BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigerian companies borrowed N1.11tn in 2020; IMF backs CBN ban on cryptocurrency; 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:

• UN ranks Nigeria 94th among countries with readiness for e-commerce
• FG, States, LGAs share N640.3bn for January
• Nigerian companies borrowed N1.11tn in 2020
• IMF backs CBN ban on cryptocurrency in Nigeria

Summary:

Nigeria has dropped six places in the latest United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce Index 2020.

Nigeria which was ranked 88 in 2019 has now dropped to 94th position out of 152 countries that were considered prepared enough to engage in e-commerce. Read more

The Federal Government, States and Local Government Councils on Thursday shared N640.310 billion as revenue allocations for January.

The Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hassan Dodo, disclosed this in a communiqué issued at the end of the virtual Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in Abuja. Read more

Low-interest payment drove Nigerian corporates in 2020, to raise a record level of N1.114 trillion debt from the capital market, data obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FMDQ, has shown.

SEC data showed Corporate debt issuances (bonds + CPs) rose from N671 billion in 2019 to N1.14 trillion last year. Read more

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) two weeks after the CBN directed banks to close accounts related to cryptocurrency across Nigeria.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: FG to spend 60.8% of 2021 revenue servicing debts; Nigerians to miss out on $23m bitcoin investment; other stories

The CBN had also warned deposit money banks and other financial institutions against dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges, starting that the digital asset isn’t a legal tender in Nigeria. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigerian banks rule stock market

Investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) traded a total turnover of 1.541 billion shares worth N18.235 billion in 22,752 deals, against last week’s 2.683 billion shares valued at N23.662 billion resulting from 27,844 deals.

According to data from NSE, the most active sector by volume was Financial Services Industry with 1.099 billion shares valued at N11.110 billion traded in 12,544 deals; thus contributing 71.35% and 60.92% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Read more

MEANWHILE, on the tech scene, the week could best be described as the big comeback week with how Jeff Bezos reclaimed the title of world’s richest man, displacing rival and tech titan, Elon Musk, to end his brief hold-on to the title.

In Nigeria, business continued for tech players, with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announcing that ICT’s contribution to Nigeria’s real GDP rose to 15%.

In addition, we recorded the news of Kwaba, a Nigerian startup helping low income earners split annual house rent into small instalments. Read full review

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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