Leaders at UBA Africa Day seek economic recovery

Global leaders have emphasised the need for strong collaborations between governments and the private sector to achieve quick recovery for African economies post Covid-19.

The leaders, who included the President of Liberia, George Weah; United States’ Senator Chris Coons; the President & Chairman, Board of Directors, African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank), Benedict Oramah; President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, spoke during at the Second United Bank for Africa (UBA) African Day Conversations. The virtual Leadership Panel was moderated UBA Chairman, Tony Elumelu.

Other panelists were Founder, Africa CEO Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed; Secretary-General, African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), George Chikoti; Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner and Donald Kaberuka.

Elumelu, who is also the founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, spoke on the need to mobilise everyone, stressing the necessity to discover a more fundamental solution to Africa’s challenges through collaborative efforts.

“This is the time for us to deal with the situation we have and also forge a better situation for everyone, acting again collectively. This is not the time for finger pointing but for collaborative effort by governments and organisations to fight the pandemic globally,” he said, adding that there was need to have a quick recovery from the pandemic including taking strategic steps to flatten the curves,’’ he said.

Weah explained how collaborations worked in his government to stem the sufferings brought by the  pandemic.

Nigeria’s Q1 capital import hits $5,854.38m

Nigeria’s total value of capital import stood at $5,854.38 million in the First Quarter of the year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In its report entitled: “Nigerian Capital Importation (Q1 2020)”it posted on its website yesterday, the NBS said the importation represents an increase of 53.97 per cent compared to the last quarter of 2019 and -31.19 per cent decrease compared from the first quarter of 2019.

“The largest amount of capital importation by type was through Portfolio Investment, which accounted for 73.61 per cent ($4,309.47million) of total capital importation, followed by Other Investment, which accounted for 22.73 per cent ($1,330.65million) of total capital, and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which accounted for 3.66 per cent ($214.25million) of the total capital imported in Q1 2020,” the report said.

NBS said by sector, capital importation by banking dominated the quarter reaching $2,990.21million of total capital importation in the period under review.

The United Kingdom, the report said, emerged as the top source of capital investment in Q1 2020 with $2,908.62 million.

NBS said it accounted to 87.72 per cent of the total capital inflow during the quarter under review.

ABCON: Forex speculators to lose funds

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has warned its members and forex speculators putting pressure on the naira exchange rate to stop such activities or risk losing their money.

Its President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, who made this known yesterday in Lagos, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licenced Bureaux De Change (BDCs) would soon start full operations as the apex bank would soon reopen dollar sales to operators.

According to Gwadabe, with the CBN’s planned lifting of moratorium on dollar sales to BDCs, reopening of the airports for air travels,  global ease on restriction of movement are positive indications that dollar flows to the economy will soon improve.

He said the naira was yesterday evening exchanging at N461 to dollar at the parallel market but would be upbeat once dollar sales to BDCs commence.

He said: “The return of over 5,000 BDCs to the forex market will add great strength to the  Naira and lead to major capital losses for forex speculators. It happened in 2016 and will happen again in 2020. The return of the BDCs will immediately boost Naira recovery and put the enemies of the economy to shame. We are committed to the CBN’s exchange rate stability and will take all necessary steps within set rules and regulations to keep the naira stable.’’

Gwadabe said the return of BDCs to the forex market would help chase away speculators, curb rising inflation, boost productivity and employment, enhance price discovery, enhance market transparency and competitiveness.

Continuing, the ABCON boss said the uptick in activities in the Chinese economy had raised the country’s crude oil demand which would impact positively on Nigeria’s crude oil sales to the Asian country and boost dollar earnings.

Gwadabe added that the CBN has created enhanced fiscal buffers with the $3.4 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) meant for Nigeria to meet its  urgent balance of payment stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the loan, which has been disbursed, will also boost Nigeria’s dollar reserves and financing to the budget for targeted and temporary spending increases.

The loan, he added, will help in containing and mitigating the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the sharp fall in international oil prices thereby putting the Naira in a better standing against other currencies.

The ABCON boss said Nigeria’s foreign reserves have reached over $35 billion, which represents enough buffers for the CBN  to deal with any act of illegal economic behaviour like hoarding, speculation, conversion of local assets among other illicit financial activities.

Gwadabe also added that the OPEC measures on sustainable price stability are commendable as many governments across the world  have agreed to oil production adjustment targets and continued collaboration   with all their partners, a move that will benefit Nigeria.

He said the CBN has also officially reviewed  the naira exchange rate to N380 to a dollar.  Aside devaluing the naira, the apex bank also adopted a unified exchange rate, and pushed the official rate of the naira to N376 to dollar for International Money Transfer Operators rate to banks; N377 to dollar for banks’ dollar sale to CBN and pegged CBN’s dollar sales to banks at N378, all aimed at attracting Foreign Portfolio Investment and strengthening the local currency.  The BDC operators are expected to buy dollar from the CBN at N378 per dollar.

Gwadabe said the naira rate review and assurances by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to foreign investors that want to  repatriate  their funds from the country are positive for the naira continued recovery.

“The  apex bank has put in place policies to ensure an orderly exit for foreign investors that might be interested in doing so and has also urged investors to be patient as such repatriations are processed, owing to the bank’s policy of orderly exit of investments. The CBN has continually kept its promises to foreign investors and that confidence will play in Nigeria’s favor,” Gwadabe said.

He said the Federal Government’s plan to revise the 2020 budget oil benchmark to $20 per barrel will make more foreign capital available for economic development and strengthening of the Naira.

Gwadabe commended efforts by the Federal Government in curbing COVID-19 pandemic including several initiatives by the CBN meant to boost the real sector growth and attract more foreign capital to the economy.

He assured the CBN that ABCON and its members, remained committed to supporting the regulator in realizing its exchange rate stability mandate and ensuring transparent market operations built on regulatory compliance and zero tolerance for market abuse.

FCMB links entrepreneurs, experts viaTop-5-In-5

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has unveiled Top-5-In-5, a digital video knowledge sharing and capacity building series designed to give Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) insight into various areas of business to inspire them to operate optimally.

FCMB said the Top 5-in-5 initiative is one  way to add value to the SMEs.

In a statement, the bank explained that the series would run for an initial period of seven weeks, with a new episode released weekly.

Each episode will feature   experts across diverse areas of business who will deliver five quality tips in five minutes, to help SMEs explore solutions to specific challenges or pain-points.

The experts include Managing Director of DCSL Corporate Services Limited, Bisi Adeyemi; Senior Partner at Verraki Partners, Kelvin Balogun; CEO/Founder Naija Startups, Aramide Abe, and  Executive Director, Business Development, FCMB, Bukola Smith.

Other are Managing Director, CMC Connect, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya; Chief Operating Officer, TISV Digital, Omotolani Tayo-Oshikoya, and Managing Director, FCMB Asset Management, James Ilori.

Naira reverses loss, sells at N360.5 to dollar

The Naira on Friday closed trading on a positive note by reversing the marginal loss made on Thursday, with the naira gaining 50 kobo to exchange at N360.5 to the dollar at the parallel market.

The Pound Sterling was sold at N408.

At the Bureau De Change window, the dollar was sold at N360, while the Pound Sterling closed at N408.

Trading at the investors window saw the dollar closing at N364.94.

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Ezekwesili storms Abuja market, promises to drive industrialisation for economic growth

Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Presidential Candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), has promised to drive industrialisation in Nigeria if elected.

She said it would be achieved by encouraging marketers and entrepreneurs.

Ezekwesili made the pledge when she launched her campaign at the Mararaba and Nyanya market in FCT on Wednesday.

According to her, ACPN is positioned to promote economic and educational policies that will better the livelihood of ordinary Nigerians, especially the marketers and entrepreneurs.

“As soon as we assume office, I will ensure that children of the ordinary traders in the market receive free education.

“We have discovered that majority of children hawking on streets during school hours are children of common Nigerians and petty traders.

“My aspiration is geared towards ensuring that killings are stopped in the country and every family has food on their table,” she said.

She further stressed the need to create a responsive government framework which would stimulate the entrepreneurial class to support the growth of new businesses in the country.

Ezekwesili called on all Nigerians to vote ACPN in the general elections, to save the country from collapse and bad governance.

 

EcobankPay enables seamless transaction across three payment platforms

Ecobank Nigeria Limited has stated that EcobankPay, a special merchant QR Code product of the Pan African Bank, has continued to enable customers make seamless payment for goods and services across the three major payment platforms without the use of plastic cards.

The uniqueness of the app according to the bank is that it has MasterPass, MVisa and Mcash embedded in the merchant identity QR Code.

Speaking on the accessibility of EcobankPay QR Code, Ecobank Head of Commercial Banking, Rotimi Morohunfola, explained that “if the person that wishes to buy goods from you is coming from a bank that has MVisa and wishes to pay, the same QR Code would accept MVisa payment and vice versa. That creates interoperability and convenience for the merchants and as you know, the QR Code is much cheaper than having a point of sale (PoS)”.

For the merchants he said “the beauty of the EcobankPay is in the cost of setting up, as the shop owner simply prints the QR Code on a paper and can stick it anywhere and do not run any risks. It is convenient and the mobile app is ubiquitous, it allows you 24/7 access, it is affordable and for every Nigerian. As a merchant on EcobankPay, you automatically have a QR Code that accepts all the three payment platforms – MasterPass, MVisa and Mcash-.

It would be recalled that shoppers who used the EcobankPay QR Code were treated to special discount transactions at selected shops in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Aba during the festive period.

EcobankPay QR offering, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) -a one stop platform across 33 countries in Africa where Ecobank is present- allows customers, of any bank in Nigeria or beyond, to make payments for goods and services, using their mobile banking app to Scan+Pay with MasterPass, Visa or mCash as the means of payment. mCash allows merchants to receive payments from their customers on one single Merchant Terminal ID for both Scan+Pay and USSD through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) mCash service by dialing *402#.

E-payment transactions hit N56.85tr, say reports

Reports from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) have indicated that Nigeria’s electronic payment (e-payment) services, recorded transactions worth N56.85 trillion from January to September, last year.

The report, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, showed an increase of N16.4 trillion when compared to the N40.45 trillion that was recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

The report showed that most of the electronic transactions were done through the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), Point of Sale (PoS), Automated Transfer Machines (ATMs), Mobile Money, Electronic Bills Payment (E-Bills) and Web payments.

A breakdown of the report showed that ATMs transactions grew from N4.61 trillion in 2017 to N4.76 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2018.

Also, the volume of transactions on ATMs under the period in review grew from 560.86 million in 2017, to 650.06 million in 2018.

The report showed a rise of about N635 billion in the use of POS machines to carry out payments by Nigerians.

Under the review period, 98.73 million transactions worth N975 billion were carried out using POS in 2017 and in 2018, the volume grew to 196.83 million, valued at N1.61 trillion.

Similarly, the volume of transactions carried out by Nigerians, using mobile money rose from N795.18 billion in 2017, to N1.22 trillion as at September 2018.

Also, using the web payment channel, the total value of transactions under the review period rose from N129.24 billion in 2017 to N183.07 billion in 2018.

However, the value of such transactions on e-bill payments, which allowed customers to pay utility bills such as power, cable and so on online, declined from N420.73 billion in 2017 to N370 billion in 2018.

A financial analyst, Dr. Patricia Auta, said the NIBSS report showed an increased awareness and use of technology by individuals and businesses in the country.

Auta urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intensify efforts on cashless economy, especially in states, to further grow the electronic payment space.

She advised banks to stay competitive and drive growth by providing innovative alternate payment channels to customers.