BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Jumia sacks 900 workers; Inflation soars to record high of 21.82%; 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:

· Jumia sacks 900 workers

· Nigerian banks’ investments fall amid naira redesign mishandling

· NNPC signs MoU to start crude oil exploration in Gambia

· Inflation soars to record high of 21.82%

· Nigeria records N2.32trn equities transactions

Summary:

Nigerian banks lost their appeal as lucrative investment destinations in the capital market this week following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) mishandling of the naira redesign policy.

Ripples Nigeria previously reported that banks are being attacked by angry customers who were unable to withdraw their funds deposited in the facilities.

Protests broke out in several states in Nigeria with bank branches in Lagos, Ogun State, Enugu, and Delta State, among others outrightly destroyed by the demonstrators.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of the Republic of The Gambia to explore and develop crude oil in the West African nation.

The signing ceremony took place in the Gambian capital, Banjul, and was attended by officials from both countries. The agreement will see the NNPC work with the Gambian National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to explore and evaluate potential oil resources in the country.

In a statement, the NNPC said the MoU was a significant step towards further strengthening bilateral relations between Nigeria and The Gambia, and would provide opportunities for the two countries to collaborate in the oil and gas sector.

Jumia has sacked 900 workers to save cost, resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in workforce, Ripples Nigeria gathered from the firm’s 2022 Fourth Quarter Financial Statements.

In the financial statement dated February 16, 2023, and obtained on Friday, Jumia said cost reduction is a key priority in the company’s strategy going into 2023.

Some of the locations affected include Egypt, Ghana and Senegal. Also, Jumia’s Dubai office was shut down, with the firm relocating its staff to Africa.

Read also:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Digital payments drop to N38.77tn; Kenya drops fraud charges against Flutterwave; other stories

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation returned to upward movement as it was high at 21.82 percent in January 2023.

January inflation is a new 17-year high after inflation fell for the first time in December 2022. Prior to December, Nigeria’s inflation rate had been rising consistently for 11 months.

In its ‘Consumer Price Index’ for January 2023 released on Wednesday, NBS breakdown shows that January’s inflation rate increased by 0.47% when compared to the 21.34% recorded in the previous month.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s capital market continues sluggish growth amid losses in Fidelity Bank, WAPIC, others

The equity capitalization in the Nigerian capital market rose by 0.02 percent at the close of trading on Thursday.

This represented a N7.53 billion growth in the market capitalization from N29.68 trillion to N29.69 trillion after five hours of trading today.

The All-Share Index increased by 12.54 basis points to close at 54,520.2, up from 54,507.66 achieved by the capital market on Wednesday.

Investors traded 125.86 million shares valued at N3.60 billion in 2,670 deals on Thursday.

On the tech scene, CcHUB, Dronamics, Treepz, Mobile Masr, Cross Switch, Smile Identity, Qotto, Naked, Pade HCM, BuuPass, were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

A Nigeria-founded mobility startup, Treepz, has announced its expansion to Kenya.

Also, Pade HCM, a Nigerian HRTech company, has secured $500,000 in a pre-seed round to automate HR processes for businesses in Africa.

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