CAPITAL MARKET
MTN Nigeria Issues Historic N127bn Commercial Paper
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc yesterday issued a historic N127 billion Series 1 & 2 Commercial Paper (CP) under its registered N150 billion programme. The issuance consisted of two tenors – a 184-day series issuance priced at a 7.50% yield and a 254-day Series 2 issuance priced at an 8.50% yield. According to the telecommunication giant, the issuance was in line with its strategy to diversify financing options, with the proceeds being deployed towards working capital and general corporate purposes. Speaking at signing ceremony in Lagos yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria Communication, Mr Karl Toriola explained that the N127 billion CP issuance would go into the record books as the largest CP issuance in Nigeria. According to him. This Day
Bullrun persists as investors’ fortune rises further by 0.2%
Nigerian equities market extended gains, yesterday, as most blue-chip companies appreciated, raising the all-share index (ASI) by 0.2 per cent. At the close of transactions, 43 stocks constituted the gainers’ chart while 16 others depreciated. Consequently, the ASI rose by 83.71 points, representing an increase of 0.17 per cent to close at 48,543.36 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N45 billion to close at N26.17 trillion. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Julius Berger and Lafarge Africa. Guardian
BANKING
2023: Dollar scarcity hits banks
The race towards the 2023 election may have taken a negative toll on the foreign currency reserve base of banks as they currently battle Dollar scarcity. The development, according to a top source in one of the new generation banks may not be unconnected with the convention of both the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to pick their presidential flag bearers. The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N419.5/$1 at the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window last week. The downturn in the market is following the drop in the amount of dollar supply in the market. Notably, forex turnover last Thursday dropped by 17.36 per cent, compared to the previous day to stand at $124.85 million, the lowest in the four trading sessions. The exchange rate at the parallel market closed at N585/$1, last Thursday, depreciating by 0.86 per cent compared to N580/$1 traded in the previous day. This is according to information obtained from BDCs. The Sun
ECONOMY
No Respite as Nigeria Expends Over N758bn on Petrol Subsidy in Three Months
By the time the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) makes it projected N328 billion petrol subsidy deduction from the Federation Account for March this week, Nigeria will have spent N758.1 billion in the first three months of 2022. Described as unsustainable by many economic experts, the country’s subsidy regime burden borne by the three tiers of government, the federal, state and local governments, has posed a huge leak on the country’s revenues. In January the NNPC withheld N210.382 billion while in February it deducted N219.783 billion and is expected to again remove N328.004 billion, to hit over N758 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Nigeria’s largely opaque long-running petrol subsidy, will see the country spend close to a quarter, that is N4 trillion, of its entire budget of roughly N17 trillion this year on the major subsidy cost centre. This Day
Economic recovery: World Bank earmarks $170bn lifeline for Nigeria, others
The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, has said the bank is working on a crisis response of around $170bn in financing capacity to address the wide-ranging needs of Nigeria and other crisis-ridden countries between April 2022 and June 2023. Speaking during his address to the Development Committee of this year’s World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, Malpass noted that the gathering was timely as it took place at a time of overlapping global crises. According to a newsletter titled “Helping countries cope with multiple crises,” Malpass was quoted as saying that “bank group is working on a crisis response of around $170bn in financing capacity to address the wide-ranging needs of client countries between April 2022 and June 2023. Punch
Rising insecurity, naira’s fall worsening business environment – NGF
The Director-General, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr Asishana Okauru, says worsening insecurity and currency depreciation have been adversely affecting the business environment and taxable income in Nigeria. The NGF DG, who was represented by the Senior Programme Manager, NGF/SFTAS, Mr Lanre Ajogbasile, said this during a presentation at a workshop in Abuja organised by the States’ Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability Programme Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. He added that the perceived weak social contract between citizens and the government continues to threaten the legitimacy of taxation. In a presentation titled, ‘Improving Internally Generated Revenue: Trend and Emerging Reforms’, it was noted that Nigeria is still recovering from adverse fiscal and macroeconomic conditions, which had exerted strong pressure on the fiscal sustainability of governments at national and sub-national levels. Punch
PenCom approves Norrenberger’s acquisition of IEI-Anchor Pension
The National Pension Commission on Tuesday approved Norrenberger’s acquisition of IEI-Anchor Pension. A statement from the firm on Sunday said by this move, Norrenberger through its acquisition of IEI Insurance, had become the largest shareholder of the Pension Fund Administrator. It stated, “Norrenberger has obtained all necessary approvals from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Insurance Commission for the acquisition. “The acquisition is driven by efforts to meet IEI’s capitalisation requirement as required by NAICOM and signifies Norrenberger’s entry into the pension and insurance sectors of the financial services industry.” With the acquisition, it said, Norrenberger would expand and further strengthen its business model to improve product and service distribution to clients across Nigeria. Punch
Twitter, Nigeria agreement suffers setback as Musk buys microblogging platform
There are indications that Twitter’s agreement with the Nigerian government will be reviewed in the months as Elon Musk sealed a takeover deal with the firm yesterday at a transaction value of $44 billion. Musk had earlier proposed to buy Twitter for $43 billion in cash, which he called his “best and final” offer for the social media company. Musk yesterday struck a deal to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the premium social network. Recalled that last June, the Federal Government had banned Twitter operations in Nigeria. Nigeria suspended the social media platform after it deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government accused Twitter of being sympathetic to secessionists. However, after 222 days (seven months) and economic losses of about N546.5 billion, the Federal Government yielded to pressure, lifting the ban. Guardian
N100bn UN climate fund inaccessible by Nigeria, others – NiMet
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency on Monday decried the inability of Nigeria and other African countries to access the N100bn United Nations climate fund required to mitigate the impact of climate change in Africa. NiMet’s Director-General, Prof Mansur Matazu, disclosed this while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the 2022 edition of the Regional Climate Outlook Forum on the Seasonal Forecasting of Agro-Hydro-Climate Characteristics for the Sahelian and Sudanian Regions of West Africa and Sahel. Matazu, who was represented by an official of NiMet, Mailadi Misau, said African nations were unable to access the fund because of the complexities of accessing it. Punch