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:
• OPEC raises Nigeria’s production quota for July to 1.799mbpd
• Headache for Nigeria as oil prices soar after EU ban cuts off Russia
• Nigeria’s foreign reserve drops to 7-months low
• Titan Trust Bank takes over Union Bank. CEO, 9 others resign
• Port Harcourt refinery will be ready by November 2023 – NNPC
Summary:
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Melee Kyari, said on Friday the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery would be completed by November 2023.
Kyari stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee headed by Ganiyu Johnson in Abuja.
The NNPC chief, who was represented at the meeting by the company’s General Manager in charge of Refineries and Petrochemicals, Mustapha Yakubu, said the rehabilitation work which commenced on May 6, 2021 had attained 30 per cent completion level.
The Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, Emeka Okonkwo, has resigned from the position after Titan Trust Bank Limited completed acquisition of the lender.
Nine other top executives of the bank also stepped down from their positions.
Titan Trust Bank Limited acquired 93.41 percent stake in Union Bank in a deal worth over N100 billion.
Ripples Nigeria analysis of Union Bank’s financial records revealed that the lender was currently valued at N182 billion.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised Nigeria’s oil production quota for July to 1.799 million barrels per day (mbpd).
The new target is 27,000bpd higher than the approved quota of 1.772 mbpd for June.
In a statement, OPEC said the decision was taken at its 29th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting held on Thursday.
According to the statement, OPEC+ also adjusted upward the monthly overall production by 648,000bpd for July with a target production of 43.206mbpd.
It is mixed blessing for the Nigerian economy as prices of crude oil further soared on Tuesday, 24 hours after the leaders of the European Union (EU) countries reached an agreement to ban 90 per cent of Russian energy imports by the end of the year.
The 27-nation organisation has spent weeks haggling over a complete ban on Russian oil but encountered stubborn resistance from Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who said an embargo would destroy his country’s economy.
After deliberation, EU finally agreed on a compromise deal and this action sent the Brent crude higher by $1.17 or 0.96 per cent to $122.80 per barrel and raised the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude higher by 37 cents or 0.32 per cent to $115.40 per barrel.
Nigeria’s external reserve has dropped to a seven-month low as exporters, politicians and others tightened their grip on dollars.
According to data obtained from the CBN website, Naira fell to $38.57 billion as of May 25, 2022. The last time it was at this level was in late October 2020.
Read also :BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Manufacturers spend N71.22bn on alternative power source; CBN raises lending rate to 13%; Other stories
The drop in Nigeria’s reserves will make defending the Naira from further devaluation more difficult.
Already, many banks are extending the waiting period to access forex for foreign trips, thereby denying travellers with urgent trips access to apply for Personal Travel Allowance or the Business Travel Allowance requests and this is fueling demand at the black market.
On NSE ROUNDUP: Investors make N49.8bn as Nigeria’s capital market rebounds from bearish run
Investors in the Nigerian capital market pocketed N49.8 billion following the rise in equity capitalization by 0.17 percent at the close of trading on Friday.
After eight hours of trading, the equity capitalization rose from N28.47 trillion to N28.52 trillion.
The All-Share Index was up by 92.46 basis points to close at 52,908.24 compared to 52,815.78 achieved on Thursday.
Investors traded 282.96 million shares worth N3.37 billion in 4,245 deals on Friday.
On the tech scene, Humansquad, bamboo, Amazon, Grubtech, Ayoken, Betastore, Constant Ventures were some of the names that made the headlines this week.
A Lagos-based Non-fungible Token (NFT) marketplace, Ayoken, has announced securing a $1.4m pre-seed funding to expand footprint and allow users boost income.
Also, a Nigerian-led real estate firm, bamboo, has announced intent to unveil a tech-powered residency, Silicon Delta, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Join the conversation
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
