E-Financial
Nigeria Week Ahead: Oil, Inflation and PMI’s in Focus
A darker mood awaits the largest economy in Africa as Oil descends to levels to not seen in more than two decades below $15.
Over the past few months, the story defining Oil’s steep depreciation revolved around the coronavirus chaos, fears over falling demand, slowing global growth and oversupply concerns. With the grim outlook for Oil growing grimmer by the day amid demand destruction and slowing growth from the world’s largest energy consumer, Oil producing countries like Nigeria are under threat.
“The spectre of a recession will hang over the Nigerian economy for a long as crude oil remains the primary source of revenue.”
The statement above holds, especially when factoring in how Nigeria depends on crude sales for half of government revenues and 90% of foreign exchange earnings. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Africa’s largest economy is forecast to shrink by 3.4% in 2020 with the recession lasting until 2021. It does not end here.
One of the country’s benchmark grades, Bonny Light, fell to about $12 last week which was below the cost of producing Oil in Nigeria while demand from Asia has dropped significantly amid the global lockdown. Another challenge Nigeria faces may be where to store the excess capacity of Oil due the limited onshore storage space.
However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel as Nigeria plans to raise as much as $6.9 billion from global lenders to help counter the negative impacts of the coronavirus to the economy. Such a move may create fiscal space to enable effective methods in supporting the economy and health challenges presented by the coronavirus.
Investors will direct their attention towards the pending inflation figures for March which may shape monetary policy speculation this quarter. The annual inflation rate in Nigeria rose for the sixth straight month to 12.2% in February and is forecast to jump 12.5% last month. Signs of rising inflationary pressures are likely to complicate the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts to ease monetary anytime soon. The Central Bank of Nigeria Manufacturing PMI will be published on Friday 24 April with the index projected to slip to 49.2 in April which signals a contraction
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has been honoured with the Financial Inclusion Leadership Award for its dedication to empowering Nigerian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through accessible financing.
DBN was honored with the award at the ‘Champions of Inclusion Nigeria Financial Inclusion Awards’ during the International Financial Inclusion Conference (IFIC) 2024, hosted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in partnership with the World Bank.
Tony Okpanachi, DBN’s managing director/CEO, expressed pride in winning the award, stating that it validated the bank’s dedication to providing financial access to Nigerian MSMEs.
“We are honoured to receive the Financial Inclusion Leadership Award, which is a testament to our bank’s commitment to expanding access to financial services for all Nigerians. This award recognises our efforts to bridge the financial inclusion gap, particularly for a priority sector like the MSMEs,” he stated.
Okpanachi noted that the award was a validation of the bank’s strategic focus geared towards financial inclusion for small businesses, “and we are proud to be at the forefront of this initiative that drives that. We will continue to innovate and expand our financial inclusion programmes, ensuring that more Nigerian small and startup businesses have access to services.”
Bonaventure Okhaimo, chief operating officer of the Bank, while receiving the award on behalf of DBN, appreciated the organisers for the recognition, describing it as a significant milestone.
Okhaimo said the recognition was a significant milestone that proved the dedication of the bank to drive economic growth and create wider opportunities for MSMEs.
The COO stated further, “This award will motivate us to continue pushing the boundaries of financial inclusion, exploring more innovative solutions and partnerships to expand our reach and impact. We are committed to ensuring that more small businesses and startup enterprises in Nigeria have access to financial services, this award will further inspire us to accelerate our efforts in this regard.”
The Financial Inclusion Leadership Award is a key highlight of the International Financial Inclusion Conference (IFIC) and celebrates exceptional contributions to actions aimed at achieving the goals outlined in Nigeria’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 3.0.
The award recognizes organizations and individuals across various sectors who are driving meaningful dialogue, and broadening access to financial services for low-income excluded priority segments, including the MSMEs sector, with inadequate funding being one of the challenges that inhibit the growth of small businesses in the country.
Julius Arhebun, the Head of Agency Banking a Nigeria’s leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster, has disclosed that the promotion of financial inclusion is one of the core mandates of the service.
He said this recently as the bank introduced a new 100MB data offer for every transaction made in the offer, which is available for Glo customers using the bank’s USSD banking code, *995#. The initiative is meant to incentivize the unbanked and underbanked population to ease the creation of their own mobile wallet via its USSD banking platform.
According to him, the offer builds on the various financial education “we have been providing online and across our various customer touchpoints”.
He added that “with this new 100MB offer, we want to encourage Nigerians in the unbanked and underbanked pools to be financially included by having at least a mobile wallet. The account number of this mobile wallet is derived from their mobile number, and can be easily recalled”.
MoneyMaster PSB is a leading provider of innovative digital financial products and services that transform lives and contribute to sustainable living.
The PSB has the mission to deepen financial inclusion and has been instrumental in providing financial technology services to bridge the gap between the banked, underbanked and unbanked population.
The payment service bank recently unveiled a 10 percent data bonus for existing and new customers who are on the Glo network for recharges of N1000 or more. The offer has been adjudged one of the best in the country based on the volume of data on offer to customers. The data purchases have a 30-day validity while unused data can be rolled over upon next plan subscription.
As part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to France, the Chairman of UBA Group, Tony Elumelu in the presence of President Tinubu and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, signed a landmark business cooperation agreement with the French Finance Minister, Antoine Armand.
The agreement is a significant indication of support by the French Government for the development of UBA’s full banking operations in France.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of UBA Group commented: ”This partnership reinforces our commitment to seamless international banking services for our customers, not just across the 11 Francophone African countries we serve, but Africa as a whole; and French and European customers transacting with Africa.
Expanding into France is a natural progression, with Paris serving as our European Union hub, as we continue to bring Africa and the world together, through innovative financial solutions. Paris will join London, New York and Dubai, as a critical component of our unique global network.”
United Bank for Africa is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with 25,000 employees group wide and serving over 45 million customers globally.
Operating in twenty African countries and the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and the United Arab Emirates, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting edge technology.
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