Monday, November 03, 2020
Lower oil prices create fears of another naira devaluation
Brent crude plunged to a five-month low as increased production from Libya coincided with a wave of new coronavirus-induced lockdown across Europe, raising fears of another currency devaluation in oil-dependent Nigeria. Brent dropped 3.5 percent on Monday to $36.70 a barrel in London, the lowest since May 2020, while US crude dropped by 3.6 percent… Read more
External reserves rise by $16.36m as naira remains stable
Nigeria’s external reserves increased by $16.36 million week-on-week to $35.69 billion as foreign exchange inflows improve. FX inflows more than offset outflows from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s interventions across the various FX windows. External Reserves have maintained a stable trend at US$35.7 billion in the month of September and October 2020. Read more
Affordable mortgage opportunity beckons as NMRC issues N10bn Bond to boost industry liquidity
Opportunity is beckoning on investors and home seekers as the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) completes N10 billion 7.20 percent Series 3 Fixed Rate Bond to boost funding for an affordable mortgage. The net proceeds of the exercise will be used to refinance eligible mortgage loans originated by the participating mortgage lending banks, the private… Read more
EFCC invites Fowler over N100bn tax evasion allegation against Alpha Beta
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it is interrogating a former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over the N100 billion tax evasion allegations against Alpha Beta Consulting. This latest development comes on the heels of the petition by former Alpha Beta Consulting Co-founder, Dapo Apara, to the EFCC alleging that… Read more
NCC approves e-SIM trial for MTN, 9Mobile
The Nigerian Communications Commission on Monday announced that it had granted approval for two mobile network operators, MTN Nigeria and 9Mobile, to carry out trials on the workability of embedded Subscriber Identification Modules Service in Nigeria. Read more
Nigeria generated N424.71bn VAT – NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics on Monday said N424.71bn was generated as VAT in the third quarter of the year. This was against N327.20bn generated in Q2 2020 and N275.12bn generated in Q3 2019. It said the third quarter VAT represented 29.8 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter and 54.37 per cent increase year-on-year. Read more
COVID-19: Senate kicks as FG approves N5bn bailout for aviation sector
The Senate on Monday rejected the plan by the Federal Government to give N5bn bailout to the operators of the aviation sector following the losses they suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi, had at the opening of a three-day public hearing on the six executive bills meant to reorganise the civil aviation agencies in the country, made a case for bailout for the sector. Read more
New electricity tariff illegal without NERC order, say consumers
The implementation of the revised service reflective tariff for electricity by power distribution companies is creating confusion among power consumers as some customers of Discos described it as an illegality. According to the Nigerian Electricity Consumers Advocacy Network, a body of power sector experts and consumers from various sectors, the non-release of an order on the revised tariff by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission had made matters worse. Read more
FRC seeks improved adoption of IFRS, corporate governance
The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) has called for improved adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and National Code of Corporate Governance (NCCG 2018), which were issued in 2019, for financial institutions in the country. Read more
Local airlines’ debt burden hits N22b
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, yesterday, disclosed that the local airlines’ total debt burden to regulatory agencies stood at N22 billion. A breakdown showed the sum of N19.37 billion and $6,993,284 million (N2.7 billion) as unremitted Ticket Sales Charge (TSC), and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) collected on behalf of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and its sister agencies. Read more
Profit-taking halts gaining streak as market capitalisation sheds N27b
As anticipated, profit-taking by investors at the Nigerian equities sector halted six days of bullish run to commence trading on a downturn yesterday, causing market capitalisation to depreciate by N27 billion. Read more
