Economy
Nigeria’s Import Exceeds Export by $4.5b
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week said the nation’s balance of payments depreciated to deficit of $4.5 billion in the third quarter of 2018, indicating that import exceeded export by $4.5 billion.
In a report, the apex bank said this was different from the $503 million surplus recorded in the second quarter of this year.
In the report titled Brief on Balance of Payments Statistics Q3’18, the apex bank said, “The provisional Balance of Payments (BOP) estimates for Q3 2018 showed a significant turnaround in the country’s position as the overall balance of payments swung into a deficit of $4.542 billion compared to surpluses of $503.97 million and $2.787 billion recorded in the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2017, respectively.
“The current account balance (CAB) worsened from a surplus of $4.452 billion in Q2 2018 to a deficit of $3.105 billion in Q3 2018. The financial account balance indicated an increased net incurrence of financial liabilities of $10.724 billion in the review period as against $2,575.64 million recorded in the preceding period.
“The current account indicated a negative outcome during the review period, recording a deficit of $3.105 billion as against surpluses of $4.452 billion and $1.973 million in the previous quarter and corresponding period of 2017, respectively. This development was largely attributable to the increased payments for imports
“The surplus in the Goods Account decreased significantly to $2.125 billion in Q3 2018 from surpluses of $7.510 billion in the preceding quarter and $3.416 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
“Export earnings rose by 2.8 per cent to $16.210 billion in Q3 2018 when compared with Q2 2018. It also indicated an increase of about 35.3 per cent when compared to corresponding period of 2017.
“Earnings from crude oil and gas, which accounted for 94.4 per cent of total export earnings during the review period, increased by 9.5 per cent to $15,301.72 million in Q3 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.
“Earnings from non-oil and electricity ex-ports decreased by 49.3 per cent to $909.04 million in Q3 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.
“Available data showed that payments for import of goods (fob) to the economy in the review period increased by 70.5 per cent to $14.085 billion above the level recorded in the preceding quarter. This was largely as a result of 79.7 per cent increase in the imports of non-oil products.
“Net out-payments for services during the review period in-creased significantly by 35.4 per cent to a deficit of $7.024 million when compared with the level recorded in Q2 2018.
“When compared with the corresponding period of 2017, it indicated a much higher increase of about 65.0 per cent.
“Similarly, the deficit in the income account (net) increased by 6.7 per cent to $4.161 billion in the review period from a deficit of $3.898 billion recorded in the pre-ceding quarter.
“When compared with the level in the corresponding period of 2017 it indicated an increase of about 39.5 per cent. The surplus in the current transfers (net) decreased by 1.2 per cent to $5.955 million in Q3 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter. However, the level of surplus was 2.7 per cent higher than the level recorded
“Provisional Q3 2018 BOP estimates for the Financial Ac-count showed an increase in net incurrence of financial liabilities from $2.575 billion recorded in Q2 2018 to $10.724 billion in the review period. This is also significantly different from the net acquisition of financial as-sets of $3.739 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
“Direct Investments inflow increased by 0.7 per cent to $438.84 million when compared with the preceding quarter of 2018. It however, indicated a decline of 45.0 per cent when compared to the corresponding period of 2017. Portfolio Investments inflow to the economy decreased significantly to $1.790.83 billion in Q3 2018 from $4.233 billion and $3.320 billion in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2017, respectively. However, other investment liabilities increased slightly to $4.281 billion when compared with $3.226 million recorded in the preceding quarter.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Shares of First Holdco Plc worth N45.0 billion issued through a private placement have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
A circular issued by the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of the NGX Regulation Limited, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, disclosed that the equities were admitted for trading at the stock market on Monday.
According to the notice, the additional shares brought for listing to rank pari passu with existing shares of the organisation were 1,021,334,544 units.
These stocks were sold to one of the company’s major shareholders at a unit price of N44.06, amounting to N45.0 billion.
The total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco, as a result of this listing, are now 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of First Holdco Plc were on Monday, June 22, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s private placement of 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N44.06 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco Plc have now increased to 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 44,453,693,133 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the disclosure stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has approved fresh import licences for petrol and diesel for the third quarter of 2026 (July – September) to prevent potential supply shortages in the domestic market.
According to a report by global energy intelligence firm, Argus Media, the latest approvals were issued to major downstream operators amid declining fuel stock levels and concerns over reduced petrol production at the 700,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
The move comes as Nigeria continues to balance increasing local refining capacity with the need to guarantee adequate supplies of petroleum products across the country.
According to the Argus report, domestic firms, including AA Rano, AYM Shafa, Bono Energy, Nipco, Matrix Energy and Pinnacle Oil, received permits to import Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, during the July-September period.
The publication further reported that the same companies, with the exception of Nipco, were granted approvals to import Automotive Gas Oil, commonly known as diesel. The fresh approvals follow an earlier batch of petrol import permits issued by the regulator in May, covering about 720,000 metric tonnes.
Quoting a regulatory source, Argus noted that many of the companies granted the latest approvals were among those that had received permits in previous rounds. “These are some of the same ones that previously received the PMS permits,” the source was quoted as saying.
It was also claimed that AA Rano and Matrix Energy each received approvals to import 180,000 metric tonnes of petrol. AYM Shafa received approval for 120,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle Oil received a permit covering 150,000 metric tonnes.
For diesel imports, Argus reported that AYM Shafa obtained a permit for 60,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle secured approval for 45,000 metric tonnes. The report stated that the import approvals were issued only recently, after being delayed from an initial target date of June 15.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.01 per cent on Tuesday, June 23, dragging the market capitalisation down by N25.91 billion to N2.544 trillion from Monday’s N2.570 trillion. Also, the NASD Security Index (NSI) decreased by 43.17 points to 4,239.34 points from 4,282.51 points.
The triplet price losers were Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gave up N4.82 to trade at N75.00 per unit versus Monday’s closing price of N79.82 per unit. NASD Plc depreciated by N3.70 to close at N33.30 per share compared with the preceding day’s N37.00 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc marginally lost 1 Kobo to sell at N21.41 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N21.42 per unit.
Tuesday’s trading data showed that the volume of securities traded by investors retreated by 35.9 per cent to 211,671 units from 330,034 units, and the value of securities fell by 82.9 per cent to N5.6 million from N32.7 million, while the number of deals doubled to 38 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.1 million units transacted for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
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