Economic News Update

Business & Economic News Update: Monday 30th October, 2017

 

IMF wants Nigeria to stop tax holidays

The International Monetary Fund has advised the Federal Government to urgently revisit tax holidays and exemptions given to companies. It specifically urged Nigeria to implement a reform that would see it phase out tax holidays and exemptions eroding the Company Income Tax base.

Successive governments had granted controversial tax holidays and waivers, which were described as forms of corruption The Washington-based Fund also asked the Federal Government to increase taxes imposed on tobacco and alcohol, emphasising the need for socially responsible fiscal adjustment based on revenue mobilisation.

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Union Bank closes application for N50b rights issue

Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc will today close application for its N50 billion rights issue.  Application list for the rights issue opened on September 20, 2017 and will close today,  Monday October 30. Union Bank is raising N49.745 billion from existing shareholders through a rights issue of 12.133 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N4.10 per share. The rights issue has been pre-allotted on the basis of five new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each for every seven ordinary shares held as at the close of business on Monday August 21, 2017.

The rights are also tradeable on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during the offer period, giving shareholders that fully or partly renounced their rights opportunity to trade those shares at profit. Union Bank’s share price opens today at the NSE at N5.72 per share.

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Investors worried about N10 million fraud allegations against SEC

Stock market investors have expressed concern over the alleged N104million fraud levelled against the Director General (DG), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, saying that such crisis would definitely have a multiplier effect on market.

The shareholders, who spoke in an interview with The Guardian, noted that the regulatory supervision of the stock market is worrisome, especially now when the market is gradually recovering. They called for proper investigations into the allegation, and urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to tackle the crisis of confidence brewing in the nation’s capital market in recent times.

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Quoted firms have tomorrow as deadline to submit Q3 earnings reports

Quoted companies that have not submitted their operational reports and financial statements for the third quarter must submit their reports to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) before the close  of work tomorrow in order to avoid poor corporate governance tag and sanctions that may range from N100,000 to about N100 million.

Regulatory filing calendar of the NSE at the weekend indicated that most quoted companies are mandatorily required to submit their interim earnings reports for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2017 on or before the close of work on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

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Naira closes at 363/dollar, CBN sells forex to manufacturers, airlines

The Central Bank of Nigeria has injected $285.7m into the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market to meet requests in four sectors of the economy. This came just the naira closed at 363 per United States dollar on Friday, the same rate it had closed in the past one week.

Details obtained from the CBN indicated that firms in the agricultural, airline, petroleum and raw materials space received various sums of forex allocation based on requests put forward by their respective banks.

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What Nigeria must do to exit recession totally-NBS boss

The statistician General of the Federation/CEO, National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) Dr. Yemi Kale has strongly advised that the country needs to step up ongoing economic reforms to forestall a relapse into economic recession in the future. He gave this charge at the weekend the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria Members’ Evening in Lagos.

According to him, the economy has been recovering and has now exited recession as of Q2 2017 but still need to remain focused and continue with reforms which need to be sustained and scaled up. He said, more efforts are thus required to diversify the economy in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.

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Reserves near $34b mark despite interventions

The nation’s foreign exchange reserves’ profiles recorded a new increase near $34 billion mark, after gaining about $350 million in one week, with $200 million being recorded cumulatively in three trading days. The new level of $33.7 billion was achieved despite twice-weekly interventions that have averaged about $400 million in the last one month, although most of them are 30-day and 60-day futures sales.

The reserves’ accretion has been steady, although slow, since August, from a record of $30.8 billion, riding on the back of relative stability in the international price of crud oil and assessed rebound in foreign investments inflow due to prospects of improving business-friendly policies.

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CBN rules out naira fall as external reserves hit $34bn

The nation’s external reserves have hit $34bn from $33.6bn attained on October 25, the Central Bank of Nigeria has stated. The reserves have been appreciating very fast after hitting $32bn on September 18.

The Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, Dr. Joseph Nnanna, who disclosed the latest figure in Lagos on Saturday, said the exchange rate stability achieved so far by the apex bank had come to stay. He expressed confidence that the usual end-of-the-year rush would not push up the naira-dollar exchange rate contrary to some people’s expectations.

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CSCS Appoints Jalo-Waziri Substantive MD

Board of Directors of the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has announced the appointment of Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company effective November 1, 2017.

Jalo-Waziri replaces Mr. Bola Adeeko who was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2017. As Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CSCS, Jalo-Waziri is expected to drive the next phase of CSCS strategic goals in respect of diversification of the company’s revenue base, promoting strategic alliances with peer Central Securities Depositories and other financial market entities within and across the African region, as the company continues to advance towards becoming the globally respected and leading Central Securities Depository in Africa.

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Unity Bank grows assets to N483.82b

Unity Bank Plc has grown its total assets to N483.82 billion and gross earnings to N65 billion in the third quarter ended September 30, this year. Its profit before tax stood at N2.72 billion while post-tax profit was N2.45 billion.

The result also showed that it has sustained a positive, but modest performance across key financial indices in spite of the challenging operating environment. The result, according to the lender in a statement, attests to its ability to remain profitable and deliver good returns on investment to its shareholders and customers. A review of the bank’s performance showed a modest growth across key financial indices by one per cent for gross earnings to N65.03 billion from N64.58 billion in the corresponding period of 2016.

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World Bank Predicts Further Rise in Commodity Prices in 2018

In addition, the Bank predicted that the surge in metals prices was expected to level off next year. Oil prices rallied on Friday, sending the global crude benchmark above $60 a barrel for the first time in more than two years and lifting the U.S. benchmark for the commodity to its highest finish in nearly eight months.

Prices found support on speculation that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers would agree to extend their production-cut deal through the end of the next year. To this end, Brent, the global benchmark rose 1.9 per cent to close at $60.44 a barrel. That was the highest settlement for a front-month contract since July 2015. The contract rose about 4.7% for the week.

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Nigerian Breweries grows nine-month profit by 24%

Nigerian Breweries Plc has reported about 24 per cent appreciation in its profit before tax for the nine-month ended September 30, 2017. The brewer’s PBT rose from N27.8bn to N34.4bn while profit after tax also improved to close at N23.9bn from the N20.1bn posted in the same period in 2016.

The board of directors of the firm, in its filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, announced a revenue of N254.7bn for the period. It further declared an interim dividend of N7.996bn, which is, N1 per ordinary share of fifty kobo in the share capital of the company.

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CBN Reads Riot Act to Exporters over Non-repatriation of Export Proceeds

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated its resolve to heavily sanction exporters that fail to repatriate their export proceeds within the stipulated days for oil and gas as well as for non-oil exports.

Specifically, it stressed that any exporter that defaults in the repatriation of export proceeds within the stipulated period shall be barred from accessing all banking services including access to the foreign exchange market.

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Middle East investors move to take over Nigerian airports

Some stakeholders in the aviation sector, including members of the National Assembly, are worried that investors from some Middle East countries are expressing interest in the planned concession of Nigerian airports.

The Guardian learnt that the interests thus far received from countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are bothering the stakeholders because of the security implication for Nigeria and alleged “northern agenda” currently put forward either by coincidence or deliberately in the concession buildup.

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NCC to Make Final Statement on Service Providers’ Refusal to Honour Grace Period For Data

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that it directed to network service providers to grant subscribers 14 days period of grace after the 30 days period had elapsed, saying it would soon come out with a final statement.

The Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Dambata, stated this in Jos, the Plateau State capital weekend during the NCC’s sixth Consumer Conversation Forum. The Forum is a programme through which the NCC educates and enlightens the consumers on their rights and how to go about solving issues with their network service providers and also to let consumers know when and how to call on the NCC to intervene on their behalf.

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Recoveries from whistle-blower policy exceeded our expectations – Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Sunday said that the recoveries, which the Federal Government had made through the implementation of the whistle-blower policy, had exceeded its expectations. Adeosun stated this in an article written by her and made available to our correspondent by her Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde.

The whistle-blower policy, which was launched in December 2016, is aimed at addressing the issues of corruption in the management of government resources. In the article entitled: ‘Positioning Nigeria for a prosperous future’, Adeosun stated that the government was doing a lot to stop the level of corrupt practices in the country.

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ABCON Sensitises BDCs on BVN Validation  

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) in collaboration with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has  sensitised BDCs on usage and deployment of Bank Verification Number (BVN) Validation Portal provided by the NIBBS.

Speaking on the exercise, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the BVN validation programme was part of the confidence-building agenda of the association to ensure that BDC operators abide by the rules guiding the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

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