Category: Economy - Page 14 - African News Today

Diri Signs N329bn 2021 Appropriation Bill into Law

31Dec

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Economy, Finance, Nigeria

Diri Signs N329bn 2021 Appropriation Bill into Law

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has signed the 2021 bill of N329.29 billion into law. The governor had on November 26 presented an estimate of N290.295 billion tagged, ‘Budget of Growth’ to the state House of Assembly. While assenting to the bill in Government House, Yenagoa, Diri said the increase in the figure would address areas of deficit identified in the appropriation bill as well as assist in the infrastructure development of the state. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as noting that the increase in the 2021 budget was intended to tackle the completion of the three senatorial roads, the AIT/Igbogene ring road project and construction of the Gloryland Drive in addition to rehabilitation of the internal roads within the Yenago...

Governor Ikpeazu Signs 2021 Appropriation Bill

30Dec

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Economy, Finance, Nigeria

Governor Ikpeazu Signs 2021 Appropriation Bill

Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law. The Bill which was passed by Abia State House of Assembly during the Tuesday plenary session of the House was presented to the Governor by the Clerk of the House, Sir John Pedro Irokansi in his Aba residence on Tuesday night where he endorsed the N131,852,752,000.00 (One Hundred and Thirty One Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty Two Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand Naira Only) Budget made up of N69bn for capital expenditure and N62.8bn for recurrent expenditure. Earlier, Governor Ikpeazu presented the budget which he christened Budget of Local Contents and Sustainable Development to the state House of Assembly on the 7th of December, 2020. The budget, which is 21.12 per cent higher t...

Niger Votes in Search of First Democratic Transition

27Dec

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Elections, News, Security

Niger Votes in Search of First Democratic Transition

Niger heads to the polls on Sunday (today) in an election that is expected to pave way for the first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents in a country battling insecurity. Reports say Mohamed Bazoum, former interior minister, the ruling party’s candidate is in pole position to replace President Mahamadou Issoufou, who has completed two five-year terms leading the West African country, CGTN reports. The 60 years old Bazoum in his campaign address, promised to continue with Issoufou’s policies, while also vowing to cleanse the country of corruption. Bazoum in a campaign video said, “If I am lucky enough to win this election, you will have chosen someone who is ready from day one.” The election comes at a time when Niger is facing twin security crises. I...

CBN Predicts Further Depreciation of the Naira in January 2021

27Dec

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria, Trade

CBN Predicts Further Depreciation of the Naira in January 2021

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that a survey conducted by its Statistics Department showed that the naira is projected to further depreciate in January next year. According to the report titled, ‘December 2020 Business Expectations Survey Report’, there might also be a steady rise in the interest rate from December till the next six months, Punch reports. Nigeria’s currency fell to its lowest on November 30, 2020, when it exchanged for N500/$1. Since then, the dollar has been lingering between N460 and N470. As of Friday, however, one dollar exchanged for N465 in the parallel market. Recall that the Nigerian economy fell into its second recession in five years on November 21, 2020. Reports say the recession is the worst in 36 years, according to the data obtained from the Wo...

Senate Postpones Budget Passage To Next Week

17Dec

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Economy, Legislature, News, Nigeria

Senate Postpones Budget Passage To Next Week

The Senate on Thursday deferred the passage of the 2021 budget till Monday, next week. Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who made this known at plenary, said the development followed new items of expenditure transmitted to the National Assembly by the Executive. He said the Committee on Finance would work through the weekend to capture the fresh requests from the executive in their 2021 Appropriation Bill report. He said the Senate would hold a special session next Monday to consider and pass the 2021 budget. Following the development, the reports of the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) as well as the 2021 Appropriation Bill 2020 earlier scheduled for presentation and consideration were deferred. Lawan said: “There was a late req...

Diaspora Remittances: CBN Threatens Sanctions Against Operators Paying Local Currency

17Dec

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, News, Nigeria, Trade

Diaspora Remittances: CBN Threatens Sanctions Against Operators Paying Local Currency

The Central Bank of Nigeria has cautioned operators against paying recipients of diaspora remittances in the local currency rather than foreign currency. The apex bank threatened to strip violators of their operational licences if they failed to comply with its remittance guidelines. It disclosed this in a circular to International Money Transfer Operators and Payment Services on Wednesday signed by the director, trade and exchange department, and the director, payments system management department. According to the circular, all licensed institutions are required to comply with the guidelines on remittances as contraventions will attract stiff regulatory sanction including revocation of licence. The circular was titled, ‘Receipt of diaspora remittances: Additional operational ...

Poor Nigerians Expected to Reach 100 Million By 2022 – World Bank

11Dec

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

Poor Nigerians Expected to Reach 100 Million By 2022 – World Bank

The World Bank has estimated that the number of poor Nigerians would rise from the current 90 million to about 100 million by 2022 due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank projects that about 11 million more Nigerians would plunge into poverty by 2022 due to the COVID-19 crisis. It equally pegged the financial portfolio approved by its board for Nigeria at about $11.5bn. This was disclosed during the bank’s Nigeria Development Update virtual event, themed, 'Rising to the challenge: Nigeria's COVID-19 response'. According to Punch, an economist with the bank, Marco Hernandez, during his presentation said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, about two million Nigerians were expected to fall into poverty in 2020 as population growth outpaced economic growth. ...

8Dec

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

Africa, Breaking News, Economy, News, Nigeria, Press Statement, Trade

President Buhari To Reopen Borders Soon

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, had a closed door meeting with the nation’s 36 state governors on the security challenges across the country. He explained that the closure of the nation’s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling of weapons and drugs. African News Today had earlier reported that state governors did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The Presidency has now issued a statement quoting Buhari as asking the state governors to work more with traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering that will aid the work of security agencies. The statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, wa...

Namibian Economy Expected to Experience Historic Dip – Central Bank

7Dec

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Namibia, News

Namibian Economy Expected to Experience Historic Dip – Central Bank

The Bank of Namibia director of strategic communication, Emma Haiyambo has said that the Namibian economy is set to record the worse dip in recent history due to the ravaging effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Haiyambo who disclosed this while releasing the latest economic projection for December on Monday said the domestic economy is expected to contract by 7.3 percent in 2020 and to recover by 2.6 percent and 3.2 percent in 2021 and 2022, respectively. She said, “The steep contraction in 2020 is driven by sharp declines in hotels and restaurants; mining; transport and storage; manufacturing; wholesale and retail trade and construction”. According to Haiyambo, the improved growth projected in 2021 is expected in the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries particularly uranium m...

Recession: FG Rolls Out Economic Recovery Plan

24Nov

By Obiajulu Joel Nwolu1 Comment

Economy, News, Nigeria

Recession: FG Rolls Out Economic Recovery Plan

The Federal Government has disclosed some of the actions being undertaken to help the country recover from its current economic recession. The measures were revealed by Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed during the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit. The minister said that Federal Government has taken due note of the current economic hardship and was taking decisive measures to ensure the country recovers and restore the economy on the path of sustainable development. She said “To achieve these the government developed a sustainability plan to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and is already implementing policies aimed at stabilising the economy. “These include taking action to stimulate the economy by preventing business collapse through ensuring liqu...