Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s Business Roundup. Here we bring you the highlights of the week’s events – from capital markets to mainstream business activity, without forgetting technological/economic developments.
Here are the headlines:
· NCC order MTN, Bharti Telecom Others implement the same short code for airtime, others
Nigeria’s GDP to lose N15tn due to CBN’s Naira redesign policy – KPMG’s Kale
· Ghana scraps fuel subsidies, sets up special fund for refineries
Eroton sues Sahara, NNPC for control of oil field, OML 18
· Cash shortages remain as banks await CBN supply
Summary:
Nigerians who believed the cash crunch had ended at the behest of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained disappointed as commercial banks continued to ration banknotes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
Most banks told customers that nothing has changed as they are still waiting for the supply of CBNs.
Ripples Nigeria visited some banks in Lagos and found that the phenomenon of long queues is still prominent, and customers are still writing their names and receiving tally numbers according to their arrival time.
Eroton Exploration and Production Company Limited has sued Sahara and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited.
Eroton filed suit against Sahara and NNPC over the operation of the Oil Mining License (OML) 18 oil field, which was previously operated jointly by the three companies.
Last week, NNPC revealed that Eroton had been driven from the field and NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited was appointed to replace Eroton.
The Ghanaian government has removed fuel subsidies to stabilize its downstream industry and reduce financial pressure on the authorities.
The news was revealed on Wednesday by Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) chief executive Abdul Hamid, who said the government was finding it difficult to raise the money to fund the subsidy.
Speaking at the African Refiners and Distributors Week 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, Hamid said the industry was shutting down because of a lack of funding for subsidies.
Oyeyemi Kale, chief economist at KPMG Nigeria, forecasts that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) redesigned naira policy will be a drag on Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.
Kale estimates that Nigeria will lose about N10 trillion to N15 trillion in GDP in 2022 due to the scarcity of naira caused by the CBN policy.
He made his prediction in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “Due to the challenges of procuring cash in Q1 2023, I estimate a reduction in nominal GDP of N10-15 trillion in Q1 2023,” he wrote.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed Nigeria’s Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to begin implementing authorized Harmonized Short Codes (HSCs) in order to provide targeted services to telecom consumers across the country.
Reuben Muoka, director of public affairs at the NCC, announced in a statement on Monday that the unified short codes had been approved in line with the regulator’s consumer-focused telecommunications regulatory strategy.
He said the use of unified short codes was aimed at ensuring consistency in the common short codes used across all networks.
NSE Roundup: NGX: Access Corp, Sterling Bank top losers as deal stalls
Trading in the Nigerian stock market stalled on Friday, with the value of investments on the exchange unchanged at N29.915 trillion at the end of the day.
The exchange also closed at N29.915 trillion on Thursday.
However, the whole index fell slightly by 0.22 basis points to close at 54,915,39, which was lower than the 54,915.61 reported by the capital market in the previous trading day.
Investors traded 156.97 million shares worth 1.56 billion guilders in 2,952 trades on Friday.
In tech, Almentor, Amazon, TikTok, NCC, Chipper Cash, Microsoft, Open AI, G42, Medwing, FairMoney, COFE are some of the names making headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.
New Zealand is set to join a growing list of countries banning lawmakers from using Chinese-owned social media app TikTok over security concerns.
In addition, LinkedIn, the professional website owned by Microsoft, is rolling out artificial intelligence-based writing recommendations to help optimize profiles and recruiting.
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