Friday, December 11, 2020
‘FG Granted N342bn Waivers to Importers in Two Years’
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has disclosed that the federal government granted about N342 billion waivers to importers in the last two years. She stated this while speaking at the second phase of a one-day sensitisation seminar on the Automated Import Duty Exemption Certificate at the Nigeria Customs Training College, Ikeja. Read more
CBN Boosts Market Liquidity with N4.1trn Special Bills
Following last week’s introduction of 90-day special bills by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the apex bank yesterday sold N4.1 trillion worth of the instrument in the money market. The instrument is expected to avail the monetary authority additional liquidity management tool, support the country’s economic recovery efforts and deepen the financial market. Read more
Reps pass 2020 Finance Bill for second reading
The House of Representatives, on Thursday, passed for second reading, the Finance Bill 2020. It is titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Capital Gains Tax Act, Companies Income Tax Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, Customs and Excise Tariff, Etc. (Consolidated) Act, Value Added Tax Act, Federal Inland Revenue Services (Establishment) Act, Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act, Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Act, Fiscal Responsibility Act, Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, and the Public Procurement Act.’ Read more
World Bank urges Nigeria on reforms to avoid worst recession
World Bank has said Nigeria may experience its worst recession in 20 years. It, however, advised that it was critical to sustain and deepen its reforms to avoid the worsening impact of COVID-19 on the economy. It said this in a press release on Thursday titled, ‘Sustaining and deepening policy reforms is critical to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis in Nigeria, says New World Bank Report’. Read more
Poor Nigerians will reach 100 million by 2022 – World Bank
The World Bank on Thursday projected that the number of poor Nigerians will increase from the current 90 million to about 100 million by 2022 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy. It stated that by 2022, about 11 million more Nigerians were expected to fall into poverty due to the COVID-19 crisis. The World Bank also put the financing portfolio approved by its board for Nigeria at about $11.5bn. Read more
Nigeria’s debt getting out of control, says El-Rufai
Nigeria’s debt is getting out of control and the country has to do something about it, the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said on Thursday. He said the country’s domestic debt was getting to its debt ceiling as far as liquidity was concerned, adding that there was no need to pretend that Nigeria’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio was still low. Read more
Reps urges stakeholders’ collaboration as LCFE trading kicks off
The House of Representatives has urged operators and other market stakeholders to collaborate in efforts to grow the commodities exchange and make it vibrant. The exchange, which was granted approval in-principle for trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year, is said to have the capacity to commence trading with more than its initial four asset classes – mineral resources, oil and gas, agriculture and currencies. Read more
Polaris Bank begins payout in US dollars to money transfer recipients Polaris Bank has commenced payment of US dollars to all beneficiaries of money transfer across all its branches in Nigeria. According to a notice from Polaris Bank sent to its customers on Sunday, 6 December 2020, beneficiaries of money transfer can now receive their remittance in US dollars in cash or directly into a domiciliary account in the Bank. The service is also open to both account and non-account holders alike. Read more