DMO to service foreign loans with $483.4m
The Debt Management Office is planning to use $483.4m to service the country’s foreign loans over a 10-year period and make repayments starting from next year as the country’s dollar debts begin to mature.
According to the DMO annual report, the agency projects debt service repayments to amount to a total of $4.47bn to be made in 2018, 2021 and 2023.
EU, Nigeria to facilitate trade, investment
Nigerian Government Monday, deliberated with the European Union (EU) delegation on ways to facilitate trade and investment in Nigeria.The agreement was reached at the meeting between the Ambassador and Head of EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Michell Arion, and the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Also at the meeting, which held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were other ministry officials as well as 20 representatives of EU member states.The Minister noted that the meeting was subsequent upon the communiqué signed last year between Nigeria and EU, which focused on security, corruption, prosperity, migration and human development.
FG can’t borrow any more – Finance minister
Against the backdrop of the nation’s rising debt profile, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said the Federal Government must not borrow more to fund its budget.
Adeosun said the government should instead raise the money needed by other means, calling into question planned foreign loans of $2bn from lenders like the World Bank, according to Reuters.
‘Market information gap threatens $400 billion intra-Africa trade’
Access to information across African economies, which has been hindered by the fragmented nature of the respective markets, is currently threatening a $400 billion intra-Africa trade potential.
Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said the present transactions value at $170 billion remained their due to wide gap in market information, which now needs to be closed to foster accelerated trade integration.
Generation firms demand increase in electricity tariff
Power generation companies in the country have insisted that the Federal Government must increase electricity tariff.
The Vice Chairman, Mainstream Energy Solution, Ismaila Funtua, made the demand in an interview with State House correspondents on the sidelines of the Quarterly Presidential Business Forum held at the Presidential Villa.
United Capital Half-year Profit Drops to N1.9bn
United Capital Plc, a leading investment banking group yesterday reported a profit after tax of N1.997billion for half year ended June 30, 2017, showing a decline of 3.2 per cent compared with N2.065 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2016.
The company’s gross earnings rose to N3.87 billion, showing a marginal increase of six per cent from N3.666 billion in the corresponding period of 2016. Similarly, investment income grew from N1.721 billion to N2.016 billion, while total revenue rose to N3.876 billion, from N3.665 billion in 2016.
Etisalat to raise fresh capital, reassures customers of continuity
Etisalat Nigeria on Monday said it had commenced the paperwork to raise fresh capital to bolster its operations. The Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Boye Olusanya, said that the company was also focused on getting back on track to making profits.
Olusanya, a former Celtel (now Airtel Nigeria) executive, took over last week as the CEO of Etisalat Nigeria following the appointment of a new board led by a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
FSDH Forecasts Drop in June Inflation Rate to 15.64%
As the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) prepares to release Nigeria’s inflation rate for June 2017, FSDH Research, the research arm of FSDH Merchant Bank has projected a lower inflation rate of 15.64 per cent for the month of June compared to 16.25 per cent recorded in May.
“We estimate that the increase in the CCPI in June 2017 would produce an inflation rate of 15.64 per cent lower than the 16.25 per cent recorded in May 2017,” FSDH said in its report.
NAICOM to sanction insurance firms for rate-cutting
The National Insurance Commission has said that it will tackle the issue of rate-cutting on insurance premiums by operators in the industry and apply appropriate sanctions on perpetrators of the act.
The Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, who said this at the National Insurance Conference of the Insurance Industry Consultative Council in Abuja on Tuesday, noted that the practice was injurious to the sector and that members of the insuring public were already expressing concern on this issue.
NASD OTC Woos Ashaka Cement after Exiting NSE
The management of NASD Securities Exchange has started moves to get Ashaka Cement Plc listed on its platform barely one week after the cement manufacturing firm was delisted from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Ashaka Cement, which is a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa Plc, opted for voluntary delisting from the NSE and remains an unlisted company. However, NASD, which is the over the counter (OTC) platform for the trading of shares of unlisted public companies, has begun moves to ensure Ashaka Cement shares are traded so as to provide liquidity for investors of the cement firm.
We’re blocking loopholes allowing corruption to thrive – Udoma
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, has said the Federal Government is putting in place measures that will make it difficult for corruption to thrive in the country.
He said the government was determined to tackle the high level of corruption in the country, adding that this was one of the critical factors affecting projects and plan implementation.
Diamond Bank to Sell Non-core Assets to Shore up Capital
Diamond Bank Plc plans to sell some of its non-core assets as part of strategy to beef up its capital in the short to medium term.
The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Uzoma Dozie, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with THISDAY. According to Dozie, the bank has adequate capital presently, and is not opening “new brick and mortar branches anymore which naturally requires deployment of capital.”
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