surge in the inflation rate.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed last Friday that the average cost of goods and services rose by 25.80 per cent in August 2023 from 24.08 per cent in July 2023.
The CBN, at its meeting in July, raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 25 basis points to 18.75 per cent from 18.00 per cent.
The LCCI urged the federal government to implement prudent fiscal policy measures, noting that the slow pace of headline inflation month-on-month may be an indication that the path of price movements remains unclear in the near term.
As a result, the chamber anticipates businesses will implement a variety of cost reduction strategies, including downsizing and local sourcing of input factors as they bid to lower operating expenses.
“Also, household real income will continue to experience decline, especially in the near term,” the organisation said.
It recommended that the government should implement prudent fiscal policy measures, particularly in terms of borrowings as well as address the challenge of food inflation by immediately reducing/ removing tax on basic food items to protect the most vulnerable.
“We implore the government to hasten the provision of the anticipated palliatives to lessen the impact of the rising trend in prices on economic agents,” the LCCI stated.
The chamber explained that the increased inflation rate represents 1.72 per cent points higher than the previous month and 5.28 per cent points when compared to 20.52 recorded in the corresponding month in 2022.
“On a month-month basis, inflation, however, moderately increased to 3.18 per cent, 0.29 per cent points rise compared to the 2.9 per cent surge in the previous month.
“Also, food inflation rate increased to 29.37 per cent, implying a 2.36 percentage points increase when compared to 26.98 per cent the previous month and 6.22 per cent points increase compared to 23.12 per cent points in the corresponding month in 2022.
“Similarly, core inflation increased to 21.15 per cent, 0.68 per cent points and 4.03 per cent points increase when compared to 20.47 per cent in July 2023 and August 2022, respectively.
“In terms of contributions of items, the data revealed that food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed the highest to the price increase at 13.36 per cent followed by housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (4.32 per cent), clothing and footwear (1.97 per cent), transport (1.68 per cent) and furnishing & household equipment & maintenance (1.30 per cent),” it said.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu nominated Mr Olayemi Cardoso to take over the helm of affairs of the CBN following the ousting of embattled Mr Godwin Emefiele. While Mr Cardoso won’t take office till after September 26, the current acting CBN chief, Mr Folashodun Shonubi, will lead the meeting for a second time.
The appointment of Mr Cardoso is subject to the confirmation of the Senate, which resumes from recess next Tuesday.
By Dipo Olowookere
Waning investor confidence is fast taking its toll on Nigerian stocks as they continue to depreciate due to persistent profit-taking.
Selling pressure further weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday by 0.45 per cent in the absence of a positive trigger.
According to data from Customs Street, there were 14 price gainers and 44 price losers yesterday, implying a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
The trio of Learn Africa, DAAR Communications, and Legend Internet gave up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N7.02, 90 Kobo, and N4.77 apiece as AXA Mansard lost 9.95 per cent to close at N14.39, and Universal Insurance crumbled by 9.60 per cent to N1.13.
Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology gained 9.09 per cent to finish at 96 Kobo, Consolidated Hallmark grew by 8.53 per cent to N4.20, John Holt expanded by 7.94 per cent to N6.80, Cadbury Nigeria jumped by 5.45 per cent to N58.00, and Wema Bank improved by 5.31 per cent to N21.80.
Business Post reports that during the session, the insurance counter lost 4.46 per cent, the consumer goods index declined by 1.32 per cent, the banking space went down by 0.55 per cent, the energy industry crashed by 0.44 per cent, and the commodity sector shrank by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods space increased by 0.23 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 580.48 points to 138,157.16 points from 138,737.64 points and the market capitalisation shed N368 billion to end at N87.416 trillion versus the previous day’s N87.784 trillion.
Market participants transacted 482.8 million units of shares worth N19.7 billion in 28,193 deals at midweek, in contrast to the 407.6 million units valued at N39.9 billion traded in 31,406 deals on Tuesday.
This showed that the trading volume went up by 18.45 per cent, the trading value went down by 50.63 per cent and the number of deals retreated by 10.23 per cent.
Access Holdings was the busiest on Wednesday with a turnover of 43.0 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank sold 40.1 million shares valued at N843.8 million, GTCO transacted 34.9 million stocks for N3.2 billion, UBA exchanged 33.4 million shares valued at N1.5 billion, and AIICO Insurance traded 29.1 million equities worth N91.6 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices declined by more than 2 per cent on Wednesday as producers under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) are expected to consider another increase in production targets in October.
Brent crude was down by $1.6 or 2.31 per cent to $67.54 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by $1.68 or 2.56 per cent to $63.91 a barrel.
Eight members that make up a sub-group of OPEC+ will consider further raising oil production at a meeting on Sunday, as the 22-nation group seeks to regain market share.
OPEC+ has reversed its strategy of output cuts from April and has already raised quotas by about 2.5 million barrels per day, about 2.4 per cent of world demand, to boost market share and under pressure from US President Donald Trump to lower oil prices.
Another boost would mean OPEC+, which pumps about half of the world’s oil, would be starting to unwind a second layer of output cuts of about 1.65 million barrels per day, or 1.6 per cent of world demand, more than a year ahead of schedule.
The group had already agreed to raise output targets by about 2.2 million barrels per day from April to September, in addition to a 300,000 barrels per day quota increase for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This constitutes of a 547,000 barrels per day increase for September, completing the total increase in output for the year of 2.5 million barrels per day.
The next output cut layer of 1.65 million barrels per day is in place until the end of 2026, as is another 2 million barrels per day of cuts by the whole group.
It was also reported that there is a minimal chance that OPEC+ could pause the increases for October.
Delayed data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US rose by 622,000 barrels in the week ending August 22. So far this year, crude oil inventories are up 7.4 million barrels.
Official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Thursday, since there was a public holiday on Monday in the US.
Pressure also came as US Labor Department data showed on Wednesday that job openings, a measure of labor market demand, fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July. This shows soft economic data which tends to weigh on the demand outlook for oil.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The suspension earlier placed on Universal Insurance Plc, which prevented its shareholders and other investors from trading the company’s shares at the stock market, has been lifted.
The embargo was removed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, according to a notice signed by Obioma Oge for the Head of Issuer Regulation Department at NGX.
This came about two days after the suspension was first announced in a circular to the investing community over the failure of the underwriting firm and two others (Regency Alliance Insurance and International Energy Insurance) to submit their audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Universal Insurance did the needful after investors could not trade its securities on Customs Street, prompting the management of the exchange to announce resumption in the trading of equities of the organisation.
“The company has now filed its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024 and outstanding unaudited financial statements for 2025.
“In view of the company’s submission of its 2024 AFS, and pursuant to Rule 3.3 of the default filing rules, which states that the suspension of trading in the issuer’s securities shall be lifted upon submission of the relevant accounts provided the exchange is satisfied that the accounts comply with all applicable rules of the exchange. The exchange shall thereafter also announce through the medium by which the public and the SEC was initially notified of the suspension, that the suspension has been lifted.
“Trading License Holders and the investing public are hereby notified that the suspension placed on trading on the shares of Universal Insurance Plc was lifted today,” parts of the disclosure stated.
On Monday, the stock exchange suspended Universal Insurance in compliance with the provisions of Rule 3.1: Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, which provides that if an issuer fails to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the cure period, the exchange will: a) send to the issuer a second filing deficiency notification within two business days after the end of the cure period; b) suspend trading in the issuer’s securities; and c) notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the market within 24 hours of the suspension.
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