Tag: Nigeria

Nigeria’s External Reserves Now $36.57

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Nigeria’s external reserves now stand at $36.57 billion, having increased sharply from $33.42 billion as of April 29, 2020.

This development has given the Central Bank of Nigeria the fire power to defend the Naira exchange rate as promised by Central Bank Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The rise in the nation’s reserve can be attributed to rising oil prices and facility granted to the country by International Monetary Fund to fight COVID-19.

The reserve position will further improve when other expected facilities comes in. The recent jump in crude oil prices to about $40 have helped Nigeria’s foreign reserve to rise at a steady pace.

According to the latest data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website, Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves now stand at $36.57 billion, having increased from $33.42 billion as of April 29, 2020.

This shows a gain of $3.15 billion dollars. This feat recorded above (rising FX reserves) has given the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, more ammunition to defend the naira.

Weeks ago, the Naira had traded as high as N475 to $1. But, it sold at N446 to $ during the week. It will be recalled that the CBN Governor had warned currency speculators and hoarders to stop manipulating Nigeria’s exchange rates.

He also said that Nigerians should stop patronising?parallel market operators. According to him, the rates they are buying the dollar from that segment of the market are unrealistic.

The CBN recently re-started the weekly dollar sales of $100 million for small businesses and individuals who are in genuine need of foreign exchange.

The forward market 12-month naira forwards improved to N454.50 per dollar on Wednesday, from a high of N522.56 on April 20.

Also, the currency traded at N388 to the dollar in the spot market. The local currency has also appreciated from N460 to a dollar to N445 to a dollar in the parallel market in less than 2 weeks, not long after the Central Bank of Nigeria started selling dollars to small and medium enterprises and foreign students.

The planned resumption of dollar sales to Bureau De Change (BDCs) is expected to further help ease the pressure in the market.

Meanwhile, the Brent traded over $40 per barrel, and the Nigerian Bonny light crude also  traded almost $38 per barrel, both selling at the highest price in almost 3 months.

The oil prices are very important for Nigeria, as about 90% of its foreign exchange earnings is from crude oil sales. The foreign exchange market had been under intense pressure due to the low oil prices and the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak globally.

Nigeria’s external reserve had been badly hit, as it lost over $11 billion within a space of 10 months, crashing from its peak of $45.17 in June 11, 2019 to $33.42 in April 29, 2020.

The oil price increase has caused a rebound in the external reserve to over $36 billion as of June 1, and reduced the pressure on the Naira with improved liquidity of the foreign exchange market.

AFDB Approves $288.5m For Nigeria’s COVID-19 Response Programme

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The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank on Friday approved a $288.5 million loan to help Nigeria tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loan will also help the Nigerian government mitigate the impact of COVID -19 on people and businesses.

According to a statement from the AfDB, “the loan will bolster the government’s plans to improve surveillance and response to COVID-19 emergencies, ease the impact on workers and businesses and strengthen the social protection system.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and the continent’s largest oil producer, is facing twin crises – a health epidemic caused by COVID-19, and an economic crunch largely occasioned by a global oil price plunge.

As of June 5, the country reported 11,516 coronavirus cases, 3,535 recoveries and 323 deaths.

The loan is the AfDB’s initial response to help mitigate the slump in oil prices and its impact on the national economy.

About 40.1% of Nigerians live below the poverty line of $1.90 per day, and it is feared that the fall in household income during the pandemic will result in wealth deterioration for both the formal and informal sector workers.

Ebrima Faal, Senior Director of the African Development Bank for Nigeria, said “the proposed programme will ensure that the fiscal position and the economy are sufficiently supported to weather the COVID-19 shocks, thereby limiting its potential adverse impact on livelihoods and the economy more generally.”

AfDB noted that prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria’s economy was projected to grow by 2.9% of GDP in 2020 and further expand by 3.3% in 2021.

“But with the advent of the pandemic and the slump in crude prices, the economy is expected to shrink by between 4.4% under a conservative baseline scenario and 7.2% should the pandemic persist to end-2020.

Faal said that “beyond the country’s immediate economic recovery needs, the Bank and other development partners will dialogue with the government on proposals for medium-term structural reforms to diversify and boost domestic revenues away from the oil sector.”

He added that “the Bank has instituted strong fiduciary measures to monitor the use of COVID-19 funds, and will maintain dialogue, particularly with the Office of the Auditor General in Nigeria, to ensure adherence to the transparency and accountability of the funds.

Federal Government To Pay ALL Unemployed Youths 20,000naira Each

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As part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda to reduce unemployment rate in the country, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), said that the Federal Government has agreed to pay the sum of twenty thousand naira, (20,000), to unemployed youths, for three months, to maintain public and social infrastructures in the country. Disclosing this at a news conference, Keyamo opined:

“The pilot programme earlier approved by Mr. President was designed to mitigate lack of job opportunities in the rural areas through a short-term engagement of 1,000 unemployed persons per local government area for a period of three months. Participants were to be paid an allowance of N20,000 monthly and were to be recruited largely from the pool of unskilled persons resident in those rural areas.

“Some have asked me why there’s  no registration portal for the 1000 jobs per LGA. My answer is, our real targets for these jobs are mostly unskilled rural workers who may not be literate enough & who can’t have access to any portal. The elites think everything is now by internet. “Whilst it is inexpedient to ask largely illiterate, itinerant workers to go on the internet & register for jobs through a portal, we shall surely upload their full names & information AFTER RECRUITMENT on a website for all to see. The monitoring process would be very transparent”.

Covid-19: After Isolation, Buhari’s Daughter Rejoins Family.

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ABUJA—THE daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari who went on self-isolation after returning from the United Kingdom, UK, two weeks ago has rejoined the family.

Recall that the First Lady, Dr. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari had about two weeks ago wrote on her Twitter handle that her daughter had gone on self-isolation for 14-days.

She had explained that the action was a precautionary measure to curb any spread of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) as the daughter returned from UK which is one of the high-risk countries.

But a statement issued by Aliyu Abdullahi, Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the First Lady, said that the Buhari’s daughter has completed the isolation period and has reunited with the family.

The statement read, “I’m happy to inform you that the young lady in question, Mr. President’s daughter has successfully completed her isolation period of 14 days and she’s normal, very healthy and well.
“She has since this afternoon (Thursday) rejoined her family, the mother, her Excellency First Lady, Dr. Aisha Buhari personally received her.

” The lesson here for Nigerians and other parents to learn is that this is a child with all the privileges one can ever think to have in the country but the parents and the daughter insisted in following the NCDC protocol.”