Beneficiaries of CBN intervention fund re-paid N3.7trn in four years

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the beneficiaries of the intervention finds disbursed in the last four years, N3.7 trillion has been re-paid out of the total of N9. 3 trillion

The Director of Development Finance Department of the bank, Mr. Yusuf Yila, made this known in Abuja today

Of the total figure the apex bank said a total of N5. 3 trillion of the intervention funds was not yet due for repayment.

He said that the apex bank would slow down intervention schemes, with it’s new move to curtail the inflationary trends.

Mr..Yila insisted that all beneficiaries of CBN intervention schemes must pay back their loans, as according to him, they were not grants.

Giving details on why the CBN raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) the Director of Monetary Policy, Dr. Hassan Mahmoud explained that in current economic situation in the country, with the rising inflation rate, hiking the interest rate was the best decision to curtail it.

“In the last 17 months or so, inflation has been going up but we didn’t jack up the rate until we felt that we had to act to tackle the trend.

“Note that Central Banks have been raising rates across the globe because of the global inflation trend. But we didn’t raise rate just because others are raising rates. We raised rate because of the wind gap before the inflation rate and the interest rate.

“How does the rising inflation affect the economy? The volume of money was too high for the economy to a sorb in terms of the flow of supply. Consequently, prices will go up because of the volume of money in the system.

“A lot of those funds standing idle. The banks are not lending the funds and as such impacting negatively on our Freign Exchange market.

“It will also impact on the Foreign Exchange market and when the Naira depreciates, so also will the it will increase the inflation rate. Besides, it will make our economy unattractive to foreign investors to bring in their money.”

Nigeria, three other Africa exporting countries better positive outlook in 2023 – Allianz Trade

By Favour Nnabugwu
Allianz Trade which operates through the Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty license in South Africa, said in its report that commodity exporting countries, Nigeria and three other countries would have positive outlook in 2023
Though report said the energy crisis and rising interest rates will drag global GDP growth down to just +1.5 percent as slow as it was in 2008.
The other three include South Africa, Kenya and Ghana
In Africa commodity exporting countries have a more positive outlook, helped by better terms of trade prospects.  GDP forecast for 2023 is as follows: Africa (2.7 percent from 3.2 percent in 2022), South Africa (1.5 percent from 1.8 percent), Nigeria (unchanged at 2.3 percent), Ghana (unchanged at 2.5 percent), and Kenya (4.4 percent from 4.9 percent).
However, domestic issues are limiting. In South Africa, energy rationing, and logistical bottlenecks – aggravated by flood damage to the port of Durban in April hamper growth while in Nigeria, the oil sector continues to struggle.
Inflation rate in Africa is set to continue increasing driven by costlier food and fuel prices with Africa forecast to finish 2022 averaging 14.7 percent and then 9.6 percent in 2023, Nigeria (18 percent and 15 percent), South Africa (6.8 percent and 5 percent), Ghana (31.3 percent and 20.3 percent) and Kenya (6.5 percent and 5.5 percent).
Heightened food security risks in North Africa and many parts of sub-Saharan Africa where the role of agriculture and the tendency to rely on imported food products makes the countries particularly vulnerable to the agricultural shock caused by the geopolitical conflict.
Allianz Trade said Nigeria’s economy which  expanded by a better-than-expected 3.5 percent y/y in Q2, up from 3.1 percent y/y in Q1, while the pick-up in headline growth was largely due to the contraction in the oil sector easing, while growth in the non-oil economy held up well. In seasonally-adjusted terms, GDP rose by around 0.9 percent q/q.
More timely indicators suggest that activity picked up further at the start of Q3. The MI rose from 50.9 in June to 53.2 in July. And private sector credit growth reached 21.3 percent y/y in July. But production in the key oil sector remained very low, essentially unchanged from June at 1.18mn bpd in July.
Meanwhile, the currency weakened against the US dollar, both on the Nafex exchange rate and the black market. Inflation jumped from 18.6 percent y/y in June to 19.6 percent y/y in July, the highest since September 2005.
The main driver behind the increase in the headline rate was another sharp rise in food inflation, although price pressures rose in other categories too. Elevated inflation is likely to push policymakers to continue raising interest rates.
Since June, global macroeconomic conditions have considerably worsened. Deep and long-lasting ruptures in energy markets and the negative impact on business confidence will push the manufacturing sector in most countries into recession. At the same time, rapidly rising interest rates and falling real disposable incomes will induce a housing recession in the US.
After contracting by -0.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022, global growth will return to negative territory in Q4 (-0.1 percent q/q) and is not likely to recover before mid-2023. Overall, we have cut our 2023 forecast to +1.5 percent (-1.0pp compared to our Q2 forecasts).
Global trade growth in volume will also remain low at +1.2 percent in 2023 as advanced economies face a domestic demand-led recession. The return of credit risk is to be expected as this recession will be triaging the good, the bad and the ugly of corporate vulnerabilities.
The rebound in business insolvencies gained momentum during 2022 (+18 percent q/q in Q2 2022, from +5 percent in Q1). The largest acceleration happened in Western Europe (+26 percent y/y YTD).
Though we are still witnessing historically low numbers of bankruptcies in the US (-19 percent YTD as of Q2), China (-14 percent as of August) and Germany (-4 percent as of June), Spain, the UK and Switzerland already show pre-pandemic insolvency numbers.
The trifecta of lower demand, prolonged production constraints (input prices, labor shortages and supply-chain matters) and increasing financing issues (access and costs) is mechanically pushing up expectations in business insolvencies, notably for European countries and sectors most exposed to energy issues.
The -0.8 percent decline in Eurozone GDP has the potential to accelerate the rise in insolvencies by +25pp in 2023 (to more than +40 percent), with Germany up +16 percent, France up +29 percent, Italy up 31 percent and Spain up 25 percent. This increases the probability of seeing the extension of and new (targeted) state aid measures.
On the global level, nflation will remain high until Q1 2023 after energy prices have peaked, with food and services adding upside pressure. We expect global inflation to average 5.3 percent in 2023 (after close to 8 percent in 2022).
Eurozone inflation should peak at 10 percent in Q4 2022 and then average 5.6 percent in 2023. In the US, inflation is likely to have peaked already but should remain above 4 percent until Q1 2023, falling below 2 percent only after Q3 2023 (averaging 2.9 percent in 2023).
Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport @ 40 tomorrow

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

All is set for the celebration of the milestones that have been achieved by one of Nigeria’s foremost Airports, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja on September 29 for its 40th anniversary.

Commissioned on the 29th September, 1982, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja has developed into a hub for the north-central region of Nigeria and beyond.

Instatement released by the Ag General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs Faithful A. Hope-Ivbaze, the Airport prides in the possession of world-class Airport facilities including a brand new international terminal with a passenger handling capacity of 15million per annum commissioned by the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration in December, 2018, a recently rehabilitated domestic terminal, as well as a hajj/cargo terminal.

To underscore the continuous progress that has been made by Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja over the years, the Airport was awarded the Best Airport in Safety for the Year 2018 by Airport Council International, Africa Region. It also received ACI’s Airport Service Quality Award in the year 2020, amongst several other recognitions.

As part of activities lined up for the commemoration of the 40th anniversary celebration, the Airport will hold an anniversary event on the 29th September, 2022, where passengers, stakeholders and former Managers of the airport will be honoured for their contributions to the development of the Airport.

The hallmark of the event will be the commissioning of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport’s Park & Pay Automated Car Parking Service by the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Capt. Rabiu Hamisu Yadudu.