NSE market indices record growth

The market indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday recorded marginal growth, appreciating by 0.32 per cent due to marginal gains posted by some blue chips.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the market capitalisation grew by N31 billion or 0.32 per cent to close at N9.591 trillion against N9.560 trillion achieved on Friday.
Also, the All-Share Index, which opened at 27,835.22, improved by 89.78 points to close at 27,925.00.
A breakdown of the price movement chart showed that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table growing by N2.21 to close at N148.01 per share.
Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N1.80 to close at N49, while Guaranty Trust Bank gained 45k to close at N23.90 per share.
Zenith Bank increased by 32k to close at N14.55 and Union Bank of Nigeria appreciated by 24k to

Aisha Buhari warns against sale of interest-free loan forms

Wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, has warned those selling the interest-free loan forms at the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to “desist from sabotaging the programme and allow the Nigerian women feel the change mantra.”

Cross River plans N1.3trn investment

Governor Ben Ayade has drawn an ambitious economic ‘road-map’ of about N1.3 trillion for Cross River State.
Ayade stated this at the weekend during a meeting with a cross section of traditional rulers from the 18 local councils of the state who visited him in Calabar, the capital.
He said the projected amount was expected to come from both local and foreign investors who are

Global firm to begin manufacturing in Nigeria

The world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), with operations in 181 countries, has finalised plans to commence manufacturing in Nigeria before the end of 2016.
The investment comes in less than two years of their starting operations in Nigeria and clearly indicates the confidence the company has in the economy.
Upon its entry to Nigeria last year, PMI took the opportunity provided by the ECOWAS Trade

Nigerian-German bilateral trade nose dive by 50% in 2015

The volume of bilateral trade between Nigeria and Germany has decreased from 5.4 billion Euros in 2014 to 2.9 billion Euros in 2015, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, has said.
Steinmeier, who announced this on Monday at the end of Bi-National Commission between the German delegation and Nigerian counterparts, however, expressed worry over the 50 per cent decrease.
The Nigerian delegation at the meeting was led by Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Steinmeier said Nigeria remained Germany’s second most important economic partner inn Sub Saharan Africa.
He said that there was the need to strengthen on this development in the interest of both countries.
Steinmeier said: “Both sides believe that open markets are the most important prerequisite for free and rules-based trade to everyone’s mutual advantage.

Naira consolidates its gain against dollar

The Naira on Monday consolidated its gain against the dollar at the forex market, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that since the resumption of the sale of Diaspora remittances to Bureau De Change by Travelex, the Naira had continued to appreciate.
At the official inter bank market, the Naira closed at N304.75 from N306.71 posted on Friday.
It firmed against the dollar and other currencies at the parallel market as it closed at N470, N580 and N510 from N473, N590 and N512 posted on Friday.

Nigeria’s economic challenges pose risk to other West African countries – IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the decline in Nigeria’s economic growth, if not reversed timely, may have a spillover effects in other economies in West Africa.
IMF’s Assistant Director/Head, Fiscal Policy and Surveillance, Catherine Pattillo, said this while responding to a question during a media briefing on the Fiscal Monitoring Report at the ongoing IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington DC.
In another development, several members of the House of Representatives have called for the removal and replacement of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for the continuous depreciation of the Naira.
The Nigerian economy is in recession. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently revealed that the country’s GDP contracted by 2.06 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, compared to the negative growth of 0.36 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2016.
“As you know, Nigeria is a very important economy in the region and its success has positive spillover for the region, particularly in West Africa and its challenges then creates difficulties for

Nigeria drops to 127th place on WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index

Nigeria has dropped three places to the 127th position on the latest World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for 2016-2017, out of 138 countries surveyed. The country was previously ranked 124th on the index.
At 127th position, Nigeria only performed better than Madagascar, Yemen, Venezuela, Congo DR, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Mozambique, Chad, Mauritania and Malawi.
The report, which was released wednesday by WEF, showed that Nigeria ranked lowest in health and primary education, and was greatly affected by a weaker macroeconomic environment.
“Nigeria is among the African economies hardest hit by the reduction in commodity prices, falling three places to 127th overall,0 almost entirely due to its weaker macroeconomic environment (down 27 places) and financial sector (down 10 places).
“Although still relatively low, the government deficit has almost doubled since last year and national savings have significantly suffered, worsening the current account position.
“Banks are less solid, reducing the availability of credit; despite the central bank ending its currency peg, financial authorities have retained restrictions on access to the interbank market,