Connect with us

Business

BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Reps to probe Carbon, OPay, other loan apps; NNPC, IPMAN in talks to seal fuel price at N148; other stories

Published

on

Companies in Nigerian pay N864.7bn tax to govt in H1, 21

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:

· Reps to investigate Carbon, OPay, other loan apps

· SEC names four companies Nigerians must avoid investing

· CBN reveals security features of new naira notes as fakes circulates

· CBN orders N500m worth of new notes, keeps quiet on cost of printing

· NNPC, IPMAN in talks to seal fuel price at N148 per litre

Summary:

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) are negotiating delivery of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) amid fuel scarcity.

Both parties have held series of meetings that focus on the ex-depot price of petrol and delivery of the products, with a final outcome slated for January 2023.

According to a report by Punch on Friday, the National Controller, Operations, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, said, “They (NNPCL) have now put IPMAN under him (the new Managing Director of NNPCL Retail, Hubb Stockman)) directly, and he’s a good guy.

The World Bank has once again criticized the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) exchange rate management style which has divided opinions among economists and public policy analysts.

The World Bank in a note published on its website revealed that the exchange rate management style of the CBN had caused the country a whopping $144.1 billion from 2017 to the first quarter of 2021.

According to institution, the CBN multiple exchange rates “acts as an implicit tax levied by the CBN on federation revenue”.

Read also:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Banks run out of new naira notes; Nigeria’s inflation jumps to 21.47% in November

Following threats to debtors and complaints among Nigerians, the House of Representatives has resolved to investigate Carbon, Fairmoney, OKash and other lending applications (apps) companies.

The decision was made on Thursday after a member of the House, Ahmed Satomi, moved a motion titled ‘Urgent Need to Investigate Sharp Practices by Unregulated Online Fintech Lending Companies and Abuse of Mobile Digital Loan Apps in Nigeria.’

Satomi said some fraudulent loan apps that are unscrupulous profiteers are affecting many low-income Nigerians. The lawmaker opined that some Nigerians are trapped in the web of sham loan apps due to coercion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has explained the decision it came up with in redesigning some Nigeria currency notes and the cash withdrawal limits it recently introduced.

Aisha Ahmad, Deputy Governor, of the financial System Stability Directorate of the apex bank who represented Emefiele the CBN Governor before a House of Representatives committee disclosed that N500 million worth of new currency notes had been ordered from the mint.

She however failed to answer questions on how much was expended to produce the same.

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sounded the alarm to Nigerians over investing in four blacklisted Italian e-Commerce platforms.

In a statement issued on its website on Thursday, SEC said the Italian authorities blocked the four companies over fraudulent trading activities.

The statement by SEC said it received a report that the Italian securities regulator, Commissione Nazionale per le Societa’e la Borsa, blacklisted the four platforms and blocked their sites for fraudulent activities and offering unauthorized financial services.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned oil exporting countries in Africa to save earnings from the boom in crude oil price, as transition to low-carbon energy sources could drag turnover down.

In multiple media reports on Wednesday, the IMF said African oil exporters should create a buffer to manage large swings in oil prices.

Recall that Brent crude oil price had surged nearly to $140 a barrel in March, handing several oil producing countries a whopping sum – but it is $83.42 per barrel as of the time of filing this report.

To save Nigerians from falling victim of fake naira notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the security features of the new naira notes.

This was made known in a document released by the Apex Bank on Tuesday.

The security features of the new Naira notes show 23 features on the N1,000 note, 15 features on the N500 note, and 10 features on the N200 note.

On NSE ROUNDUP: UPDC REIT, Geregu lead trading as investors make N112.5bn

The market capitalization rose by 0.4 percent at the close of business on Friday.

This means the value of investments in the capital market increased by N112.55 billion from N26.96 trillion to N27.07 trillion after eight hours of trading today.

Also, the All Share Index was up by 206.66 basis points to close at 49,706.09 ASI as against the 49,499.43 achieved by the bourse on Thursday.

On tech, Meta, Norsad, Fawry, Google, ChatGPT, Microsoft, Opera Mini, CheckMe, Daystar, LumiShare were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Opera Mini, the data-saving browser that already boasts over 100 million users across Africa, became the number one downloaded app during the week in Nigeria thanks to the tremendous success of Opera’s “Shake and Win” campaign on the continent.

Also, West African provider of hybrid solar power solutions, Daystar Power, has, during the week, announced Shell as its new owner after an acquisition deal.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now