Economy
Senate Passes 2020 Budget
By Dipo Olowookere
The 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu in October 2019 has been passed by the Senate.
The upper legislative chamber of the parliament read the 2020 budget for the third time after it was presented by Senator Barau Jibrin of the Committee on Appropriations on the 2020 Appropriation Bill.
Business Post reports that the lawmakers later passed the bill after the Senate dissolved into the Committee of Supply for the clause by clause consideration of the report.
But before it was passed, the immediate past Senate President, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, thanked the committee and leaders of the parliament. He said, “In looking at this budget there were a lot of constraints and we would have also done better in some areas.
“The first is the exchange rate, the next year budget should also find a way of addressing unemployment. Nigeria has not shown interest in environmental issues and this year has about N9 billion for the whole of environment.
“We need to do something about security and provide for those key sectors and provide a safe atmosphere for people to go about their business. I move that this Bill be fully considered and passed today.”
On her part, former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, opined that, “This appropriation prioritizes what we are all clamouring for and that is security. If you look at the budget, the security takes a lion share. I want to commend the Committee and urge my colleagues to support this wonderful bill.”
Former Governor of Benue State, Mr Gabriel Suswam, stated that, “I support that we pass this budget today but I want to make an appeal to have an executive session after we pass this budget to address some issues that affect all of us.”
Senator Solomon Adeola, in his contribution, commended Chairman and members of the Appropriations Committee, saying, “The Committee has worked within the parameters to ensure they give a budget that will work for the common man and a budget that will take us to the next level.”
“I want to extend my gratitude and thanks to all my Distinguished colleagues who worked really hard to make sure that this budget sees the light of the day within the time frame that we have set for ourselves.
“I congratulate everyone for their commitment and for the hard work. I want to thank the executive arm of government for the unprecedented urgency that they have presented the budget and we hope that highest preparations will be done towards the 2021 budget,” Mr Yahaya Abdullahi submitted.
“What is important is the immediate execution of this budget. The issue of oversight should be non-negotiable. We should remind the executive that in this 9th Senate we will take the issue of oversight more serious,” Mr Rochas Okorocha, the immediate past Governor of Imo State, said.
After the budget was passed, Senator Bassey Akpan said, “The focus should now shift on pursuing revenue to ensure the implementation of the budget.”
Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, “This could not have been possible without the efforts all of you have put. When we came in, all of us approved our legislative agenda which was to ensure we take back our budget cycle to a cycle that could easily be defined and to something that could easily be bought into.
“Today, we have been able to achieve this. I must give members of the 9th National Assembly the credit. Let me also commend the executive arm of government.
“We pray that the executive is able to implement the budget fully. Once again, I want to congratulate all of us here and I hope we continue to work together as colleagues to ensure the 2020 budget is fully implemented.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.16 per cent decline on Tuesday, January 21, extending its loss this week to two.
This further depleted the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange by N1.65 billion at the close of transactions to N1.071 trillion from the N1.073 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slid by 4.79 points to wrap the session at 3,100.33 points compared with 3,105.12 points recorded in the previous session.
The bourse ended with two price losers yesterday led by Geo Fluids Plc, which gave up 32 Kobo to trade at N4.38 per share versus Monday’s closing price of N4.70 per share and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 15 Kobo to close at N39.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N39.65 per unit.
On the second trading day of the week, the number of deal carried out slightly went up by 8.3 per cent to 13 deals from the 12 deals executed at the previous trading session.
Also, the value of transactions increased by 97.2 per cent to N4.5 million from the N2.5 million recorded a day earlier, while the volume of securities traded in the session declined by 71.6 per cent to 183,780 units from the 767,610 units recorded on Monday.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most traded equity by value (year-to-date) with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with 55,358 sold for N14.5 million.
Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 25.3 million units worth N5.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units valued at N162.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, making its value to shrink against the United States Dollar at the close of business.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency crashed against its American counterpart during the session by 0.18 per cent or N2.73 to settle at N1,552.78/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,550.05/1.
But against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the local currency traded flat in the official market yesterday at N1,906.98/£1 and N1,613.48/€1, respectively.
As for the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to sell for N1,670/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,665/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market heaved a sigh of relief during the session as President Donald Trump created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. This is after Mr Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto, officially stepped down as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Mr Trump’s term started.
The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.
Solana (SOL) recorded a 9.2 per cent growth to sell at $257.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 7.6 per cent to $0.36789, Ripple (XRP) added 4.0 per cent to finish at $3.18, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 3.7 per cent to $105,515.03.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to close at $699.01, Cardano jumped by 2.1 per cent to trade at $0.9972, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.0 per cent to settle at $3,308.21, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.5 per cent to end at $116.72, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The price of the Brent crude oil grade went below the $80 mark on Tuesday after it shed 86 cents or 1.1 per cent to trade at $79.29 per barrel after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, signaled the possibility of his country boosting its oil production.
This move raised concerns of higher US output in a market widely expected to be oversupplied this year, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling by $1.99 or 2.6 per cent during the session to $75.89 per barrel.
On his first day in office, the US President signed an executive order to unleash America’s energy by easing the barriers to oil and gas extraction and production and revoking a series of climate orders by former President Joe Biden.
As pledged in the campaign, the executive order follows the declaration of a national energy emergency.
The declaration includes measures to expedite energy infrastructure delivery, and emergency approvals by agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”
This will likely confirm expectations that the oil market will be oversupplied this year after weak economic activity and energy transition efforts weighed heavily on demand in top-consuming nations the US and China.
President Trump also said he was considering imposing 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1, rather than on his first day in office as promised.
The delay helped ease concerns of an immediate tightening of the market among US refiners, many of which are geared to process the type of crude oil supplied by these countries.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reiterated on Tuesday its expectations for oil prices to decline both this year and next.
On its part, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projects robust demand growth in the world both this year and next.
In 2025, OPEC says demand is set to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day leaving its projection unchanged from the December report.
However, losses were also limited after the US president said his administration would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The U.S. is the second-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.
Also weighing on prices on Tuesday was the potential end to the shipping disruption in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
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