Economy
Nigeria, Europe Seal Deal to Boost Trade, Investment Flows
By Dipo Olowookere
A deal that will facilitate increased trade and investment flows has been signed between Nigeria and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
The joint declaration on economic cooperation was sealed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the sidelines of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) 11th Ministerial Conference.
The EFTA-Nigeria declaration will be implemented by a joint commission of both parties and the areas of cooperation include trade in goods; customs and tariffs and trade facilitation; trade in services; investment; protection of intellectual property rights including enforcement; trade and sustainable development; digital economy including ecommerce; trade and investment related issues pertaining to small and medium-sized enterprises; and any other areas of cooperation as mutually agreed by the parties involved.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah who represented Africa by virtue of his position as Vice-Chair of the Ministerial Conference, stated that, “We’re delighted to see the commitment of several countries on the issue of trade and investment. It is clear that these two are complementary. This is consistent with the government’s Ease of Doing Business agenda and will help Nigeria create sorely needed jobs as well as improve productivity. We reiterate that we are happy to work with other countries in a way and manner that is mutually beneficial.”
Director General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) and Chief Negotiator, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, noted that, “At this 11th WTO Ministerial Conference, Nigeria has re-established itself on economic and trade policy leadership globally.
“And this is coming on the heels of Nigeria’s drive in Niamey, Niger last week, to bring the negotiations for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement closer to reality.”
Members of the EFTA are Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland.
Meanwhile, members of the Friends of Investment Facilitation for Development (FIFD) of which Nigeria is a member, unanimously adopted a Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation in Buenos Aires.
FIFD members had on the sidelines of the WTO Conference adopted a Ministerial Statement. A total of 38 countries, including members and non-members of FIFD adopted the document focused on investment facilitation.
The statement called for the commencement of “structured discussions with the aim of developing a multilateral framework on investment facilitation.”
The FIFD statement noted that following the Abuja Statement adopted at the High Level Forum on Trade and Investment Facilitation for Development co-hosted by Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja in November, the group will continue its outreach to WTO members on the subject matter
FIFD Statement called for discussions that would identify and develop a framework for facilitating foreign direct investments; improving transparency; exchanging best practices; sharing information; and speeding up administrative processes among others.
The document explained that the discussion would not however, address matters of market access, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement.
By Dipo Olowookere
The three major partners of the Dangote Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos, MRS Oil Nigeria, Heyden and Ardova Plc, will retail premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its stations across the country at N970 per litre.
This information was revealed by Dangote Refinery, owned by one of Africa’s richest businessmen, Mr Aliko Dangote.
The three independent oil marketers entered into a bulk-purchasing agreement with the oil facility, which has the capacity to refinery about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The deal, first sealed by MRS Oil, ensured that it retailed fuel at its petrol stations at N935 per cent litre.
However, last week, Dangote Refinery increased its ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N950 per litre due to a rise in the price of crude oil to $80 per litre in the global market from about $72 per barrel.
In a statement on Sunday made available to Business Post, Dangote Refinery said, “All our partners, including Ardova, Heyden, and MRS Holdings, will offer petrol to Nigerians at a retail price of N970 per litre nationwide.
“We have absorbed the increased logistics costs to guarantee uniform pricing across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
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