BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s unemployment rate to hit 30% by December; CBN issues alert on dubious loan offers; See other stories that made our pick

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:

• CBN directs banks to comply with SWIFT payment policy
• Nigeria’s unemployment rate to hit 30% by December –PwC
• CBN issues alert on dubious loan offers, investment schemes
• World Bank hails Nigerian govt’s removal of fuel subsidy

Summary:

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks operating in the country to comply with SWIFT Universal Confirmation Requirements.

The CBN’s Director of Banking Services, Sam Okojere, gave the directive in a circular to the banks on Saturday. Okojere directed all SWIFT customers to provide information on the outcome of all their Single Customer Payments (MT103) messages to SWIFT, via tracker (Universal Confirmation). Read more

Nigeria’s unemployment rate is seen climbing to 30% by the end of the year as the pace of economic growth in Africa’s biggest economy slows further.

Multinational professional services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), foresaw in its September economic alert publication obtained from its website on Saturday , that unemployment could soar to 28% in the third quarter. Read more

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians against dubious loan offers and investment schemes through messages and videos on social media, requesting loan seekers and small-scale business owners to apply for credit seemingly facilitated by the apex bank.

In a statement titled “Beware of Fraudulent Loan Offers, Investment Schemes” and signed by Osita Nwanisobi, the CBN acting spokesperson, the regulator said even though it has a lot of development finance intervention programmes that have various classes businesses as beneficiaries, it does not execute such schemes via direct relationship with would-be applicants. Read more

The World Bank has said Nigeria’s removal of fuel subsidy is a crucial decision taken in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Chevron Nigeria to slash workforce by 25%; NERC suspends hike on electricity tariff; See other stories that made our pick

It observed in its Africa’s Pulse report, a biannual commentary on the near-term macroeconomic outlook of the continent, that sub-Saharan African countries are leveraging the opportunity presented by the crisis to speed up structural reform plans. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Stocks go N747bn bigger but profit-taking caps gains

The equity segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) enlarged by N747.194 billion this week, supported by a major gain of N708 billion on Tuesday, the market’s biggest single day gain in more than five years.

Investors, dispirited by the low yields on government debts and other fixed income instruments following a surprise interest rate cut by the central bank in September, are casting their glances elsewhere and the equity market seems one of the choicest havens to reallocate their assets. Read more

MEANWHILE, on the tech scene, Unlike last week where the tech space was occupied with equity raisers and new product launches, this week under review came with a new shade -from massive social media engagements to support the ongoing agitation and protest by young Nigeriansagainst police brutality, to the proposed hike in fare prices by ride-hailing companies. Read full review

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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