CAPITAL MARKET
Investors gain N150bn as Nigerian stocks cut losses
Investors gained N150bn at the close of trading on the Nigerian Exchange Limited last week as stocks pared their losses. The NGX All-Share Index and market capitalization appreciated by 0.72 per cent to close the week at 39,481.89 basis points and N20.58tn respectively. All other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Sovereign Bond Index, which depreciated by 10.69 per cent, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Growth Indices closed flat. Punch
FMDQ Admits MTN, Coronation Merchant Bank’s Commercial Papers
FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited has approved the quotation of the MTN Nigeria Communications Plc N19.77 billion Series 3 and N53.74 billion Series 4 Commercial Papers (CPs) under its N200 billion CP Issuance Programme. The exchange also approved the quotation of the Coronation Merchant Bank Limited N0.71 billion Series 13 and N14.13 billion Series 14 Commercial Papers (CPs) in March 2021, and the N1.41 billion Series 15 and N20.19 billion Series 16 CPs in May 2021, under its N100 billion CP Programme. This Day
BANKING
Ecobank Organises MSMEs’ Summit
Ecobank Nigeria Limited and Vanguard Economic Forum Series have announced that they are convening an MSME virtual summit to promote and encourage lending support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the face of changing operating environment in the country. The virtual summit with the theme: ‘Unlocking Credit Growth in a Changing MSME Lending Landscape,’ will be broadcast and streamed live via zoom platform scheduled for May 21st. This Day
Unity Bank pledges more funding for 120,000 maize farmers
Unity Bank Plc has said it will provide additional funding to 120,000 smallholder maize farmers in Nigeria in the 2021 wet season farming. It said this in a statement titled ‘ABP scheme: Unity Bank set to extend additional funding to 120,000 smallholder maize farmers’. The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Tomi Somefun, disclosed this while delivering a goodwill message at the unveiling of the first national maize pyramids and flag-off of wet season farming programmes in Katsina, according to the statement. Punch
ECONOMY
N120b petrol subsidy to double as CBN adjusts exchange rate
As the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signals a subtle harmonisation of exchange rates with the removal of N379/$1 official rate from its website, all is set for labour unions to lock horns with the Federal Government on petrol subsidy removal.The return of subsidy have posed new challenges for the country in terms of discrepancies in the volume of daily consumed fuel about to be worsened by the apex bank’s adoption of the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window rate, pushing subsidy claims above N120 billion every month. The Guardian
$1.24bn spent on food imports despite Buhari’s forex ban
Food products imports gobbled up $1.24bn of the foreign exchange supplied by the Central Bank of Nigeria from October 2020 to March 2021 despite the ban directive from the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The foreign exchange used for the importation of food products into Nigeria more than doubled in the fourth quarter of last year as against the previous quarter, during which Buhari directed the CBN to stop issuing forex for food and fertiliser imports. Punch