BUSINESS ROUNDUP: FG to spend 60.8% of 2021 revenue servicing debts; Nigerians to miss out on $23m bitcoin investment; 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:

Summary:

Nigerians – both users and startups – involved in cryptocurrency will lose out on a new Bitcoin investment which Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey and American rapper, Shawn “Jay Z” Carter plan to channel into African countries and India.

Jay Z and Dorsey joined forces to set up a bitcoin trust to provide financial support for the development of bitcoin in Africa and India. Read more

The capital inflow to the financial sector in 2020 Full Year was largely dominated by foreign-owned banks, with Nigerian-owned banks playing second fiddle in the quest to secure external investment from foreign investors.

It was gathered that capital importation into the financial sector declined by 60% to $9.68 billion in 2020 when compared to the $23.98 billion recorded during the corresponding period of 2019. The amount for 2020 was accounted for by 26 banks in Nigeria. Read more

DMO reveals approval of new debt management strategy 2020-2023 by FEC. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting on Wednesday, February 10, approved a new Medium Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) for Nigeria, for the period 2020-2023.

This was contained on the official website of the Debt Management Office (DMO). According to the DMO, the MTDS was a policy document that provided a guide to the borrowing activities of a government in the medium-term, which is usually four years. Read more

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: FG suspends Emirates flights from Nigeria; CBN bans cryptocurrencies; See other stories that made our pick

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that for every N100 earned in 2021, Nigeria will be spending N60 servicing its fast-growing debts. This was revealed in its latest report on Nigeria released on Monday.

According to the report between 2017 and 2020, the federal government in the last four years has spent an average of 66 percent of revenue as interest payment on its debts. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Zenith Bank, Transcorp record highest trade amid shares dumping

The stock market dip at the end of the week, with investors losing N300 billion as the equity capitalisation ended trade with N21.15 trillion on Friday, trading below the N21.45 trillion the market closed with on Thursday.

The All Share Index (ASI) also depreciated following a loss of 574.45 basis points, to end the trade at 40.439.85 ASI on Friday, below the 41,014,30 ASI the market closed with the previous day. Read more

MEANWHILE, on the tech scene, the week continued to be shaped by the narratives of the previous week where the Nigerian apex bank had announced banning cryptocurrency in Nigeria, business continued for other tech entrepreneurs vis-à-vis reactions from crypto investors.

The week saw the introduction of a new school management software to the public. Also, a new opportunity thrust was launched with $10m in stock for African startups. In addition, leading recruitment company, Jobberman announced appointing a new female CEO. Read full review

Remarks

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

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