Economy
More Taxes Will Lead to Massive Capital Flight—NECA Warns FG
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has warned the Nigerian government against heeding the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on tax increment, emphasising that such an attempt could backfire and lead to a negative impact on households, individuals, and businesses, which are already impacted by the current economic climate.
The organisation’s Director-General, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, in a statement, advised the government to consider expanding the country’s tax net rather than increasing the tax rates.
The global lender had recommended to the federal government to raise taxes in the country so as to jerk up revenue and cut down on borrowing.
The Bretton Woods institution last year recommended a 100 per cent increment to Value Added Tax (VAT) from the current 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
The fund, in its latest Fiscal Monitor titled, On the path to Policy Normalisation, released recently, noted that Nigeria’s debt was projected to continue to rise and urged the government to remove fuel subsidies and direct them to health and education.
But Mr Oyerinde kicked and said, “For a private sector already overwhelmed by multiple taxes, the imposition of additional taxes on services will make the business community more vulnerable with a trade-off on growth and job creation.
“More taxes, of course, will weaken the purchasing power of individuals and stifle consumption, with attendant consequences for social cohesion.
“It may defeat any attempt to widen the tax net as taxpayers would consider tax avoidance measures.
“There will be massive capital flight, and the drive for direct foreign investment could be defeated.”
The NECA DG said, however, that government should consider widening its tax net as the association had posited on many occasions and at various forums.
He also said that the association was in support of the IMF’s recommendation to the government to consider widening its fiscal net, saying it is the way to go.
“In addition, one of the problems government at all levels in Nigeria has is the rising cost of governance.
“If the cost of governance can be addressed decisively, it has the tendency to reduce borrowing since recurrent expenditure will automatically decrease, “ he said.
Mr Oyerinde said that the $800 million loan to serve as palliatives in view of the planned removal of subsidy was not necessary.
He urged, rather, that government must give attention to fixing the refineries and making them operational in the coming months before the removal of the petrol subsidy.
“Already, experts and the polity at large have frowned against the loan facility and have proposed definitive approaches, including fixing the refineries.
“Also, investigate without delay the subsidy regime with the view to exposing the alleged corruption associated with it; this should not be a difficult thing for the government to do,” he added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The hope of Nigerians getting premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, below N800 per litre, at least for now when the price of crude oil is less than $80 per barrel and the official exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar is above N1,600/$1 at the currency market, may have been dashed.
This is because the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr Adedapo Segun, has said the price of the commodity from unrefined crude oil is about N800 per litre.
He made this revelation while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, monitored by Business Post.
According to him, this reality might make it impossible for the company to sell PMS to Nigerians at that price because the cost of getting the final product must be added to arrive at the actual price of petrol.
“This pricing conversation is an interesting one. What are the components of the price? I just told you that the crude [oil] unrefined is N800 per litre, a barrel of crude is about $80 (actually at $72 per barrel as of Wednesday), give or take, you have about 159 litres [of PMS) in a barrel of crude, let’s approximate it to 160 litres, that gives you 50 cents per litre [and] at N1,600 per Dollar, that’s N800 per litre.
“So, the crude itself, unrefined, is N800 per litre. Then you talk about the refiner’s margin, he has to make some money and has costs like operating the plant and other overhead costs. When you are done with these costs, you move to the wholesalers.
“[The product] is transported either by vessel or trucks. The transporter also has his margin as well as the retailer. There are also costs for the regulators and other statutory fees to be paid.
“When you look at all of these costs, what will the Port Harcourt refinery do differently than what Dangote Refinery for example is doing today?
“The only difference would be that it is closer to the people of Port Harcourt and reduces the cost of transporting things like PMS from Dangote Refinery in Lagos to Port Harcourt. That is where the savings would come, but that is very marginal. The cost of transportation is very marginal in the cost-build-up for PMS,” he said.
However, he noted that what the refineries will do to Nigeria is to create competition based on market conditions.
At the moment, the price of PMS at NNPC retail stations is N1,025 per litre in Lagos, while independent marketers sell between N1,040 per litre and N1,060 per litre.
Last week, Dangote Refinery announced a slash in its ex-depot price to N970 per litre from N990 per litre.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed the midweek session with a 0.88 per cent depreciation after the duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria and UBN Property Plc suffered losses.
The market capitalisation lost N9.31 billion to close at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous session’s N1.063 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) recorded a slide of 26.54 points to end the day at 3,006.38 points as against 3,032.92 points it recorded at the previous session.
The volume of securities traded at the bourse witnessed a surge as investors exchanged 1.0 million units, which is 208.4 per cent higher than the 327,425 units transacted by market participants at the last session.
However, the day’s trading data showed that the total amount of stocks traded at the midweek session slid by 86.9 per cent to N2.1 million from the N15.7 million quoted on Tuesday.
These transactions were completed in three deals compared with the nine deals carried out a day earlier, representing a decline of 66.7 per cent.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria shed N4.39 yesterday to trade at N39.51 per unit versus Tuesday’s closing price of N43.90 per unit and UBN Property Plc recorded a 13 Kobo depreciation to sell at N1.67 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.80 per share.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, Okitipupa Plc came next with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in third with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira weakened against the Dollar by 0.08 per cent or N1.39 to N1,660.83/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, November 27, from the preceding day’s value of N1,659.44/$1.
However, the value of the domestic currency remained stable against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the official market yesterday at N2,116.44/£1 and N1,788.98/€1.
It was observed that the FX turnover for the trading session went down by 20.9 per cent or $88.91 million to $337.07 million from the $425.98 million recorded a day earlier, according to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange.
As for the black market, the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira to the US Dollar remained unchanged at the midweek session at N1,750/$1, according to data harvested by Business Post.
Speaking at the end of the 298th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, said the apex bank remains committed to its core mandate of price and exchange rate stability in anchoring inflation.
“Members thus focused on the optimal policy choice to address the uptrend in price development, stabilize the exchange rate and anchor inflation expectations appropriately,” Mr Cardoso said.
In the cryptocurrency market, prices were largely positive for benchmarked tokens ahead of Thanksgiving weekend in the US which has historically recorded sudden price dumps.
Rising activity and a bump in revenue, fees, new wallets and on-chain volumes have also indicated further support for digital assets, which has gained support from an expected friendly environment in the US next year.
Ripple (XRP) grew by 7.4 per cent to $1.47, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 5.3 per cent to $650.61, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 4.9 per cent to $3,571.110, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 4.4 per cent to $1.00, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $237.39, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 3.1 per cent to $0.4035, Bitcoin (BTC) went up by 2.6 per cent to $95,288.95 and Litecoin (LTC) gained 2.4 per cent to settle at $64.89, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.
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