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

• World Bank projects Nigeria’s subsidy savings to hit N11tr by 2025
• Cash scarcity persists as banks limit withdrawals
• Nigerians embrace alternatives amid increases in DSTV/GOTV subscriptions, shortcomings
• CBN suspends processing fees on cash deposits of N500,000, N3m
• Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 28.2%

Summary

The World Bank has projected that savings from subsidy removal in Nigeria would accrue to over N11 trillion by 2025.

The Bretton Wood institution made the projection in its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) titled: “Turning The Corner, From Reforms and Renewed Hope to Results,” launched on Wednesday in Abuja.

It projected that the removal of fuel subsidy which came into effect on June 1 would save the government N2 trillion, which is about 0.9 percent of the country’s total economic output this year.

Despite the assurances by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that cash I circulation has hit N3.4tr and repeated statements by the apex bank on the availability of the domestic currency, checks by Ripples Nigeria has shown that the cash scarcity persists in most parts of Lagos and Ogun states.

Visits to several Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) show machines that are not dispensing cash.

The few machines that could be seen dispensing can only dispense N10,000 or in some cases N20,000 per ATM card.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Reps to probe BPE; FG to introduce new FX rules; Other stories

Following two increases in five months in the subscription rates of DSTV/GOTV bouquets, Nigerians have been left yearning for better, improved alternatives to MultiChoice, the South African-based parent company of both firms.

The need for alternatives is also bolstered by the shortcomings of both companies’ services which many Nigerians feel have left them feeling cheated, especially in the face of prevailing economic conditions, and the need to manage available resources to cater for their needs.

For instance, many subscribers have continued to ask why the pay as you watch option is not made available to Nigerians, so they can control what they spend on cable tv subscription as obtains in the telecommunications sector. This option becomes increasingly more logical, given the epileptic nature of electric power supply in the country, and the fact that most Nigerians, including parents and children spend a good number of hours during the day, outside their homes, except during the holidays.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has suspended the processing fees on large cash deposits of N500,000 for individual accounts and N3,000,000 for corporate accounts until April 30, 2024.

This development was announced in a release by the Acting Director of Supervision, Dr Adetona Adedeji, on Monday.

The new development under the “Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions, and Non-Bank Financial Institutions” issued on December 20, 2019, with reference number (FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/07/042), affects deposits above N500,000 for individual accounts and N3,000,000 for corporate accounts.

The suspension shall remain in effect until April 30, 2024, CBN said.

Nigeria’s inflation rate for the eleventh consecutive month rose higher, reaching 28.2 percent in October 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS which made this known on Friday in its CPI report for November said the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 28.2 percent in October 2023 — up from 27.33 percent in the previous month.

As Nigerians enter the yuletide season, the latest rate represents a month-on-month increase of 0.87%, surpassing the October 2023 rate of 27.33%.

ON NGX ROUNDUP: NGX: Investors gain N85.3bn as equities market sustains bullish run.

Trading activities ended on a positive note on Thursday with a 0.22% growth in the All-Share Index (ASI).

The ASI rose by 156 basis points to close at 72,455.83 from 72,299.79 posted by the bourse on Wednesday.

In the same vein, the market capitalization rose by N85.3 billion to N39.649 trillion from N39.564 trillion recorded the previous day.

ON TECH SCENE: Qawafel initiative, Canapi Ventures, Susu, E4E Africa, TUNL, NDPC, Emerald Africa, SumUp, Midori, Ebury, Lendo, were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

TUNL, a South African parcel shipping platform, has closed $1 million in pre-seed funding from investors, including Founders Factory Africa, Digital Africa Ventures, E4E Africa, and Jozi Angels.

Also, Global digital ecosystem, Aleph, has entered an exclusive partnership with Audiomack, the New York-based audio streaming platform.

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