BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 21.09%; Nigerians spend N9.5trn monthly on living expenses; 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:

· CBN doles out $8.8bn to eight sectors for imports

· UK to fund Nigerian women-owned businesses with $100m

· Nigerians spend N9.5trn monthly on living expenses —NBS

· Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 21.09% for October

Summary:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed doubt about the reported volumes of fuel consumed in Nigeria.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has consistently maintained the claim on the 66 million daily fuel consumption in the country despite criticism from the citizens.

In its 2022 Article 1V mission in Nigeria published on Friday, the IMF stressed that the figure was denying government revenue from oil sales and putting more pressure on Africa’s largest economy.

The Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, has advised the Federal Government to prioritise revenue generation, and not increase borrowings.

During a workshop for Senators and House of Representatives on Thursday, Oniha said revenue growth should be accelerated and loans obtained should be invested in revenue-generating infrastructure to service debt.

Oniha disclosed that interest rate has risen, as obtaining loan in international and domestic market is now tight, “Thus, priority should be less on borrowing and more on revenue from oil and non-oil sources.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that it provided $8.89 billion to seven sectors of the economy between January and June 2022 to fund their import obligations.

CBN stated this in its sectoral utilization of foreign exchange published on its website.

A breakdown from the report shows that the industrial sector which includes cement companies received the giant share, accounting for 49.9 per cent of the total amount of $4.4 billion.

Women-owned businesses in Nigeria will receive $100 million worth of investment from the United Kingdom, British high commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has revealed.

The funding is in line with effort to ensure gender equality in the country, also implement UK’s three ‘Es’ projects, that seeks to educate girls, empower women, and end violence against women and girls.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Emirates Airlines suspends flights to Nigeria; Nigerian govt to transfer petroleum products pipelines to private investors; other stories

Laing revealed some details of the investment on Wednesday at the gender and inclusion summit organised by the Policy Innovation Center, (PIC), in Abuja.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigerians have spent about N9.51 trillion on household expenses monthly.

In the recently released data on Nigeria’s GDP, by the expenditure and income approach, the Bureau, noted that the rising cost of goods and services pushed household expenditure to N57.1 trillion in the first six months of the year.

Nigeria’s household consumption expenditure in H1 2022 increased by 14.4% compared to N49.89 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation rate surged to 21.09% in October 2022, the highest in over 19 years.

NBS stated this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report published on Tuesday.

According to the report, the October inflation figure rose by 5.09% compared to the rate recorded in October 2021, which was 15.99%.

On NSE ROUND UP: Investments fall, as investors trade N8.667bn stocks

Between Monday and Friday, a total of 694.376 million shares exchanged investors’ hands in 15,418 deals, worth N8.667 billion in the Nigerian stock market.

It contrasted with the N11.714 billion investors parted with last week to trade 1.101 billion shares in 15,697 deals – indicating investment into the bourse fell.

The Financial Services Industry was the top performing sector based on volume, reporting 487.150 million shares were traded in 7,527 deals valued at N4.229 billion.

Conglomerates Industry came next as investors exchanged 61.896 million shares, worth N77.471 million, in 396 deals.

On the tech scene, Coderina, NIGCOMSAT, Skyroot, BasiGo, Stable Foods, Airmed, baraka, Google, and Topicals were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

A 26-year-old Nigerian and co-founder of a skincare company, Topicals, Olamide Olowe, has become the youngest black lady to ever raised over $2 million from venture capital.

Also, during the week, we interviewed a Lagos-based health tech startup team, giving a spotlight on the startup’s mission to close the gap in Nigeria’s healthcare sector by changing the narrative.

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