World Bank says 5.6 million Nigerians will fall into poverty due to high inflation

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The World Bank has said that the drivers of Nigeria’s inflation rate are unique to the nation alone as it differs from what is experienced in other parts of the world. The report also claimed higher inflation could send about 5.6 million Nigerians into poverty.

“Admittedly, higher inflation reduces purchasing power, translating into higher levels of poverty and, ultimately, insecurity. The IMF estimates that between 2020 and 2021, high inflation may drive 5.6 million Nigerians into poverty.”

In a recent Annual World Bank Group/IMF Meetings hosted by the Standard Bank Research Group, the World Bank Group’s Lead Economist for Nigeria and IMF’s mission team made the remark explaining that “Nigeria has one of the highest levels of inflation — but the drivers here differ from across the globe.” Nairametrics saw a copy of the Standard Bank Group report detailing the remarks.

Nairametrics has often reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate challenges are supply-side driven, caused mostly by issues such as insecurity, border closure, supply chain and logistic gridlocks, exchange rate volatility and other issues that are hard to solve with monetary policy alone.

They also blamed the border closure and food inflation as the main drivers of the rising inflationary trend recorded this year.

“Closed borders in Aug ’19 caused inflation to shoot up, mainly driven by food inflation and, while inflation has been trending lower since Mar ’21, it remains high due to FX liquidity difficulties, supply chain disruptions, and insecurity.”

The World Bank/IMF team also projected Nigeria’s annual growth at 2.6% for 2021 and 2.7% for 2022 citing that “Oil production should improve, with the oil sector expected to recover in the medium term.”

They spoke about other issues as well, such as Nigeria’s forex (FX) situation, fuel subsidy and Nigeria’s debt status. See highlights below

Nigerian banks’ credit to private sector rose by N4.1tn in one year –Report

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Nigerian banks extended a cumulative credit of N4.1tn between September 2020 and September this year, representing an increase of  13.8 per cent within the review period.

According to the Money and Credit Statistics report of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),in September 2020, bank’s credit to the private sector stood at N29.7tn but rose to N33.8tn in September this year.

In October 2020, the sector’s debt to banks fell to N29.1tn, but climbed by N300bn to N29.4tn in November.

The total value of credit provided by banks to the sector rose to N30.4tn in December and N30.6tn in January 2021 but fell by N100bn in February to N30.5tn.

Lending to the private sector rose to N31.4tn in March, N31.9tn in April, N32.1tn in May and N32.6tn in June.

The credit to private sector rose from N32.8tn in July to N33.4tn in August.

In a bid to drive lending to the real sector, the CBN had in 2019 directed all banks to maintain a minimum of 65 per cent Loans-to-Deposit Ratio by the end of December 2019

The apex bank had noted that the improvement in lending to the real sector followed the introduction of the 65 per cent LDR.

According to The Punch, in his personal statement at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN in September, a professor of Economics, University of Ibadan, Adeola Adenikinju, said many sectors of the economy and households benefitted from the increased credit.

“The various interventions by the central bank is providing a boost to personal consumptions and economic growth,” he added.

The Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, CBN, Kingsley Obiora, also attributed the rise in credit to private sector to the LDR policy.

He said, “The increased credit was recorded in manufacturing, consumer credit, general commerce, information and communication and agriculture.

“The credit growth was driven by the LDR policy, the extension of regulatory forbearance and other macro prudential measures.”

The Punch also reported that an economist and Senior Lecturer of Economics at the Pan Atlantic University, Dr Olalekan Aworinde, said while the rise in credit to the real sector was commendable, significant impact and growth in the sector would be reliant on how the funds provided were utilised.

He explained that allowing the sector to bear the cost of basic infrastructures such as roads and electricity would significantly deplete the funds available for production.

He, therefore, called on the government to support the interventions of the banking sector by providing critical infrastructure and implementing interventions in the private sector.

Aworinde said, “If you look at the credit to private sector, you will understand that the banks provide these loans to them to boost output.

“The issue there is that the credit is important, but what the funds are used for is most important. Looking at the private sector, majority are high-cost producers – meaning that majority of these firms have to provide their own roads, electricity and water.

“When all these infrastructures are not in place, you will discover that you will see little impact in the sector. So, in a nutshell, the growth is a step in the right direction but the spending pattern of those who receive the credit and the interest rate of these loans are critical.”

Meanwhile, credit to the government rose by N3.43tn within the same period. The banking sector’s credit to the government rose from N9.6tn in September 2020 to 13.03tn in September 2021, according to the CBN.

Hassan-Odukale is FBN largest shareholder – FBN Holding

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

First Bank Nigeria, FBN Holdings Plc, has explained to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX how Tunde Hassan-Odukale is classified as the highest single shareholder of the bank through his related parties holding of 4.16 percent and 1.20 percent of shares respectively.

This is coming after a controversy on who becomes the highest single shareholder of First Bank Nigeria since Femi Otedola acquired 5.07 percent stake in the bank.

However, there has been speculation attributing 5.36 percent to Hassan-Odukale in what some people thought its a boardroom politics to prevent Otedola from becoming chairman.

In response to this speculation, Seye Kosoko, the company secretary, FBN Holdings said Hassan-Odukale is its largest single-holder.

Kosoko attributed Leadway Pensure PFA’s entire 2.11percebt stake in FBN Holdings to Hassan-Odukale, although they are pension funds invested by Leadway on behalf of the public.

Also listed in Hassan-Odukale’s favour by Kosoko is 1.36percent of “ZPC/Leadway Assurance Prem & Inv Coll Acct” which is also insurance funds invested on behalf of the public.

FBN Holdings appears to be classifying both as Hassan-Odukale’s personal investments.
Over the weekend, FBN Holdings had notified investors that Otedola’s equity had surpassed 5 percent

Before then, Hassan-Odukale’s stake was put at the territory of 3 percent

In trying to clarify its record with the NGX regulation, FBN said it classified Hassan-Odukale’s shareholdings into two because of his significant stakes in related parties.

“The reason for classifying the shareholdings of Mr. Tunde Hassan-Odukale and his related parties into two parts of 4.16percent and 1.20 percent respectively,” FBN Holdings said.

“We wish to reiterate and clarify for your records that the notification of the shareholdings of Mr. Tunde Hassan-Odukale as a Director of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and thus an Insider, was filed with the NGX and other relevant regulators on October 18, 2021.

“The first part of the shareholding classification (4.16percent), are shares held directly and indirectly by Mr. Tunde Hassan-Odukale. The second part of the shareholding classification (1.20 percent), are shares ascribed to Mr. Tunde Hassan-Odukale due to his influence and having significant control.”

Nigeria serviced debt with N1.47tn in H1 2021 – DMO

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Nigeria spent N1.47tn on debt servicing payments in the first half of 2021, data obtained from the Debt Management Office have shown.

In the first quarter of the year, the country spent N1.02tn on both domestic and external debt servicing, while a total of N445.45bn was spent in the second quarter of 2021.

From January to March 2021, Nigeria spent N612.71bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $1bn (N410.33bn) on external debt servicing.

From April to June 2021, Nigeria spent N322.7bn on domestic debt servicing and $299m (N122.7bn) on external debt servicing.

The official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria ($1 is N410.33) as of October 4 was used for the external debt servicing.

For domestic debt, Nigeria spent N219.29bn in January, N125.09bn in February, N270.33bn in March, N258bn in April, N42.4bn in May, and N22.3bn in June.

In Q1, the government focused on principal repayments, while in Q2, the government focused on interest payments.
A breakdown of the statistics in Q2 shows that the Federal Government spent a total of N322.7bn on the payment of interest, with N50.3bn expended on the redemption of matured Nigeria Treasury Bills.

For external debt servicing in Q1, commercial loans had 76 per cent with a cost of $763.04m (N313.10bn), multilateral had 13 per cent with a cost of $134.04m (N55bn), and bilateral had 11 per cent with a cost of $106.33m (N43.63bn).

For external debt servicing in Q2, commercial loans had 53 per cent with a cost of $157m (N64.4bn), multilateral had 35 per cent with a cost of $103.7m (N42.5bn), and bilateral had 13 per cent with a cost of $38.2m (N15.7bn).

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved over $110 billion in loans to 86 countries of the world, to enable them tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its 2021 Annual Report, released, yesterday, the global body described the pandemic as “a crisis like no other” but it equally, “responded like no other.”

“More than a year into a crisis like no other, the IMF has mobilized a response like no other. As of end-April 2021, loans have been approved to 86 countries of more than $110 billion—a record number. But even though the recovery is underway, the economic fallout from the pandemic will be with us for years to come,” the organization said.

The over $110 billion approved for loans was separate from the new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of $650 billion , approved for members of the IMF, in August.

According to the Fund, “At $650 billion, this is the largest allocation in the IMF’s history, and it will substantially boost the reserves and liquidity of the IMF’s member countries, without adding to their debt burdens.”

It added that it was also exploring options for those with strong financial positions to voluntarily channel SDRs to vulnerable countries.

The IMF noted that the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated existing, prepandemic vulnerabilities, and countries’ prospects were diverging.

It said, “Nearly half of emerging market and developing economies and some middle-income countries risk falling further behind, undoing much of the progress made toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“Within countries, inequality is on the rise as well; workers with fewer skills, youth, women, and those informally employed are suffering disproportionate income losses.”

The Fund said that sustaining the recovery would require an ongoing policy push, “including to secure and expand access to vaccines and to maintain economic lifelines and targeted policy support, tailored to the stage of the pandemic, the strength of the economic recovery, and countries’ structural characteristics.”

It said that the most urgent task remained to get the world vaccinated as quickly as possible, adding, “In May, IMF staff put forward a $50 billion plan that targets vaccinating at least 40 percent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, and 60 percent by the first half of 2022—an investment that would boost global economic activity by trillions of dollars over the next few years.

“Closing this gap is key to ending the pandemic and ensuring a sustainable long-term recovery everywhere.”

A second immediate priority, the IMF said was helping countries deal with growing public debt burdens, as high levels of debt heading into the crisis left many low-income countries more vulnerable and continues to limit their ability to provide much-needed policy support.

In her message, the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, said that a recovery was underway, but that the economic fallout from the global pandemic could be with world for years to come.

She pointed out that multilateral cooperation would be vital to ensure all countries have equitable access to vaccines and financially constrained economies have adequate access to international liquidity.

According to her, “As the recovery progresses, economic reforms and public investments in human capital and green and digital infrastructure should be scaled up to facilitate resource reallocation and limit long-term scarring.

“By building toward a more inclusive, digital, and green future, the world’s economies can achieve higher and more durable growth.”

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Heritage, Zenith, UBA, Union and four other banks bankroll SCOA hand over of trucks to Julius Berger

CAPTION

R – Ralph Brendicke, Representative of the MD of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc; Mother Dan-Egwu, Regional Head, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Mainland Zone of Heritage Bank Plc; Engr. Amresh Shrivastava, Deputy CEO of SCOA Nigeria Plc and Federal Republic of Germany’s Head of Mission in Lagos, H.E Ambassador Dr. Von Munchoe-Pohl, during the Official Handover Ceremony of State-of-the-Art Man Trucks and Wirtgen Equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc with Heritage Bank being one of the lead financiers, weekend in Lagos.

 

 

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Heritage, Zenith, UBA, Union  and four other Banks have provided a total of N15.5billion to assist SCOA Nigeria Plc for the importation and supply of Trucks and equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria for construction of roads across the country.

Specifically, Heritage Bank availed SCOA Motors an Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) N4.64 billion for the project while other banks – Zenith, Wema, UBA, Union, Unity, Coronation and Providus Banks complemented the global total sum.

The sum total covers for 33 trucks and technological equipment. For the first phase during the ceremony, 16 of the trucks were handed over to Julius Berger and the second phase of delivering will be executed next month.

Commenting on the Official Handover Ceremony of State-of-the-Art Man Trucks and Wirtgen Equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo stated that the support efforts through project financing in the various sectors of the economy is one of the platforms that underscores our resolve and readiness to make a mark in the financial sector as a major pivot of socio-economic transformation of the country.

The Regional Head, Lagos Mainland Zone of Heritage Bank, Mother Dan-Egwu, who represented Sekibo, said the bank partnered to support SCOA Nigeria Plc for its long and outstanding presence in the automobile market, by retaining the cutting edge in their line of business.

Dan-Egwu disclosed that the Heritage Bank’s philosophy is to support businesses to grow in their discharge of duties; she was quoted as saying, “For us at Heritage Bank, our core business philosophy as a timeless wealth partner to our customers is captured in our mission to create, transfer and preserve wealth.”

According to her, the bank’s field of engagement of support has so far been diversified, covering economic sectors such as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, agriculture, entertainment and arts, education, oil and gas, aviation and haulage as well as the public sector.

Earlier in his address, the GMD/CEO of SCOA, Dr. Massad Boulos commended Heritage Bank and the other banks’ roles, as the transactions were made possible through their solid partnership.

“I will also thank Heritage bank, their Directors, MD; Unity Bank and other senior bankers official & the entire team of banks, they’ve worked closely together with us on this project, same with Providus Bank, they all have worked together tirelessly for the success of this project,” he said.

According to him, this partnership is like no other considering the parties involved especially SCOA Motors and Julius Berger in the official hand over of state of the art modern trucks for use on the road constructions’ equipment for the execution of the biggest and the most significant project in Nigeria; the Abuja/Kaduna/Kano express way.

SCOA Motors Plc has been operating in the Nigeria Market since 1922. The company has over the years expanded from Automobiles to other lucrative ventures such as importation and assembling of Vehicles and Generating plants, Agriculture /Food processing.

Heritage Bank, 7 others bankroll N15.5bn SCOA handover of trucks, equipment to Julius Berger

UBA’s half-year profit grows by 33% to N76.2bn

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced its audited half year financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2021, showing impressive growth across all major income lines and performance indicators.

Africa’s leading financial institution delivered a 33.4 per cent appreciation in its profit before tax which rose to N76.2 billion as at June 2021, up from the N57.1 billion recorded in the same period of 2020.

This translated to an annualized Return on Average Equity (RoAE) of 17.5 per cent as against 14.4 per cent a year earlier. This feat was recorded despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lock down occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The results submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, showed that the group’s profit after tax stood at N60.6 billion, representing a significant rise by 36.3 per cent, compared with the N44.4 billion recorded in the half year of 2020.

Similarly, gross earnings grew to N316 billion, which was a five per cent increase, from the N300.6 billion recorded as at June 2020.

According to the results, at June 30, 2021, the group’s total assets crossed the N8 trillion mark as it increased to N8.3 trillion, up from N7.7 trillion at the end of the 2020 financial year. Its customer deposit also crossed the N6 trillion mark, growing by 7.4 per cent to N6.1 trillion in the period under review, compared with N5.7 trillion as at December 2020.

Furthermore, the group’s Shareholders’ Funds remained robust at N752.5 billion, up from N724.1 billion in December 2020, reflecting its strong capacity for internal capital generation.

In line with the bank’s culture of paying both interim and final cash dividend, the Board of Directors of UBA declared an interim dividend of 20 kobo per share for every ordinary share of 50 kobo each, held by its shareholders.

Commenting on the results, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, expressed delight over the bank’s performance in the first half of the year.

He added: “This has been a strong first half for us, as global economic recovery exceeded expectations, creating a positive rub-off on consumer and corporate confidence, savings and investment activities.

“We saw this positively impact our business, as we continued to leverage our key strategic levers – People, Process and Technology, and our Customer first philosophy, to revolutionize customer experience at UBA.”

He added that the bank’s investment in the Rest of Africa (excluding Nigeria) continues to yield good results for the group.

Uzoka added: “The benefits of pan-African business diversification accruing to the Group is once again evident, with gross earnings and interest income growth of 5.1 per cent and 8.3 per cent respectively, despite the low yield environment in our largest market, Nigeria.

“We are making remarkable progress on our strategy that is progressively positioning UBA as the bank of choice on the continent, driven by our emphasis on tech-led innovation and best customer experience.”

Continuing, the GMD pointed out that the bank recognizes the far-reaching effects of the pandemic on businesses globally, and remains focused on its promise to always provide our customers with the best banking experiences possible.

“Our first half 2021 (H1 2021) performance reflects our progressive efforts in building on the strong momentum that we started the year with. As a purpose-driven organization, we remain resolute in our drive for sustained growth in customer acquisition, transaction volumes and balance sheet, as we consolidate our ‘Africa’s Global Bank’ market position in the years ahead, uplifting livelihoods across the continent,” Uzoka explained.

UBA’s Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO), Ugo Nwaghodoh, on his part, noted that the bank’s goal was to achieve marked improvement in earnings quality whilst maintaining positive operating leverage as well as top-notch asset quality.

“The Group recorded RoAE of 17.5 per cent (from 15.1% in 2020H1) and a Net-Interest-Margin of 5.8 per cent (from 5.4% in H12020) as we played the volatile yield environment diligently for best return on our interest earning assets.

“Capital position remained strong, with a capital adequacy and liquidity ratios of 23.9 per cent (22.4% in 2020H1) and 58.3 per cent (58.2% in 2020H1) respectively. This is robust enough to support our growth ambitions,” he said.

The GCFO pointed out that even while the operating environment remains largely uncertain and volatile, despite marked improvement from Covid-19 induced macroeconomic stress, UBA will continue to build resilience through its geographically diversified business model to support headline earnings growth for the Group.

“We remain committed to our 18 per cent and 15 per cent respective RoAE and deposit growth guidance for FY 2021, as we continue to invest in growth opportunities across our geographies of operation, whilst managing capital and balance sheet prudently,” Nwaghodoh stated.

UBA offers banking services to more than twenty five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries.

With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.

CBN to establish Nigerian Int’l Financial Centre 

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to establish the Nigerian International Financial Centre ((NIFC), in the next 12 months.

The Governor of the Central bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at the opening of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), this morning,  in Abuja.

According to him, “To  consolidate on the growth and resilience of Nigerian Banks in the last decade, your excellency, your Central Bank, will, in the next 12 months be establishing The Nigerian International Financial Centre (NIFC).

“The NIFC will act as an international gateway for Capital and investments, driven by technology and payment system infrastructure.

“This new financial hub, will curate local and international banks to make them global champions. The NIFC will be a 24/7 Financial centre that will complement London, New York and Singapore financial centers and enable an acceleration of our home grown initiatives such as the Infracorp plc, the N15 Trillion infrastructure fund which we will be launching in October 2021.
“The NIFC will also complement our initiatives on the Nigerian Commodity Exchange.”

Nigeria’s unclaimed dividends increase to N170bn

The

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday said the total unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market stood at N170 billion as of December 2020.

The Director-General, SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said this at the second post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual news conference.

Yuguda said the figure had increased compared with N158.44 billion total unclaimed dividends as of December 2019
He attributed the rising figure to identity management and multiple subscriptions of investors.

“We have problems with identity management in the Nigerian capital market and this is really one of the things the commission is trying to resolve.

“We have set up a high powered committee to look at the issue, people bought shares under false names and multiple subscriptions.
There is a problem with the process but there is a problem with us too as people because if you are buying securities using your own wealth; why will you use another persons name, why will you use a name that will not be traceable to you?

“This became an issue after the introduction of BVN because BVN is tied to only one name,” Yuguda said.

He noted that the commission constituted a Committee on Identity Management for the Nigerian Capital Market in June in order to address the unclaimed dividend issue.

The committee is chaired by Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and is expected to harmonise various databases of investors, and facilitate data accuracy in the market.

“We are optimistic that the outcome of this committee’s assignment would address the challenges of identity management and help resolve some of the issues we face in the areas of unclaimed dividend, direct cash settlement and multiple subscription,” he added.

On the Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS) portal, Yuguda said the total number of mandated and approved accounts from its inception in 2016 to July 2021 stood at 1,144,970.
He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the registration exercise.

Yuguda said members of the CMC had adopted some measures to increase the number of mandated investors on the e-DMMS and reduce the quantum of unclaimed dividends in the market.

He listed the measures as; automation for mandating to e-DMMS, increased monitoring of adherence to procedures and increased awareness campaigns on the initiative.
Yuguda added that a training session would be organised by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS); to be supported by the e-DMMS technical committee, Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR) and Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria.

He said a study to determine the suitability of the CSCS to process dividends of investors in unlisted companies would also be conducted

Nigeria’s loans from World Bank, African Development Bank rise to $14.35bn

By Favour Nnabugwu

Nigeria’s loans from the World Bank and the African Development Bank rose from $7.14billion to $14.25billion between June 30, 2015 and March 31, 2021.

According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s commitment to the banks rose by $7.11bn from 2015 to 2021, an increase of 98.48 per cent.

The data shows that as of June 30, 2015, the Federal Government had borrowed a total sum of $6.19bn from the World Bank.

A breakdown of the world bank’s loans to the Nigeria shows that a greater part of the loans was obtained from the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank that specialises in giving concessional loans to poor and fragile countries.

The IDA commitment to Nigeria amounted to $6.09bn.

Another member of the World Bank group, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, had a commitment of $94.80m in the country.

Also, the AfDB commitment to Nigeria stood at $946.52m, comprising loans from various internal bodies such as the African Development Bank ($350m) and African Development Fund ($596.53m).
By March 31, 2021, the Federal Government’s debt to the World Bank had risen to $11.51bn, reflecting a $5.32bn or 86 per cent increase.

The debt included loans of $11.10bn and $410.23m from the International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development respectively.

With a commitment of $11.51bn, the World Bank is responsible for 35.02 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign portfolio of $32.86bn as of March 31, 2021.

During the the same period, the Federal Government acquired $1.59bn from the AfDB, $0.21m from Africa Growing Together Fund and $942.51m from ADF.

As of now the AfDB’s commitment to the country is $2.74bn, representing 8.3 per cent of the country’s total external debt.

The data break down also shows that Nigeria is currently indebted to the following agencies: Export Import Bank of China, with a portfolio of $3.40bn; the Exim Bank of India, with a portfolio of $34.95m; the Agence Française de Développement, with a portfolio of $486.6m; the Japan International Cooperation Agency, with a portfolio of $74.6m; and Germany, with a portfolio of $183.7m