BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Naira cash crises push E-transactions to N135tn in 3mths; GTBank loses N35.55bn; 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:

· Naira cash crises push E-payment transactions to N135tn in 3mths

· GTBank loses N35.55bn in failed treasury bills, bonds investments

· FG, states, LGAs share N714.6bn as March allocation

· Passengers to get refund on delayed, cancelled flights –NCAA

· Nigerian govt concessions Onitsha Port

Summary:

The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has revealed that the value of e-payment transactions rose to N135.52 trillion in the first quarter of 2023.

This represents a 298% increase year-on-year (YoY) compared to N34.04 trillion in the same period last year.

The increase in electronic transactions can be attributed to the cash shortage that persisted for more than two months, a direct consequence of the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s (CBN) Naira Redesign policy implementation.

The Federal Government has completed the concession of the Onitsha Port in Anambra State.

The Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), George Moghalu, disclosed this to journalists after a meeting with President Muhammad Buhari at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

He added that the federal government had rolled out a plan for the concession of other ports in the country.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has assured the public that the ongoing amendment of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015 guarantees full refunds to passengers in case of delayed or cancelled flights.

The Director-General of the NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television during the week.

Speaking on his intervention on the ongoing two-day warning strike by aviation workers’ unions, Nuhu stated that he had held several meetings with the unions, including one with the Salary and Wages Commission, along with the heads of the finance departments of all aviation agencies.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Foreign investments drop to $5.3bn; Nigeria spends N3.63trn on debt servicing in 2022; other stories

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) on Wednesday shared a total sum of N714.629 billion to the three tiers of government as revenue allocation for March 2023.

The Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bawa S. Mokwa, who disclosed this in a statement issued at the end of the committee meeting in Abuja, said the amount includes gross statutory revenue, value-added tax, exchange gain, and levies from electronic money transfer.

He said the Federal Government received N276.141 billion, state governments got N232.129 billion and local councils went home with N171.257 billion.

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) lost N35.55 billion in failed securities investments in Ghana for the financial period of 2022, Ripples Nigeria has learnt.

GTBank had invested in several securities offered by the Ghanaian government; Treasury bills, Eurobonds, Local US bonds and Cedis bonds.

According to the company’s financial reports released on April 14, the investments were made through GTBank Nigeria and its subsidiaries, GTBank Sierra Leone, GTBank Liberia, and GTBank Rwanda.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s stock market trades N15.6 shares in four days

Investors in the Nigerian capital market splashed N15.62 billion on 3.920 billion shares in 16,856 deals this week.

This surpassed the N10.96 billion investors spent on 3.920 billion shares in 16,856 deals last week.

The Nigerian capital market operated for four days this week due to the Eid-el-Fitri holiday in the country.

The Conglomerates Industry was the best performing sector this week with shareholders trading 1.797 billion shares worth N2.49 billion in 931 deals.

The Financial Services Industry followed after investors traded 590.745 million shares valued at N5.61 billion in 7,869 deals.

On the tech scene, Scan .com, Cassava Technologies, Sega, Sharegain, Flutterwave, Twitter, ChatGPT, Cortical Labs, CoaChess, Autocheck were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Nigeria-based car financing platform Autocheck, on Wednesday, announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Egypt’s used cars marketplace, AutoTager.

Also, an Australian startup with the idea of using stem cells to create biocomputers, Cortical Labs, has secured $10 million in funding.

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