CBN Restates Commitment to Economic Diversification

The Governor, Central Bank Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has restated the commitment of the Bank towards leveraging agriculture as a pivot for the diversification of the economy.

The Bank supported Jigawa State government and a Chinese company, Lee Group to establish a multi-billion naira white refined sugar cane factory that will generate N60 billion annually for the state.While lamenting that Nigeria spends over $100 million importing sugar despite its capacity to cultivate sugarcane and produce sugar, he commended the Jigawa State and its Chinese partners for embarking on the project.

The Governor noted that the sugar production was part of CBN’s core aspect of the anchor-borrowers programme, adding that the Bank will support Lee Group and other small scale farmers that are involved in sugarcane production in such a way that the company could buy-off the sugarcane planted by farmers.He noted further that the Lee Group had touched the hearts of Nigerians by heeding the presidential call towards self-sufficiency. Mr. Emefiele assured that the CBN will give its support to the group to ensure the success of the project, noting that the Group was complementing the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria towards ensuring that Nigeria achieved her goal of diversifying its economy.

Gainers for 17th of July 2017 trading activities

Stock code	Equities	Opening Price	Closing Price	Gains	%
OKOMUOIL	THE OKOMU OIL PALM	57.51	60.38	2.87	4.99
DANGCEM	DANGOTE CEMENT PLC	206.49	209.20	2.71	1.31
NB	NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC	155.10	157.38	2.28	1.47
FLOURMILL	FLOUR MILLS PLC	24.30	26.25	1.95	8.02
UNILEVER	UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC	34.65	36.38	1.73	4.99
FO	FORTE OIL PLC	58.97	60.50	1.53	2.59
7UP	7-UP BOTTLING PLC	93.50	94.95	1.45	1.55
NESTLE	NESTLE FOODS PLC	903.10	904.00	0.90	0.10
GUARANTY	GUARANTY TRUST BANK	36.15	36.61	0.46	1.27
ETI	ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED	14.01	14.20	0.19	1.36
DANGSUGAR	DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC	8.60	8.66	0.06	0.70
AFRIPRUD	AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC	2.96	3.00	0.04	1.35
LINKASSURE	LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC	0.55	0.59	0.04	7.27
FIDELITYBK	FIDELITY BANK PLC	1.22	1.25	0.03	2.46
CHAMPION	CHAMPION BREWERIES	2.62	2.65	0.03	1.15
LEARNAFRCA	LEARN AFRICA PLC	0.88	0.90	0.02	2.27
SEPLAT	SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD	475.00	475.01	0.01	0.00
NEM	N.E.M INSURANCE CO. PLC	1.13	1.14	0.01	0.88
STERLNBANK	STERLING BANK PLC	1.00	1.01	0.01	1.00
FIDSON	FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC	2.99	3.00	0.01	0.3

Extension free e-Dividend Registration Exercise- SEC

    The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the deadline of June 30, 2017 for discontinuance of  issuance of physical dividend warrants has been extended to December 31, 2017.This will mark the end of conventional issue of physical dividend warrants to shareholders of public companies in the Nigerian capital market.

Furthermore, in a bid to curb the growth of unclaimed dividend in the capital market, the Commission will continue to underwrite the cost of e-Dividend enrolment till December 31, 2017.

The advantage of the e-Dividend is not only to enable investors collect subsequent dividends electronically but it allows all accrued dividends to be credited to investors’ bank accounts. 

 All investors in the Nigerian Capital Market are  advised to take advantage of this extended grace period by approaching their Bankers or Registrars for enrolment before the deadline.

Find here e-dividend mandate form of different registrars.

Nigeria’s investment rate ranks below - PWC

Nigeria’s investment rate lags the average of 23.3 per cent recorded for sub-Saharan African countries, and 28.9 per cent for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), a report by the PwC titled, ‘Boosting Investment: Nigeria’s Path to Growth’ has revealed.

It said between 2007 and 2016, Nigeria’s investment share of the Gross Domestic Product declined from 18.7 per cent to 12.6 per cent, reaching the lowest level in the past two decades.

The report noted, “Academic literature suggests a strong nexus exists between the level of investment and economic growth, and cites China and India as examples of economies that have successfully attained investment-led growth.

“Growth in Nigeria has been relatively strong at an average of 5.6 per cent per annum over the past decade. However, this has been fuelled by the oil boom and population expansion, rather than investments.”

The PwC report said, “Perhaps the most evident impact of the sharp decline in the oil price was in the currency market, with the naira/dollar depreciating by  35.4 per cent in the official market and 47.3 per cent in the parallel  market during the year.


“Aside from the depreciation in the currency, the illiquidity in the foreign exchange market impacted the business and investment environment, with  Foreign Direct Investment declining to an 11-year low, and a collapse in investment as a share of the GDP to 12.6 per cent – the lowest level in the past two decades

CBN boosts foreign exchange supply with $195m

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday intervened in inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market with the supply of $195m as part of efforts to stabilise the market.

The acting Director, Corporate Communications of the apex bank, Mr Isaac Okorafor, in a statement, said $100m was offered.

He said that Small and Medium Enterprises segment received $50m, while tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance, among others, got $45m.Making all sum up to $I95m.

He said the apex bank remained determined to achieve its objective of rates convergence, “hence the unrelenting injection of intervention funds into the foreign exchange market’’.

Exchange rate as at 18th of July 2017

COUNTRY          CURRENCIES       IN NGR(Naira)
 EUROPE                     EUR                         N420/Euro
US DOLLAR                  USD                          N367/Dollar

GBPOUNDS                  GBP                          N473/Pound