Economy
Nigeria Needs Clearer, More Liberal, Fiscal Policies—ICAEW
To attract more foreign investments into the Nigerian economy, the policy environment needs to be strengthened by the implementation of more liberal and clearer policies. This call was made by Cobus de Hart, Chief Economist for North and West Africa, Oxford Economics, who was a guest speaker at the ICAN/ICAEW Joint Economic Insight event held in Lagos on Friday, April 26, 2019.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Nigeria: The African Giant Crawling Back on its Own and its Untapped Technological Potential’, Hart stated that the Nigerian business environment is still seen as very unfriendly, especially since the wrong policies were implemented after the oil shock. He however noted that the economy has witnessed a progressive shift to non-oil outputs.
He said: “The non-oil sector is now the main driver of growth. The non-oil sector has expanded from 0.8% to 2.7%. That is actually progressive”, explaining that diversification can be accelerated with even more liberal policies.
Hart also said that the near-term outlook was encouraging with PMIs hinting at a solid start to 2019, FX risks which have eased off considerably and the loosening of the monetary policy.
According to him, despite the 2019 general elections, portfolio investor appetite is still strong, and this has prompted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to change policy direction.
Taking a cue from a 2017 World Bank report, Hart noted that Nigeria is still largely unbanked with only 39% of adults having accounts in financial institutions. Nevertheless, according to him, there is still a huge mobile money opportunity in Nigeria because of her population. Sadly, this is not the case with mobile penetration.
According to Hart: “As of 2017, Nigeria only had 39 mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults and saw only 447 mobile money transactions per 1,000 adults. In China, guess what the transactions figure was? 52,000! Despite such as a large market, Nigeria is lagging far behind its peers”
He affirmed that Sub-Saharan African countries in general have seen a sharp increase in mobile penetration, although East African countries like Kenya still take the lead.
With the rise of financial technology (Fintech), Hart believes that Nigeria is making progress in Fintech opportunities. “It is nice to see that Nigeria is making progress in Fintech. Last year, CBN launched the Payment Service Banks (PSB) licensing guidelines with the aim to increase financial inclusion. What this does now is that it allows telecommunication companies (telcos) to provide limited financial services like holding deposits, payments and remittances, issuing debit and prepaid cards. However, they are not allowed to give loans”, Hart added.
Also speaking at the event, Paul Aplin, President, ICAEW, said that you cannot have a strong economy without a strong national accounting profession. He also noted that no institute can help the economy alone, it has to be done in partnership with other institutes that have the same vision. This, he explained, was the value brought by the synergy between ICAN and ICAEW.
Also present at the event were: Alhaji Razak Jaiyeola, President, ICAN; Dr. Andrew Nevin, Chief Economist and Partner, PwC; Michael Armstrong, Regional Director for ICAEW in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia; Chris Nyong, Auditor-General of Cross-River State, as well as representatives from the ‘Big 4’ Accounting firms in Nigeria – KPMG, Ernst & Young, PwC and Deloitte, amongst others.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Monday allotted bonds worth N929.3 billion to investors from the N1.7 trillion bids it received from subscribers.
The exercise, which took place on Monday, July 20, 2026, was oversubscribed by market participants, reflecting the confidence investors have in the government’s ability to redeem the debt instrument on maturity.
On offer for sale for the July auction was N1.2 trillion worth of the FGN bonds, but the DMO allotted below this, despite receiving bids above the offer.
The papers were offered in 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year tenors, at N400 billion each.
For the decade-old note, investors staked N444.47 billion, but the debt office sold N245.73 billion at an 18.34 per cent coupon rate. For the one and a half-decade-old paper, bids valued at N518.00 billion were received by the DMO, with a non-competitive bid of N50.00 billion, with N302.13 billion allotted to investors at 18.40 per cent, and for the two-decade paper, the DMO got competitive bids of N665.19 billion and N381.46 billion was sold to bondholders at 18.35 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, disclosed that Nigeria’s external reserves had risen to $52.5 billion, enough to finance about nine months of imports.
He disclosed this on Tuesday at the end of the 306th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held in Abuja, where the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) retained the benchmark interest rate at 26.50 per cent as well as the standing facilities corridor at +50/-450 basis points around the MPR.
Similarly, the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) was maintained at 45 per cent for Deposit Money Banks, 16 per cent for Merchant Banks, and 75 per cent for non-Treasury Single Account (TSA) public sector deposits.
Speaking on FX developments, the central banker said at the $52 billion level, the country’s external reserves were significantly above the internationally recommended threshold of three months of import cover.
On the Naira exchange rate, Mr Cardoso said the foreign exchange market had deepened and was now operating on a transparent willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.
He said the apex bank remained committed to maintaining a liquid and functional foreign exchange market, adding that daily market turnover sometimes exceeded $1 billion.
According to him, the long-term stability of the naira would depend on key economic fundamentals, including increased oil exports, foreign direct investment, and improved domestic productivity to reduce dependence on imports.
He also added that the MPC welcomed the federal government’s renewed commitment to stronger policy coordination, particularly collaboration between fiscal and monetary authorities, which he said had helped reduce the impact of the Middle East crisis on the Nigerian economy.
Mr Cardoso said members of the committee also commended efforts to improve crude oil production and urged relevant agencies to intensify reforms in other sectors, including solid minerals, to boost government revenue.
On the regulatory forbearance granted to banks during the COVID-19 period, he reiterated that this had been discontinued because it had served its purpose.
According to him, the policy had “outlived its time” and was no longer necessary in assessing the health of the banking sector.
“Forbearance, we felt, had outlived its time. Many of you will recall this is something that came as a result of COVID. And now we are in 2026; we did not see the reason why that should continue to form part of the analysis of the banking system,” he said.
Mr Cardoso explained that banks had begun recalibrating their portfolios following the end of the policy, leading to a temporary reduction in outstanding risk assets.
He, however, assured that the development was part of a transition towards a stronger and more sustainable credit environment.
“It reflects a transition to a more sustainable and better quality credit environment, which is what we all want. We don’t want unanticipated shocks that come in a boom-and-bust fashion,” he said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its recent positive run by 1.17 per cent on Tuesday, July 21, triggered by appreciation seen in four bellwethers.
Leading the pack was FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which added N12.00 to its value to close at N153.15 per share compared with the previous day’s N141.15 per share. NASD Plc appreciated by N1.90 to N36.00 per unit from N34.10 per unit, Food Concepts Plc improved by 23 Kobo to N2.48 per share from N2.25 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc grew by a marginal 1 Kobo to N15.01 per unit from N15.00 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation of the bourse increased by N30.40 billion to N2.637 trillion from Monday’s N2.606 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) gained 50.70 points to finish at 4,393.97 points, in contrast to the 4,343.27 points it ended a day earlier.
The unlisted securities exchange recorded a price loser yesterday, and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which shed 1 Kobo to settle at N2.30 per share versus N2.31 per share.
During the trading day, the volume of securities traded by market participants on Tuesday dropped 99.4 per cent to 322,147 units from the previous day’s 52.6 million units, the value of securities dipped by 89.8 per cent to N19.4 million from the preceding session’s N191.2 million, and the number of deals contracted by 3.6 per cent to 27 deals from 28 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.4 million units exchanged for N5.3 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
