BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN bans cash withdrawals from crypto accounts; Rupert displaces Dangote as Africa’s richest man; Other stories

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

Here are the Headlines:

• Nigerian govt to focus on revenue generation than borrowing
• Rupert displaces Dangote as Africa’s richest man
• Nigerian govt targets 2mbpd crude oil production in 2024
• CBN bans withdrawals from crypto accounts
• IPMAN allays fear on hike in fuel price

Summary

Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has moved to allay the fears in many quarters that the Federal Government will rely on fresh rounds of borrowing to fund the recently signed 2024 budget by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Rather than borrow, Edun reaffirmed that the government would focus more on revenue generation to fund the budget.

This is even as he emphasised the prompt implementation and highlighted the budget’s primary goal of fostering economic growth.

Nigeria’s industrialist, Aliko Dangote has been knocked off his throne as Africa’s Richest Man by South African business mogul Johann Rupert according to a recent list released by Forbes Magazine.

Dangote lost his position after suffering a decrease in his wealth from $13.5 billion in 2023 to $9.5bn at the beginning of 2024.

Similarly, Nigerian billionaires Rabiu Abdulsamad and Mike Adenuga have lost their spots in the billionaire rankings released by the financial magazine though the duo still remain in the top ten.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has set a target of two million barrels per day crude production in 2024.

This is about 500,000bpd higher than the approved quota by the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) and also above the current production output of 1,466,185 barrels per day of crude oil production in November 2023 recorded by the country.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri made this known on Tuesday while appearing on Arise News programme.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive barring cash withdrawals from accounts opened for virtual and digital assets transactions.

Rather, operators of the virtual and digital assets accounts can only make withdrawals from these accounts by transfer or through a manager’s cheque, the apex bank explained in a new ‘Guidelines on Operations of Bank Accounts for Virtual Assets Service Providers’ issued yesterday but dated December 28, 2023.

According to the bank, an account opened under its new guidelines will only be used for transactions on virtual/digital assets and not for any other purpose.

Amid rumours of an impending scarcity and increase in the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) which has triggered panic buying amongst Nigerians, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has warned Nigerians against panic-buying and storing of petrol at home.

Okanlawon Olanrewaju, the Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, while making an appearance on Channels Television programme on Thursday clarified that fuel marketers have no intentions to raise fuel prices.

“As far as the independent marketers are concerned, we don’t have plans or plans to increase fuel pump price.

Residents of Mowe, Ibafo, Magboro and six other communities within the jurisdiction of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) are experiencing power outages due to a drop in power generation from Egbin Power Plc.

The company disclosed this in a statement on its X platform on Friday.

It, however, said its technical staff are working with relevant stakeholders to restore power to the affected communities.

ON NGX ROUNDUP: Equity market sustains bullish run as investors gain N899.6bn in five hours

The All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 2.11% at the close of trading on Friday.

After five hours of trading, the ASI rose by 1,644 basis points to 79,664.66 from the 78,020.54 posted by the bourse the previous day.

Similarly, the market capitalization increased today by N899.6 billion to N43.954 trillion from N42.694 trillion recorded on Thursday.

ON TECH SCENE: Ampersand, Tameed, Koree, Intel, SpaceX, Frontdesk, Airtel, Meta, Samsung, Fidelity, BYD, Multichoice, Imaginario AI, were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

The Korean tech maker, Samsung, is gearing up to introduce its flagship, the Galaxy S24 smartphones, with new AI features.

Also, Airtel Africa plc, a telecommunications and mobile money enterprise, has formally disclosed the retirement of its Chief Executive Officer, Segun Ogunsanya, effective July 1, 2024.

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