BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Dangote seeks total ban on tomato importation; Currency in circulation climbs to N2.426tn; See other stories that made our pick

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:

• FG creates N25bn empowerment fund to address youth restiveness
• Dangote seeks total ban on tomato importation
• Currency in circulation climbs to N2.426tn –CBN
• CBN directs banks to stamp out COVID-19 financial crimes

 Summary:

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said on Saturday the Federal Government has created a N25billion youth empowerment fund in a bid to address youth restiveness in the country.

Ahmed, who disclosed this during a meeting with the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, in Kaduna, added that the fund would be increased to N75billion within three years.

He added that the fund was aimed at enhancing the youth entrepreneurial potentials and creates job opportunities. Read more

Dangote Tomato Processing Company has requested the Nigerian government to place a ban on importation of tomato paste into the country.

Its managing director, Abdulkarim Kaita, made the demand on Thursday during the inauguration of tomato seedlings distribution to 5,000 farmers under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme at Kadawa, Kura Local Government Area of Kano State. Read more

The total currency in circulation rose to N2.426 trillion in September, 2.4% or N56.44 trillion higher than the N2.369 trillion recorded in August, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website on Wednesday showed.

As of the end of May, the figure stood at N2.35 trillion but advanced to N2.39 trillion at the end of July. Read more

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monday charged banks and financial institutions to upgrade their alert procedures in their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism monitoring framework in a bid to address the emerging trends stemming from COVID-19 related financial crimes.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Inflation rises in September; Foreign reserves shed $50.83m in 10 days; See other stories that made our pick

In a memo titled ‘Administrative letters to all banks and other financial institutions’ and signed by J. M. Gana, CBN’s director of financial policy and regulation, the apex bank stated that disruptions to business activities and financial transactions occasioned by the coronavirus outbreak had sparked a rise global financial crimes. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Market closed on an upbeat note despite nationwide #EndSARS protests

The equity section of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a modest appreciation this week, edging up by N19.655 billion in spite of the anti-police brutality protests that disrupted business activities for the most part of the week.

All the key market performance indicators climbed further. However, a negative market breadth was recorded as 35 losers emerged against 28 gainers. The All Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation simultaneously advanced by 0.13%. While the former closed at 28,697.06 basis points, the latter closed at N14.999 trillion. Read more

MEANWHILE, on the tech scene, taking off from the previous week, we saw another week that increased the portfolio on investments in Nigeria, featuring new partnership deal sealed between a UK-based firm and a local company, Hatixa.

The week also featured a new company entry into Nigeria as South Africa’s TG Boost considered expansion into black most populous nation. Meanwhile, Twitter’s solidarity to the #ENDSARS movement took another turn as Nigerian businessman Adamu Garba sued Jack Dorsey for allegedly inciting violence with is public support to the #EndSARS campaign against police brutality in Nigeria. Read full review

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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