BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigerian govt to end fuel subsidy by June; Naira gains N1, exchanges at N485/$1; 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:

• Naira gains N1, exchanges at N485/$1
• Senate approves N1.68tr revenue target for Customs in 2021
• Nigeria business environment over-regulated – NESG
• Nigerian govt to end fuel subsidy by June

Summary:

Nigeria’s naira gained against the U.S. dollar at the unofficial market on Thursday.

The data posted by Abokifx showed that the naira closed at N485.00 at the black market, this represents a N1 appreciation from N486, the rate it exchanged on Wednesday. Read more

The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of N257.18 billion as the Nigerian Customs Service budget for 2021.

The upper legislative chamber also approved the N1.678 trillion revenue target for the service this year. Read more

Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Asue Ighodalo, said on Tuesday the Nigerian business environment is over-regulated by the Federal Government.

Ighodalo, who disclosed this at a forum in Abuja, said the tight regulation is affecting the Nigerian market and preventing foreign investors from coming to the country. Read more

In a bid to get the World Bank approval for the $3.4 billion loan request, the Federal Government has declared its intention to end payment of fuel and electricity subsidies by the middle of this year.

The Nigerian National Resources Charter (NNRC) disclosed this on its Twitter handle on Sunday. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s stock market Investors gain N90bn.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Inflation rate rises to 18.17% in March 2021; Qatar to invest $5bn in Nigeria; Other stories

Investors in Nigeria’s stock market gained over N90 billion as the bourse maintained its bullish run on Friday.

The equity capitalisation also increased from N20.47 trillion recorded on Thursday to N20.56 trillion at the close of trading today. The All-Share Index (ASI) also increased by 0.43 percent to settle at 39,301.82 on Friday.

The ASI at the close of business on Thursday was 39,131.80. Investors traded in 287.03 million shares worth N3.03 billion in 3,578 deals during Friday’s activities. Read more

On the tech scene, this week, we saw new developments building up from the past, with Amazon’s decision to build its office in South Africa leading the pack.

Since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued the policy banning cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, most international tech companies have been exercising caution in dealing with Nigeria as its economic policies threaten their various business models.

Barely two weeks after the Twitter development where its announced intent to build its African headquarters in Ghana, American tech giant Amazon has, this week, toed the line, choosing to build its office in South Africa, instead of Nigeria. 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.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now