FSDH Merchant Bank establishes N30bn commercial paper programme

Following the successful establishment of its N30billion commercial paper programme, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited has launched its debut commercial paper (CP) issuance to raise up to N15 billion in the Nigerian money market with the issue of N814.12 million series 1 90-day and N14.17 billion series 2 269-day CP.
The CP offers were open to investors on August 24th and subsequently closed on August 29 with subscription levels of over N17 billion.
The Bank elected to allot N14.98 billion to investors across both series, in line with its initial target amount.
The Managing Director of the bank, Rilwan Belo-Osagie, explained that the CP programme would

CBN to resolve bottlenecks in non-oil export stimulation facility

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed its determination to resolve all bottlenecks and issues relating to the non-oil Export Stimulation Facility (ESF), including N500 billion low interest rate non-oil export loans.
As part of its efforts in achieving this, the apex has set up a committee to review its policy on the ESF. However, it is important to note that the ESF was established to support the diversification of the nation’s economy away from oil and to expedite the growth and development of the non-oil export sector.
Speaking at the Finance Correspondents Associations of Nigeria (FICAN) 2016 annual conference, held in Lagos over the weekend, the director, Development Finance Department, CBN,

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves fall below $25bn

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to a new low of $24.88 billion, indicating dwindling confidence in the economy, despite reassurances by authorities.
In the last one week, it lost $230 million, understandably due to series of interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as post recession announcement pressure continued.
The previous week, the reserves lost about $123 million, attributed to interventions in the interbank market by the regulator, and aimed at supporting the local currency.
This is in contrast with about $93 million the reserves lost in three weeks, also reflecting reactions over the flurry of negative records released recently by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
Since affirmation of the country’s slip into recession, last experienced more than 25 years ago, the reserves have lost about $540 million, as speculations and panic for store of value in dollar heightened.

‘New economic policy may increase inflation, forex turbulence’

The Association of Professionals for Promotion of Civic Values (APPOCV), has said the recent economic policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), might lead to steep rise in headline inflation rate, turbulent foreign exchange market and sharp depreciation in the Naira value at the parallel market.
APPOCV made this submission in a statement made available yesterday, signed by its president, Dr. Kunle Ashimi.
It would be recalled that the CBN, recently reviewed its policy on the economy which drew diverse reaction from the populace with a large cross section condemning it.
The professionals noted that when Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), is increased, the following are bound to happen and their effect on the larger economy will also be felt as banks will increase their Prime Lending Rate.
APPOCV, however, advised the CBN to relieve the masses of some of the continued burden

How Nigeria wasted $62bn foreign reserves – Emefiele

Godwin Emefiele, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, on Sunday explained how Nigerian frittered the foreign exchange it earned from sale of crude oil away on frivolities at a time the commodity was selling above $100 per barrel.
Emefiele spoke to journalists in Lagos on steps being taken by the Federal Government and the apex bank to bring the country out of economic recession.
The Governor of CBN attributed the current challenges facing the Nigerian economy to its inability to save or invest the billions of dollars it earned from export of crude oil over the years in infrastructure like other countries have done.
Emefiele told journalists, “In September 2008, Nigeria’s foreign reserve stood at $62 billion. What did we do with $62 billion? At a time the crude oil price was about N120 per barrel. What did the country do?
“What we could have done was to save the money. If we couldn’t save the money, invest it in

Sapphire Ventures closes $1 billion fund to back startups

Venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures has closed a $1 billion fund to invest in technology startups, becoming the latest investment firm to join a record-breaking clip of venture fundraising.
Sapphire Ventures, which in 2011 spun out of technology firm SAP but still relies on that company as its sole funding source, has backed high-profile startups such as Square, Box and Fitbit and plans to use the new fund to invest in growth-stage technology startups, the firm said on Wednesday.
The $1 billion pot is Sapphire Ventures’ third and largest fund and nearly doubles the assets the firm has under management to $2.4 billion.
“It’s been a good five years,” said Nino Marakovic, chief executive and managing director of Sapphire Ventures.

Agip train SMEs on capacity growth initiatives

To build the capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the oil and gas sector across the Niger Delta, the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC/ENI), said over 730 vendors have been trained so far under its capacity development initiatives programmes.
Disclosing this at the opening ceremony of a two-day Business Leadership Workshop organised by the oil giant for small and medium scale business vendors, the Vice Chairman/Managing Director, Massimo Insula, said it was geared towards entrenching small and medium scale businesses for community content and sustainability.
Represented by Manager, Nigeria Content Coordination District, Albert Ijuiwe, said the workshop is designed to be an inspirational programme for business excellence as part of efforts to build their capacities.

Nigeria loses out on global energy investment chart

Total global investment in the energy sector has declined from the $2 trillion recorded in the preceding year to $1.8 trillion in 2015, says the World Energy Investment 2016 of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The disclosure comes as sources at the Ministry of Power said government was doing everything it could to ensure payment of a N93 billion electricity debt owed distribution companies by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) before the end of the year.
A source said the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, received report on the debt in his office on Wednesday, adding that the Debt Management Office (DMO) had initiated a pay-off plan.
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) put the MDAs’ debt at about N78.7 billion, with the Nigerian Army as single largest debtor to distribution companies, having