BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Govt debts to banks hit N12.5tn; DPR hints at fuel price hike to N1,000 per litre; 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:

• Govt debts to banks hit N12.5tn
• Naira gains against the dollar, British pound, Euro after Sallah holidays
• Bitcoin rebounds as Elon Musk gives update on Tesla accepting crypto
• DPR hints on fuel price hike to N1,000 per litre

Summary:

It was mixed outing for the Naira on Thursday against the U.S dsollars, following two-day Sallah holiday.

While the Naira gained to the dollars at official market it retained the rate it closed on Monday at the parallel market.

Data from FMDQ securities the official exchange market showed Nigerian currency appreciated to N411.63/$1 in contrast to N411.67/$1 it ended on Monday.

Bitcoin recovered from its Monday slump after Elon Musk renewed the cryptocurrency market’s confidence by hinting Tesla will accept bitcoin again.

During a virtual panel hosted by Crypto Council for Innovation, which he featured in alongside Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, the Tesla boss reiterated his support for the crypto.

Musk had withdrawn support for bitcoin in May 2021 citing environment concerns. He removed the most popular cryptocurrency from Tesla’s payment option for customers.

The federal and state governments borrowed at least N107.1 billion from Nigerian banks in the first five months of this year to make up for revenue shortfalls.

This number was derived using Central Bank of Nigeria data on money credit to the economy from December of last year to May 2021.

The new borrowings during this period have pushed the total government’s debt to the banking sector to N12.5 trillion compared to N12.4 trillion it stood as at December 2020.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Inflation rate falls to 17.75% in June; Nigeria to borrow N4.89tn to finance 2022 budget; Other stories

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Monday hinted on the possible increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol to N1,000 per litre.

The DPR Director, Sarki Auwalu, disclosed this during a paper presentation at the Second Quarter 2021 Business Dinner of Petroleum Club in Lagos.

He said the increase in the pump price of petrol to as much as N1,000 per litre is inevitable if the Federal Government decides to end the subsidy regime without an alternative energy source.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Market cap up by 1.6% as investors gain N330bn

The Nigerian stock exchange resumed from the two days Sallah break on a positive note as investors gained N330 billion on Thursday.

Trading ended on the floor of the stock market with market capitalization standing at N20.10 trillion on Thursday. This was 1.6 percent higher than the N19.77 trillion reported on Monday.

The All Share Index was up by 632.87 basis points settling at 38,585.52 from 37,952.65 achieved before the Sallah break.

On the tech scene this week, American micro-blogging site, Twitter, launched its “dislike” button feature on its platform.

In Nigeria, the country’s apex bank proposed the launch of a digital currency come October 2021.

Also during the week, Chaka closed its $1.5 million pre-seed round to power digital investments for individuals and businesses.

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.