Nigerian naira seen weakening on low dollar supply

 The Nigerian naira is expected to weaken in the next week after the central bank stopped offering dollars to some foreign exchange traders.

The Nigerian naira is likely to ease further next week after the central bank suspended its sale of dollars to some bureaux de change over their failure to file documentation on previous dollar purchases.

The local currency was trading at 246 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Thursday, down from 235 per dollar last week. It traded at 198.97 a dollar on the official interbank market. It had closed at 197 to the dollar last week on the market.

The central bank had on Wednesday denied about 1,599 bureaux de change agents, out of a total of 2,818 operators, access to its foreign exchange sales window, limiting supply.

"We hope by next week the issue around the suspension of some bureaux de change would have been resolved, otherwise dollar shortage may persist in the market, leading to further depreciation of the naira," one trader said.

Typo' raises reduced MTN fine by $500 million: Regulator

 South African telecoms giant MTN has had its reduced fine for failing to disconnect unregistered users in Nigeria increased by $500 million because of a mistake by the regulator in Abuja.

MTN announced on Thursday that the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) had cut the initial $5.2 billion fine to $3.4 billion after talks with the authorities in Nigeria's capital.

But the company said on Friday the fine had now been increased to $3.9 billion.

NCC spokesman Tony Ojobo admitted: "There was a typo. The reduction should have been 25 percent.

"We saw the mistake and had to fix it," he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

The company said it was "carefully considering" the letters it has received and that its chairman and acting chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko would hold further talks with the Nigerian authorities.

The amount has to be paid by December 31.

MTN was slapped with the hefty penalty in October after it missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

The NCC in early August ordered all mobile phone companies operating in Nigeria to deactivate all unregistered SIM cards within seven days or face severe sanctions.

DMO to sell N50bn worth of bonds on Dec. 9

The Debt Management Office (DMO) says it will raise N50 billion worth of bonds in two categories on Dec. 9.
The DMO disclosed this in its ‘Bond Circular’ posted on its Website on Thursday.

According to the circular, the two categories of bonds are the 10-year and five-year bonds.

The DMO said that it would issue N20 billion worth of the 10-year bonds and N30 billion of the five-year bonds.

It said the two categories of bonds would mature in March 2024 and February 2020, respectively.

The DMO said that the two categories of bonds would open with different coupon rates.

“The 10-year and five-year bonds would have coupon rates of 11.85 per cent and 11.73 per cent, respectively.’’
 It said that the bonds would be auctioned on Dec. 9, while the settlement date would be Dec. 11.


    

Kachikwu Replaces Diezani At OPEC Conference In Vienna

As the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to meet in Vienna on Friday, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, and head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has been named as the new conference President of the Organisation.

Dr. Kachikwu replaces Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke who was named the first female President of OPEC in November last year.

The minister is calling for a delay in Iran’s intended oversupply of crude oil in order to control pricing that has dropped near 20 percent in 2015.

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, US crude oil price climbed 1.40 percent early today trading at 40 Dollars 23 cents per barrel, Brent was up 48 cents at 42 Dollars 97 cents per barrel.

Ahead of Fridy’s meeting analysts expect OPEC whose 12 member nations from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America pump out about one third of the world’s oil, to leave its daily oil output target at 30 million barrels.

NBS Urges Substantial Attention For Accurate Statistics

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to give substantial attention to the production and usage of accurate statistics in all sectors.

The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, made the called while speaking at the National Stakeholders Validation Workshop in Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria.

Dr. Kale said for Nigeria to be among the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020, the present administration must give much consideration to the production and usage of credible data.

He stressed the importance of accurate and credible data in strategic development plans, in order to make better decisions for enhanced policy making.

The NBS boss observed that Nigeria needed robust and reliable statistics in order to effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals and effectively monitor its socio-economic programmes.

While discrediting speculations that Nigeria’s unemployment rate was on the upsurge, he added that most of the past economic policies failed due to lack of well- informed decisions that would catalyse social and economic development.

The Director of Field Services and Methodology, NBS, Felicia Abioye, hinted that the meeting would review and update the National Strategic Development Plan for 2015- 2019.

The representative of the European Union, Professor Peter Osanaiye and Statistician General of Kaduna State, Bashir Bature, stressed the need for the Nigerian government to strengthen the nation’s Bureau of statistics in order to get an accurate data for policy formulation.

With no clear and accurate number of unemployed youths, health profile of citizens and poverty indices, the meeting was aimed at sensitising relevant stakeholders on the enormous task of data generation.

FG slashes MTN fine over SIM cards disconnections

The Nigerian Communications Commission has sharply reduced a hefty penalty slapped on South African telecoms giant MTN over unregistered SIM cards, the company said on Thursday.

The Commission is now looking for a fine of $3.4 billion (3.2 billion euros), down from an earlier $5.2 billion, after negotiations with the regulator, it said.

MTN was slapped with the hefty penalty in October after it missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

The reduced fine has to be paid by December 31.

Africa’s largest mobile phone operator said in a statement is was “carefully considering” the revised fine by the NCC.

It said executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko “will immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian authorities before responding formally…to ensure the best outcome for the company, its stakeholders and the Nigerian authorities.”

“All factors having a bearing on the situation will be thoroughly and carefully considered before the company arrives at a final decision.”

The fine resulted in the resignation of the group’s chief executive Sifiso Dabengwa in November, after news of the penalty sent the firm’s share price plummeting.

Dabengwa has been replaced by Phuthuma Nhleko, the firm’s former chief executive who will hold the position for six months.

Meantime two senior executives at the company’s operation in Nigeria have stepped down, the firm announced.

MTN Nigeria’s CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of regulatory and corporate affairs, Akinwale Goodluck “have tendered their resignations with immediate effect,” MTN said in a statement.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is MTN group’s largest market where it had over 62.8 million subscribers by the second quarter of this year.

The NCC said registration of subscribers was made mandatory to ensure proper identification of users with their biometric data and in line with international best practice.

Nigerian forex reserves fall to $30.04 bln by Nov 26

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves fell to $30.04 billion by Nov. 26 from $30.10 billion the month before, the latest central bank data showed on Monday. 

Reserves were down 18.6 percent on the year from $36.9 billion in the same period last year. Nigeria's dollar reserves have been hit by a plunge in crude prices and the central bank's decision to defend the currency.