BUSINESS ROUNDUP: NBS confirms food price hike; Nigeria fines British American Tobacco; 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:

• Over 60,000 job cuts hit banks in 2023
• Nigeria fines British American Tobacco $110m
• NBS confirms food price hike
• CBN subjects Union Bank acquisition to review

Summary

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest selected Food Prices Watch report for November has disclosed that the prices of beef, rice, beans, onion, tomato, and other selected food items rose sharply in November.

The report released in Abuja on Friday, revealed that the average price of 1kg rice local sold loose stood at N867.18 indicating an increase of 73.16 percent in price on a year-on-year basis from N500.80 recorded in November 2022 and 5.83% rise in price on a month-on-month basis from N819.42 in October 2023.

Similarly, the average price of 1kg of Beef boneless increased by 29.61% on a year-on-year basis from N2,337.46 in November of last year (2022) to N3,029.50 in November 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the average price of this item increased by 2.76% from N2,948.03 in October 2023.

The acquisition of Union Bank PLC and Titan Trust Bank (TTB) which is still pending the required regulatory approval now appears to be faced with uncertainty.

Indications have emerged that the acquisition which has now attracted scrutiny following the reports by Jim Obazee, the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) that some persons were used as proxies by a former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank is still awaiting approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may run into troubled waters as the regulatory body will proceed cautiously before endorsing the merger.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s inflation rate now 28.2%; Cash scarcity persists, banks limit withdrawals; Other stories

There are possibilities that delays or additional conditions might be imposed to ensure alignment with regulatory standards and market fairness.

The Federal Government has fined the British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited (BATN) and affiliated companies $110 million over multiple infractions.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) which confirmed the development in a statement on Wednesday listed the affiliated companies as British American Tobacco Marketing (Nigeria) Limited (BATMN), British American Tobacco Plc, and British American Tobacco (Holdings) Limited.

The commission said the companies breached its Act and the National Tobacco Control Act, among others following investigations that began on August 28, 2020.

The latest financial crisis has forced 20 of the world’s biggest banks to shed 61,905 jobs in the outgoing year.

This development, according to a report by the Financial Times, represents one of the most substantial reductions in personnel since the global financial crisis of 2008.

It also marks a drastic reversal of the aggressive hiring sprees witnessed during the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

ON NGX ROUNDUP:Equities market ends 2023 positively as investors make N148bn

The Nigerian capital market ended the year 2023 trading with a 0.36% growth in the All-Share Index (ASI) on Friday.

This represents a 271.1 basis points increase in the ASI to 74,773.77 from 74,502.58 posted by the bourse the previous day.

Similarly, the market capitalization rose by N148.45 billion to N40.918 trillion from N40.769 trillion recorded on Thursday.

ON TECH SCENE: OpenAI, T-Vencubator, Apple, Masimo, Xiaomi, Cispoly, Aramco, UNICEF, Bluesky, MaxAB, Wasoko, were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

The New York Times has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, as parts of ongoing legal disputes concerning the utilization of published material for artificial intelligence (A.I.) training.

Also, The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has unveiled a digital platform- Integrated Market Revenue Management System (IMRMS), to assimilate the informal sector, specifically market traders, into the federal government’s tax structure.

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