Economy
Nigeria’s Inflation Increases 15.70% in February 2022
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation, increased by 15.70 per cent year-on-year for the month of February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which disclosed this in its CPI and Inflation Report on Tuesday.
The report stated that “this is 1.63 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33) per cent,” indicative that the headline inflation rate slowed down in February when compared to the same month in the previous year, but higher than the 15.60 per cent reported in the preceding month.
Also detailed in the report were increases in all COICOP divisions that yielded the headline index.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased to 1.63 per cent in February 2022, 0.16 per cent higher than the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.47 per cent).
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending February 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.73 per cent, showing 0.14 per cent point from 16.87 per cent recorded in January 2022,” the stats office disclosed in its report today.
Concerning the urban inflation rate, an increase to 16.25 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2022 from 17.92 per cent was recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.18 per cent in February 2022 from 16.77 per cent in February 2021.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.65 per cent in February 2022, up by 0.12 the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.53) per cent, while the rural index also rose to 1.61 per cent in February 2022, up by 0.19 the rate that was recorded in January 2022 (1.42) per cent,” the NBS further stated in the report.
“The 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 17.29 per cent in February 2022. This is lower than the 17.44 per cent reported in January 2022, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in February 2022 is 16.18 per cent which is lower than the 16.31 per cent recorded in January 2022,” the report also said.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended Friday’s trading session lower with a marginal decline of 0.01 per cent as a result of continued market volatility.
Customs Street was down during the last trading session of the week despite bargain-hunting activities in the banking and industrial goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.51 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that profit-taking in the other sectors contributed to the downfall of the local bourse yesterday, with the insurance index weakening by 3.21 per cent.
Further, the energy counter went down by 0.50 per cent, and the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.24 per cent, while the commodity industry closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 13.37 points to 105,511.89 points from 105,525.26 points and the market capitalisation declined by N8 billion to settle at N66.147 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N66.155 trillion.
A total of 348.3 million shares worth N8.1 billion exchanged hands in 11,444 deals on Friday compared with the 397.1 million shares valued at N8.7 billion traded in 13,667 deals a day earlier, implying a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.29 per cent, 6.90 per cent, and 16.27 per cent, respectively.
The activity log was led by UBA with the sale of 26.3 million stocks for N972.3 million, United Capital traded 25.6 million shares valued at N391.5 million, FCMB exchanged 24.2 million equities worth N211.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.9 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and Fidelity Bank traded 22.6 million stocks worth N441.7 million.
Investor sentiment remained bearish yesterday after the NGX finished with 19 price gainers and 29 price losers, showing a negative market breadth index.
Lasaco Assurance and AXA Mansard were the worst-performing equities with a decline of 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.34, and N8.64 apiece, May and Baker decreased by 8.72 per cent to N7.85, Guinea Insurance crashed by 8.70 per cent to 63 Kobo, and FTN Cocoa lost 6.43 per cent to end at N1.60.
However, Learn Africa and Livestock Feeds closed as the best-performing stocks after they gained 10.00 per cent each to quote at N3.30, and N7.92, respectively, VFD Group soared by 9.83 per cent to N57.00, Union Dicon expanded by 9.43 per cent to N5.80, and NGX Group rose by 8.17 per cent to N32.45.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Food Concepts Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.21 per cent on Friday, April 4.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc lost N1.86 to close at N36.80 per unit compared with Thursday’s closing value of N38.66 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc recorded a 1 Kobo decline to end at N1.17 per share versus the preceding session’s N1.18 per share.
This dragged down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 6.88 points at the close of business to 3,309.46 points from the previous day’s 3,316.34 points and the market capitalisation dropped N3.97 billion to settle at N1.911 trillion, in contrast to the N1.915 trillion it ended at the preceding session.
At the unlisted securities yesterday, the volume of trades increased by 247.9 per cent to 1.3 million units from the 372,568 units transacted in the previous trading day.
Equally, the value of transactions surged by 23.2 per cent to N1.3 million from N4.1 million, but the number of deals went down by 50 per cent to 20 deals from the 40 deals recorded on Thursday.
When the bourse ended for the session, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 71,2 million units worth N24.2 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.2 million units sold for N89.4 million.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc also remained as the most traded equity by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 13.8 million units valued at N534.7 million, followed by Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.8 million units sold for N364.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its loss against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 1.45 per cent or N22.49 on Friday, April 4.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the local currency was exchanged to a Dollar at N1,573.23/$1 during the session compared with the N1,550.74/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
Similarly, the domestic currency weakened against the Euro in the official market yesterday by N2.91 to settle at N1,725.29/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,722.38/€1 but on the British Pound Sterling, it appreciated by N12.27 to sell for N2,031.02/£1 versus the preceding session’s N2,043.29/£1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency lost N10 against the greenback on Friday to trade at N1,570/$1 compared with the N1,560/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.
The Naira’s negative outcome aligns with a wider slowdown in the global financial markets as retaliatory tariffs weaken outlook and raise possibility of a recession.
Already, Nigeria could face lower foreign exchange earnings from oil, which could be impacted heavily by tariffs.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it remained mixed after China announced retaliatory tariffs on all goods, responding to President Donald Trump’s Wednesday decision to boost the overall levy on Chinese goods to 54 per cent.
The concensus is that China’s response is not only negative for the US but it is also impacting the global outlook.
Binance Coin (BNB) shed 0.5 per cent to close at $594.69, Cardano (ADA) went down by 0.5 per cent to $0.6561, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 0.4 per cent to close at $84.09, Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled by 0.05 per cent to $83,444.13, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.04 per cent to $1,810.12, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) moderated by 0.03 per cent to $0.9997.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 3.1 per cent to $2.13, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to $120.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) leapt by 2.4 per cent to $0.1690, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00.
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