BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria needs $100bn yearly to fix infrastructure; Bitcoin investors lose $21.35bn after China ban; 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 is the problem of Nigeria’s economic growth —Moghalu
• Nigeria needs $100bn annually to fix infrastructure – Emefiele
• GIGM and GIGL are going crypto
• Bitcoin investors lose $21.35bn after China ban

Summary:

A former deputy governor of the central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu has lamented that the Nigerian government’s involvement in economic issues is the main albatross holding down the nation’s economy.

According to him, government was too involved, and has politicized economic policies, instead of leaving the issues to the forces of demand and supply to push the economy.

He spoke on Monday, during an interview on Arise TV, where he stated that leaders need to summon the political will to implement policies and decide what it wants, instead of playing politics with everything.

Africa’s leading mobility and logistics companies (GIG Mobility and GIG Logistics) are reportedly reviewing their payment options to include digital currency.

Pointers to this development emerged last week necessitating discrete inquiries into what analysts consider both an innovative and potentially disruptive drive to improve customer experience at the forward-looking companies.

An internal source, with knowledge of the new direction, confirmed that GIGM and GIGL were perfecting their systems and processes for a launch, shortly, that would enable them tap into the growing cryptocurrency community in Nigeria.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said on Saturday the Federal Government needed about $100 billion annually to address the nation’s infrastructure deficit.

He stated this at the 30th Anniversary Conference and Awards of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Emefiele, who was represented at the forum by the CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, said the lack of access to quality infrastructure had been a limiting factor to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries delivering on their potential for growth and employment creation.

China is the new fear factor in the global cryptocurrency market, as the Chinese government’s recent regulatory decision cost bitcoin investors $21.35 billion – but prospective digital owners love it.

The Asian country released a QandA statement on Friday, criminalising the whole cryptocurrency market; the miners, the exchanges, and the buyers.

This singular order knocked down the bitcoin market value from $825.70 billion of Thursday to $804.35 billion early Saturday, Ripples Nigeria gathered from crypto reference website, Coindesk.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN to arrest #AbokiFX founder; Naira heading to N600/$1; Other stories

On NSE ROUNDUP: Investors increase investment into Nigerian stocks as banks top equities in five days

The investment into the Nigerian stock market this week hit N13.921 billion after investors exchanged 1.290 billion shares in 16,745 deals in just five days.

This week’s share acquisition was above the 856.289 million shares valued at N10.752 billion traded in 15,663 deals last week.

At the end of trading this week, the Financial Services Industry, The Consumer Goods and the Conglomerate Industry were the top performing sectors based on volume.

In the Financial Services Industry, investors traded 978.172 million shares valued at N8.300 billion in 8,716 deals.

Leading the tech space this week are stories of StartupSouth programme, and the new science and technology advisor appointment made by the American President, Joe Biden.

The President appointed John Dabiri, a Nigerian-American aeronautical engineer, to become a member of his council of advisors on science and technology.

While less is covered on local product launch, the week also didn’t feature any major development on equity raiser by a Nigerian startup, as most of the raiser stories centred on foreign counterparts.

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.

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