BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s oil production drops to new low; Inflation rises to six months high; 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:

• Nigeria’s oil production drops to new low
• Nigeria’s inflation rises to six months high
• Nigeria’s Port Harcourt refinery to refine crude from Q1 2023
• World Bank raises Nigeria’s 2022 growth forecast to 3.8%

Summary:

One step forward, two steps backward. The Nigerian economy has always been in a mercurial situation. Ripples Nigeria reported how this has affected inflation.

Nigeria’s inflation figure, during the week, was reported to hit 15.92%, the highest it ever has in the last six months.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that Nigeria’s inflation rose to 15.92 per cent in March 2022.

NBS stated this in its latest consumer price index, (CPI) published on Friday. March’s inflation figure is the highest level since October 2021 and makes it the second consecutive month of increase in the price of goods and services in the country.

Perhaps, Nigeria is in for another round of election baits as leaders are beginning to push forward fancy dates to 2023. What did Chief Timipre Sylva say about Nigeria refining oil in Port Harcourt next year?

The Federal Government on Wednesday announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery would commence operations by the first quarter of 2023.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who gave the announcement said the Port Harcourt refinery would be able to refine 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day from next year.

The contract cost for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery was put at $1.5 billion. During a one-day facility tour of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Sylva assured that the federal government remains committed to making the refinery work.

If the report from the World Bank is anything to go by, Nigeria is predicted to move few points forward in terms of growth. But beyond books and paper slides, how much of this growth can this observed in practical terms?

The World Bank, during the week, issued a fresh prediction on Nigeria’s economy for 2022, raising its growth to 3.8%, up from 2.5% projected earlier in the year.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN fines three banks N800m for crypto transactions; Bitcoin holders make N2.51tr in two days; Other stories

The Bretton Wood institution in its January 2022 Global Economic Prospects report projected a 2.5 per cent economic growth for Nigeria.

The new growth forecast is contained in the World Bank’s latest edition of its Africa’s Pulse report titled, “Boosting resilience: The future of social protection in Africa.”

The oil market is no longer yielding. With the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, economists had initially thought Nigeria would benefit. But the reality is the opposite. 

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) oil output dropped to an average of 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.25 million in February 2022.

NUPRC disclosed this in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for March 2022.

According to the NUPRC figure, this represents a 0.80 per cent decrease from the previous month — representing the lowest production capacity so far in the year.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Meyer leads gainers as investors splash N22.3bn on 1.2bn shares

Investors at the Nigerian capital market splashed N22.372 billion on 1.247 billion shares in 23,406 deals in four days this week.

This surpassed the N10.812 billion which exchanged hands for 1.137 billion shares in 23,471 deals last week.

The Financial Sector retained the top spot as the best performing industry after investors traded 975.776 million shares valued at N10.678 billion in 13,097 deals.

Consumer Goods Industry traded 65.187 million shares worth N1.752 billion in 2,725 deals, followed by Services Industry where traders parted with N135.745 million for 42.614 million shares in 1,172 deals.

On the tech scene, Kudi, PAL, Rapido, Opay, Techstar, Umba, Spoilz Games, Simpu, and Kippa were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Simpu, a Nigerian customer engagement startup, raised a $1 million pre-seed funding round to help brands deliver better customer engagement experiences.

Also, instant messaging platform, WhatsApp, during the week, launched a new feature designed to help users to join private communities.

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