Nigeria: Bond Yields Hit 8-month High on Sell Pressure

By Aduragbemi Omiyale An application and proprietary solution for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, known as Aleph Express, has been launched by Aleph Group. A statement from the firm explained that Aleph Express provides a platform for MSMEs to create and maintain a free e-commerce website, create a product catalogue, set local delivery options, manage, record and process orders while gaining meaningful insights to drive growth. The platform also provides one unified inbox that integrates WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, to enable businesses to efficiently engage and sell – all in one place. In addition, Aleph Express provides

By Bliss Okperan Nigeria recorded an improvement in its trade surplus in the third quarter of 2023, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which was analysed by Business Post. The agency disclosed that in the period under review, the total value of exports stood at N10.347 trillion, while imports stood at N8.458 trillion, leaving the total value of trades at N18.802 trillion, 60.78 per cent higher than the N6.435 trillion achieved in the second quarter of 2023. Analysis showed that between July and September 2023, the country, which prides itself as the biggest economy in

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has expressed its readiness to partner with the Lekki Deep Seaport by promoting the seamless movement of cargo and the efficiency of the nation’s ports. The NSC Executive Secretary, Mr Pius Akutah, gave the assurance when the Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) – promoters of Lekki Deep Seaport, Mr Du Ruogang, led the port’s management on a courtesy visit to the NSC in Lagos. Mr Akutah, who commended the Lekki Deep Seaport management for the visit, said the council would partner with the port in areas that would boost

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira recorded a marginal loss of 0.01 per cent or 2 kobo against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, December 17. At the spot market, the exchange rate of the Naira to the greenback ended at N415.07/$1 in contrast to N415.05/$1 it was traded at the previous session. The poor performance of the Nigerian currency to its American counterpart happened despite the FX category posting low forex transactions, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange. The turnover for the trading session stood at

By Ahmed Rahma The government of South Africa has suspended the use of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on its citizens over an issue concerning the protection of users. About a million doses of the vaccine from the United Kingdom have already been delivered to the former Apartheid country by the manufacturer. However, South Africa claimed test results showed that the vaccine did not protect clinical-trial participants from mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious COVID-19 virus variant ( B.1.351) that was first seen there. It was not clear from the studies whether the vaccine protected against severe disease from the

By Nneka Okumazie There’s a good chance that in the next century, or just beyond, most of the knowledge agreed, about whom hunter-gatherers were, or were about would have changed. Not because scientists chose to be deliberately wrong, but because it is difficult to be certain of any measurement in retrospect. Fossil records or whatever else may seem like incontrovertible evidence, but the measure of their dating and characteristics aren’t. This is what we know based on what we used to check. What we know, or think we know and agree to – changes with new measures and evidence. So,

By Adedapo Adesanya The shortage of Dollar supply in the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria pushed back the Naira to the N500/$1 region at the black market on Monday. Business Post reports that the FX scarcity heightened yesterday, causing the local currency to depreciate against the US Dollar at the parallel market by N2. At the previous trading session, which was last Friday, the domestic currency had closed against the greenback at N498/$1 at the unregulated segment of the market. It was observed that the Nigerian currency performed badly on Monday as a result of the FX liquidity squeeze

By Modupe Gbadeyanka President Muhammadu Buhari has again postponed the date of his 2017 budget presentation to a joint session of the National Assembly. Mr Buhari had earlier slated Thursday, December 1, 2016, for the presentation, but shifted it to Wednesday, December 7, 2016. However, the latest is that the President would not be presenting the 2017 appropriation bill to the lawmakers tomorrow as earlier planned. It was gathered that Mr Buhari will now be doing this on Wednesday, December 14, 2016. According to the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, a letter

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government of Nigeria has given certain conditions that fellow members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) must fullfil before the nation’s land borders can be reopened. In August 2019, the Nigerian authorities shut down all its land borders as part of its determination to curb smuggling. Since this step was taken, Nigeria has come under heavy criticisms and complaints from importers, investors and some of the neighboring countries, who argued that the move was too abrupt. On Monday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, during the meeting of inter-ministerial committee

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited succumbed to the authority of the bears on Tuesday by 0.20 per cent as a result of profit-taking, especially in the industrial goods stocks. Business Post reports that the industrial goods declined by 0.08 per cent due to selling pressure on Lafarge Africa, which said its performance in the first three months of this year was impacted negatively by the cash crunch and the general elections. This loss posted by the sector suppressed the gains recorded by the other key segments of the stock market, especially the banking arm, which grew by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Growth eased in Nigeria’s private sector activity in August than what was recorded in the previous month, the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Stanbic IBTC Bank has revealed. In a statement issued by the lender, it was disclosed that the headline PMI for business conditions in the industry stood at 52.3 last month compared with 53.2 in July, signalling another improvement in business conditions. It explained that softer upticks were recorded in output, new orders and purchasing activity while employment rose at a quicker pace. At the same time, overall input price inflation rose at the second-fastest