Category: Finance - Page 18 - African News Today

Naira Dips To 575/$ two Days After Aboki FX Update Suspension

20Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

Naira Dips To 575/$ two Days After Aboki FX Update Suspension

The dollar exchanged for between N572 and N575 in different parts of the country on Monday barely two days after an online platform, Aboki FX, stopped providing updates on the exchange rate. A visit by Punch to the ever-busy Wuse Zone 4 which is the hub of bureau de change operators in Abuja, observed that the dollar was sold for N574 as opposed to the N570 it was sold for on Friday. In Lagos, the dollar was sold at N572 while in Kano it was N575 as of 3pm on Monday. The pound was sold for N780 as opposed to N770 last The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had accused the online foreign exchange update platform, Aboxi FX, of manipulating the forex market. Emefiele, had said the bank would shut down the operations of Aboki FX which it described as illeg...

FG recorded N150.36bn fiscal deficit in April- CBN

19Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

FG recorded N150.36bn fiscal deficit in April- CBN

The Federal Government recorded a fiscal deficit of N150.36bn in April, after recording an aggregate expenditure of N559.67bn and retained revenue of N409.31bn. Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s April report on ‘Fiscal operations of the Federal Government’ revealed on Saturday. Part of the report read “Federation revenue rose by 28.2 per cent in April 2021 to N1.12tn, relative to N862.79bn in March 2021, owing to improved non-oil earnings. “However, the retained revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria at N409.31bn, was 38.5 per cent below target. Read Also: Insurgency: FG Commences Rebuilding Of Schools In Yobe “Similarly, the provisional aggregate expenditure of the FGN, at N559.67bn, was 50.6 per cent below the budget benchmark and 59.4 per cent shor...

Southern Govs Take Stand On State Collection of VAT, Open Grazing

17Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Finance, News, Nigeria

Southern Govs Take Stand On State Collection of VAT, Open Grazing

The Southern Governors Forum has backed the collection of the Value Added Tax by states. The governors made their positions known on Thursday, during their meeting in Enugu on Thursday. The disagreement over VAT started last month when the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, in a judgment in suit number FHC/PH/CS/149/2020, held that the Rivers State Government had the powers to collect VAT within its territory. Although Rivers and Lagos states have started the process of collecting VAT within their territories, the Court of Appeal in a ruling on September 10 stopped the collection pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service against the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt. Apart from Lagos and Rivers states,...

Late TB Joshua’s Family Drags Church Officials To EFCC

15Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Finance, News, Nigeria, Religion

Late TB Joshua’s Family Drags Church Officials To EFCC

The family of late Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, alias TB Joshua, the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to quiz officials of the church over alleged misappropriation of funds. The crisis comes barely four months after the death of the founder. The crisis is linked to the inability of the late Prophet to lay down a clear line of succession before his demise. Recall that T.B Joshua had died on June 5, 2021, and was buried a few weeks after within the premises of SCOAN amid so much fanfare. But, shortly after his burial, the succession crisis commenced. According to Daily Post, TB Joshua’s death led to a leadership limbo between his wife and some of his disciples, who felt she was not qualif...

VAT: FIRS Risk Losing N92bn Revenue To States

14Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

VAT: FIRS Risk Losing N92bn Revenue To States

The Federal Inland Revenue Service may lose about N92bn which it is expected to earn as cost of collection if the Appeal Court upholds the judgement of the Federal High Court asking states government to collect Value Added Tax in their domain. The law setting up the FIRS allows the agency to a percentage, as determined by the National Assembly, as its cost of revenue collection from non-oil taxes before remitting same into the federation account. A report on FIRS official website revealed that the service collects four per cent as the cost of collection for non-oil revenue collected. The FIRS is one of the agencies of the government that generates revenue for sharing by the three tiers of government. See Also: FG’s GDP Growth Insignificant With Rising Poverty – Peter Obi Oth...

FG’s GDP Growth Insignificant With Rising Poverty – Peter Obi

13Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

FG’s GDP Growth Insignificant With Rising Poverty – Peter Obi

The former governor of Anambra State and vice-presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 general elections, Peter Obi, has undermined the significance of the latest National Bureau of Statistics report which showed that the country’s economy has recorded a five per cent growth to Gross Domestic Product growth. Obi noted that the growth was insignificant with rising poverty across the country. He spoke on Sunday evening when he featured on a Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’. He specifically said rather than celebrating growth to GDP, which had no impact on the citizenry, the Federal Government should stop borrowing for consumption and face investment. The former governor of Anambra State said the fact that the Federal Government had ...

FG Suffers N1.76tn Revenue Shortfall in Six Months

5Sep

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Finance, News, Nigeria

FG Suffers N1.76tn Revenue Shortfall in Six Months

An official record has shown that the Federal Government of Nigeria suffered a revenue shortfall of N1.76tn in the first half of this year. According to a revenue performance report, which was obtained from the Budget office of the federation, the Federal Government’s projected revenue for the 2021 fiscal year was N7.9tn, of which N3.9tn was earmarked as pro rata target for the first six months. As at June 2021, the government had only generated N2.3tn, or 44.1 per cent of the pro-rata estimate, indicating a revenue gap of N1.8tn. During the period under review, the aggregate revenue of N2.23tn comprised oil revenue of N492.4bn, non-oil revenue of N778.2bn and N922.1bn from other revenue sources including independent revenue of N558.1bn. The report said, “FGN share of oil reven...

Nigeria Sole Country Not Taxing Coca-Cola, NCS Says As it Seeks Excise Duty on Soft Drinks

24Aug

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Finance, News, Nigeria

Nigeria Sole Country Not Taxing Coca-Cola, NCS Says As it Seeks Excise Duty on Soft Drinks

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has urged the Federal Government to re-introduce excise duty on all drinks produced in the country. The comptroller-general of NCS, Hameed Ali, stated this in an interactive session on the 2022-2024 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) organised by the house of representatives committee on finance. This is not the first time government is proposing a collection of excise duty on soft drinks. Last year, Ali had asked the federal government to lift waivers for companies producing soft drinks within the country. In 2019, Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, had announced that the government may introduce excise duty on carbonated drinks. Excise duty is a levy placed on the manufacture of locally produced goods. James Faleke, chairman o...

No Petrol Price Hike Until FG, Labour Conclude Negotiation – PPPRA

23Aug

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Finance, News, Nigeria, Petroleum

No Petrol Price Hike Until FG, Labour Conclude Negotiation – PPPRA

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, has restated that the Petroleum Industry Act had marked the full deregulation of the downstream oil sector. It added that the negotiations between the Federal Government and labour would cushion the effect of subsidy removal upon full deregulation of the sector. The Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, who said this in a statement issued in Abuja, stated that the petrol price would be adjusted in a way that it would not cause hardship on consumers. He said, “There is no gainsaying that the PIA signals the implementation of full deregulation of the downstream sector. “However, it remains worthy of note that the PIA does not automatically translate to any immediate increase in the price of PMS. Read Also: Naira ...

19Aug

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Economy, Finance, News, Nigeria

Naira Dips To 517 Against Dollar

The naira has continued its recent crash, dipping further against the dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday to exchange at 517/$ after maintaining a 515/$ valuation in recent days. The local currency fell to 517 against the US currency at the parallel market on Wednesday. At the Investors and Exporters’ window, the naira weakened by 0.06 per cent to close at 411.75/$ on Wednesday, according to FMDQ Group. The naira had strengthened to 506/$ on August 4 after plunging to 525/$ at the parallel market on July 28, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped foreign exchange sales to Bureaux de Change. It had been hovering around 508/$ and 510/$ in recent days. The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had on July 27, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, announc...