BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Ghana removes fuel subsidy; Cash still scarce as banks await CBN supply; other stories

Hello, and welcome to the 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:

· NCC orders MTN, Airtel others to implement same short codes for airtime, others

· Nigeria’s GDP to lose N15tn due to CBN’s Naira redesign policy —KPMG’s Kale

· Ghana removes fuel subsidy, creates special funds for refineries

· Eroton sues Sahara, NNPC over control of oilfield, OML 18

· Cash still scarce as banks await CBN supply

Summary:

Nigerians who believed that cash crunch had ended following the directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained disappointed on Tuesday and the morning of Wednesday as commercial banks continued to ration banknotes.

Most banks told customers that nothing had changed as they were still waiting supply from the CBN.

Ripples Nigeria visited some banks in Lagos and found that long queues were still prominent and customers were still writing their names according to their arrival time and getting tally numbers.

Eroton Exploration and Production Company Limited has sued Sahara and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

Eroton filed a lawsuit against Sahara and NNPC over the operation of an oilfield, Oil Mining License (OML) 18, which was previously co-operated by the three companies.

Last week, NNPC revealed that Eroton had been ejected from the oilfield, with NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited appointed to replace Eroton.

The Ghanaian government has removed fuel subsidy in a bid to stabilise its downstream sector and reduce funding pressure on authorities.

This was revealed on Wednesday by the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Abdul Hamid, who said the government was finding it difficult to raise capital meant for funding subsidies.

Read also:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: NNPC sacks Eroton as oilfield operator; Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse crashes stablecoin; other stories

Speaking during a presentation at the Africa Refiners and Distributers week 2023, in Cape Town, South Africa, Hamid said industries are shutting down due to a lack of subsidy funds.

The chief economist, KPMG Nigeria, Oyeyemi Kale, has projected that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Naira redesign policy will drag Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) down in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.

Kale estimated that the Nigerian GDP which stood at N198 trillion in 2022 will lose about N10 trillion to N15 trillion as a result of the Naira scarcity induced by the CBN policy.

He made the projection in a series of tweets on Tuesday. He wrote, “I am estimating a reduction in Q1 2023 nominal GDP by between N10-15 trillion due to challenges sourcing cash in Q1 2023.”

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed mobile network operators (MNOs) in Nigeria to begin the implementation of authorized harmonized short codes (HSC) for providing targeted services to telecom consumers throughout the nation.

Reuben Muoka, the Director of Public Affairs at the NCC, announced in a statement on Monday that the unified short codes were endorsed to align with the regulator’s consumer-centric strategy for telecommunications regulation.

He stated that the utilization of harmonized short codes was intended to ensure consistency in common short codes used across all networks.

On NSE ROUNDUP: NGX: Access Corp, Sterling Bank among top losers as trading ends in stalemate

Trading in the Nigerian stock market ended in a stalemate on Friday, with the bourse retaining the same investment value of N29.915 trillion at the close of the day’s trading.

The bourse had also closed trading at N29.915 trillion on Thursday.

However, the All-Share Index dipped slightly by 0.22 basis points to close at 54, 915,39, down from 54,915.61 posted by the capital market the previous day.

Investors traded 156.97 million shares valued at N1.56 billion in 2,952 deals on Friday.

On the tech scene, Almentor, Amazon, TikTok, NCC, Chipper Cash, Microsoft, Open AI, G42, Medwing, FairMoney, COFE, were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

New Zealand is set to join a growing list of countries to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from lawmakers’ devices due to security concerns.

Also, Microsoft-owned professional networking site, LinkedIn, is launching AI-powered writing recommendations feature to aid profile optimization and recruitment.

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