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BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Access Bank’s across border expansion; 7.5% VAT implementation; See other stories that made our pick

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Private sector got over N46trn in loans from banks in 9 months –NBS

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market, mainstream business activities while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines:

  • Access Bank expands into Kenya, acquires Transnational Bank
  • Flour Mills to raise N20 billion through bond offering
  • Nigerian govt begins implementation of 7.5% VAT
  • Nigerian govt risks poor implementation of 2020 budget as oil output slumps

Summary:

Access Bank Plc has expanded into Kenya, to take over Nairobi-headquartered Transnational Bank Plc.

A strategic masterstroke by all measure, venturing into Kenya positions the bank to leverage commercial and economic benefits available in the country reputed to be East Africa’s largest economy. Read more

The Federal Government has started the enforcement of the 7.5 per cent increase of Value Added Tax (VAT) in accordance with the recently signed Finance Bill 2019.

This was disclosed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris in a chat with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.

Acccording to Idris, the Bill has become law with its signing by President Muhammadu Buhari, making it a duty for his office to obey the law. Read more

Food company, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, announced the issuance of N20 billion “in medium terms bonds subject to appropriate pricing.”

The firm made the disclosure in its notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, and wassigned by Joseph A.O Umolu, its Company Secretary/Director, Legal Services. Find out more

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Customer borrowing prediction; Low capacity of local refinery; See other stories that made our pick

The Federal Government’s (FG) hope of achieving a seamless implementation of its 2020 budget suffered a set back on Wednesday following the release of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Company’s (OPEC) January 2020 Monthly Oil Market Report.

The OPEC’s publication details the position of Nigeria’s crude production for last December, putting the average daily output for December at 1.57 million barrels per day (bpd), down from the November 2019 figure, standing at 1.66 million bpd. Read further

On NSE ROUNDUP: Market Capitalisation gains N81bn despite two straight days of bearish reign.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) posted its first two losses for 2020 this week as profit-taking dragged performance down on Tuesday and Wednesday. It rallied on Thursday thanks to investors’ swelling interest in blue-chip stocks.

However, three days of gain tempered the impact of two straight days of losses on the overall market performance, causing market capitalisation to climbed up by N81 billion as the week wound down. The All Share Index (ASI) grew marginally by 0.69% to 29,618.52 basis points. Read report here

Meanwhile, on our editorial Business Review segment;

We took time on Thursday to analyse the implications of losing 1.7m of internet subscribers by Glo. We were asking if Glo wasreading the hand writings on the wall. The NCC had earlier revealed that tonnes of users have deserted the network in 4th straight months, in its monthly commentary . Read review

On the other hand, we reviewed the shocking discovery that despite how promising the Nigerian tech startup space has grown over the years, there appears a play of foreign favouritism over their local counterparts. We picked interest because this has lead to demoralisation of some founders as they nurse the feeling that their locally-owned startups have slimmer chances of scaling. We compared the reality to the contrast as seen in the UK. Read now.

Thanks for joining the roundup this week. See you next week for another serving of Business Roundup. Don’t forget, for the latest news and updates from around the globe, keep reading Ripples Nigeria.

 

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