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
Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.
The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.
During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.
This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.
Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.
The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.
As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.
Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.
Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.
If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.
At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.
On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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