Economy
Nigeria Will Flourish Very Soon—Osinbajo
By Dipo Olowookere
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has expressed confidence that though Nigeria Economy is presently facing structural challenges, the Buhari government is confident that Nigeria will return to positive growth very soon.
He made this assurance on Tuesday September 27, 2015, at the Joint Nigeria-India Business Forum which was held sequel to the signing of Bi-lateral Agreement between the two countries, at Sheraton Hotel Abuja.
He stressed that this will be possible because the Nigerian Government has responded by adopting policies that will boost economic activities and lay a long term growth.
According to him, “Our vision is anchored on a paradigm shift in government toward transparency and accountability and making it easier to do business as we diversify the economy”.
Throwing more light he stated that, there will be replicating of the skill, scale and speed of infrastructure development, focusing especially on power, road and rail.
Noting that this business gathering is at a time that Nigeria is pursuing reforms in the oil and gas sector while undertaking major social investment to tackle poverty, inequality and promoting social inclusion; it is expected that these policies will in turn support the private sector and greater domestic and foreign investment.
He stated that, the visit of the Vice President of India and his delegation further cements the historical ties and underscores the importance of promoting business cooperation between the two countries, hoping that the two sides will use the opportunity to work out any outstanding business issues relating to bilateral and investments including access to credit lines.
In addition, he observed the need to speedily address people to people relations including cultural ties while making it easier to import and export goods and services to be exchanged between the two countries.
While commending the Indian delegation, he stated that, “Our trading engagement are of vintage quality” because, as of the 19th Century Indian traders were visiting Nigeria bringing textiles and spices and the Indian High Commission was established in Nigeria in 1958.
He further revealed that, Nigeria-India relation was given impetus for the signing of the Abuja declaration on Strategic Partnerships in October 2007 which covered a gamut of relations between the two countries, the partnership was further cemented by the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to New Delhi in October 2015 for the third India- Africa Forum Summit.
Prof Osinbajo observed that, “These high level engagements have contributed to the strengthening our Bi-lateral Relations and providing a good basis for mutually beneficial business ties”.
He also noted that, with the change in Global Economic Landscape, India has become one of the global growth poles and is therefore gratifying that the volume of trade between the two countries have increased to about $17bn as at 2015.
The Vice President further said that the rise of India as a significant source of investment into Nigeria makes a compelling case for expanding such growth into other areas; in his words, “We should in this regard scale up the involvement of the private sectors of our two countries in enhancing growth and sustainable developments”, the appointment of Alhaji Aliko Dangote as the Co-President of the India-Africa Business Council is therefore satisfying indeed because the development will give a major boost to development, he surmised.
Concluding, the Vice President invited members of the delegation to take full advantage of the occasion, to initiate lasting business partnerships with Nigerian partners especially in the areas of information and technology, agriculture and agro-allied business, health matters including investment in health services sector, energy especially oil and gas; including renewable energies such as solar power, education including capacity building and entrepreneurship, science and technology, and services generally.
Earlier in his address, the Vice President of India, Mr Hamid Ansari expressed satisfaction with the initiatives that Nigeria has launched under the sagacious leadership of President Buhari, assuring the cooperation and partnership of India. He further expressed a strong desire of his country to expand its commercial engagement with Nigeria.
He observed that, Nigeria is an important partner for India’s energy security requirement, saying about 12% of her crude requirement comes from Nigeria; over 100 companies have made Nigeria their base to operate in West Africa employing quite a large number of Nigerians, covering diverse sectors of the economy.
The Joint Business Forum was jointly hosted by Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industries, NACCIMA, Government of India, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and ASSOCHAM, India.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Food Concepts Plc neutralized the gains recorded by three securities, returning the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into the negative territory with a 0.27 per cent loss on Thursday, December 4.
Yesterday, the share price of the parent company of Chicken Republic and PieXpress declined by 34 Kobo to sell at N3.15 per unit compared with the previous day’s N3.49 per unit.
This shrank the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N5.72 billion to N2.136 billion from N2.142 trillion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 9.57 points to 3,571.53 points from 3,581.10 points.
Business Post reports that Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by 50 Kobo to N38.50 per share from N38.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained 29 Kobo to sell at N55.79 per unit versus N55.50 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc added 5 Kobo to close at N4.60 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N4.55 per share.
Trading data indicated that the volume of securities recorded at the session surged by 6,885.3 per cent to 4.3 million units from the 61,570 units posted a day earlier, the value of securities increased by 10,301.7 per cent to N947.2 million from N3.3 million, and the number of deals went up by 146.7 per cent to 37 deals from the 15 deals achieved in the previous trading session.
At the close of business, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 5.8 billion units for N16.4 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units worth N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units valued at N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn