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BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s rising debt; Google’s free hub launch; See other stories that made our pick

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Nigeria retains position, scores lower in global competitiveness index

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market, mainstream business activities while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines:

  • Nigeria’s indebtedness to World Bank hits N3.6tn
  • Netflix upgrades to charge Kenyans in local currency
  • Google launches free hub for developers
  • Stanbic leads Friday’s losers as market sheds N96 billion

Summary:

Nigeria’s debt to the World Bank soared from $8.51 billion (about N3.085 trillion) as of September 2018 to $9.81 billion (over N3.556 trillion) as at September 2019, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has said.

This represents a growth of $1.3 billion (N471.250 billion) or 15.3% in twelve months according to the latest data published by the DMO on Wednesday. Read more

Popular on-demand video streaming platform, Netflix, hasupgraded its facility to permit its video consumers in Kenya to make service payments in local currency.

This development was reached by Netflix in its latest system upgrade in January where the Kenya shilling can be seen listed against its equivalent in dollar, the former acceptable currency for service payment. Read more

American multinational technology company, Google, on Tuesday, January 28, launched a developer hub in Lagos for African tech entrepreneurs.

Similar to the Facebook Hub that launched two years ago in Yaba area of Lagos, the hub idea demostrates Google’s commitment to Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. Through this initiative, Google can bring together developers, startups, and the wider community to share their ideas, skills, and time. Read more

The Nigerian Stock Exchange ended Friday’s trade in the negative territory as it recorded depreciation in all its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A negative market breadth was however posted as there were 11 gainers against 24 losers.

Stanbic was the worst performing stock for the day under review, declining by 7.83% to close at N38.25. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Investors lose N405bn in worst week so far this year

The Nigerian bourse recorded its worst trading week so far in 2020 this week as profit-taking cost the market a staggering N405 billion in five days.

The bear maintained its stranglehold on the market Monday through Friday, spurred in part by the underwhelming financial performance of a number of quoted companies as company results came in fast and furious.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: World Bank’s static economy warning; Debt escalation concerns; See other stories that made our pick

All the key market performance indicators depreciated. A negative market breadth was recorded this week as 17 gainers emerged against 44 losers. The All Share Index (ASI) grew marginally by 2.65% to 28,843.53 basis points. Market Capitalisation similarly grew by the same margin to N14.857 trillion. Read more

Meanwhile, on our editorial Business Review segment;

We revisited the Jumia story, how the company is faring and what has led to it supposed market collapse in some countries. Asking if the figures, are, in the least encouraging, mentioned how Andrew Left’s tagging of the company as a security fraud changed the narrative of Jumia in 2019.

Despite winning the heart of another major market player as investor, Jumia has not been able to surmount some challenges it confronted. Will Jumia rebounce to bloom? Read more

Also, we wrote on the new ban policy of the Lagos State on Okada riders that affected bike-hailing startups in Lagos. We noted that the action speaks of how governmental policies are cutting down jobs created by tech investors.

We raised major concerns as road will tend to be busier and motorists will seize the opportunity to hike prices as more people chase after limited vehicles. Will the ban last? Will government provide adequate alternative? Is this how government is reacting to investors alleged negative attitude as they side-lined investing in the existing BRT business butheavily investing to scale the bike-hailing business which is completely private? Read more

Thanks for joining the roundup this week. See you next week for another serving of Business Roundup. Don’t forget, for the latest news and updates from around the globe, keep reading Ripples Nigeria.

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