Five things to know to start your Tuesday

Bitcoin is near $90,000

Bitcoin has hit new all-time price records, climbing beyond $89,000, while the total value of all cryptocurrencies has risen higher than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investors are buying more Bitcoin because they believe it will perform well under Trump’s upcoming presidency. Since the US election on November 5, Bitcoin’s price has gone up by about 32%, reaching its highest-ever price of $89,599 early Tuesday morning.

China’s bilateral trade with Nigeria hits $15 billion

China is trading much more with Nigeria this year – a 36.1% increase in the first nine months of 2024, according to Mr Jin Mingyu, who serves as China’s acting Consul-General. He shared this information at a special event in Lagos celebrating the arrival of the first COSCO shipping vessel at the new Lekki Port.

Mingyu reported that Lekki Port has handled more than 160,000 shipping containers (called twenty-foot equivalent units) so far in 2024. He expressed China’s interest in seeing more ships carrying Nigerian products to China.

“In 2023, bilateral trade between China and Nigeria reached $22.56bn, with Nigeria ranking as China’s third-largest trading partner in Africa. From January to September 2024, China-Nigeria trade volume totalled $15.1bn, with China’s imports from Nigeria increasing by 36.1 per cent year-on-year,” Mingyu said.

NNPCL stops importing fuel, buys from Dangote refinery

The NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited) has stopped bringing refined fuel from other countries into Nigeria. Instead, it’s now getting its fuel supply from local sources, including the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other refineries within Nigeria.

This news was shared by Mele Kyari, NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, during a conference in Lagos on Monday. The conference, organized by the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, focused on solving Nigeria’s energy challenges, particularly regarding energy security, sustainable growth, and affordable prices.

This change comes at an interesting time, as some fuel sellers claim they could import fuel and sell it for less than the price offered by Dangote’s new $20 billion refinery.

For context, President Bola Tinubu had previously revealed that Nigeria spent about N2 trillion monthly on fuel imports.

FG spent N19bn on presidential planes in 15 months – Report

The Nigerian government has spent N19.43 billion on keeping the President’s aircraft fleet running between July 2023 and September 2024. This information comes from GovSpend, an organization that watches and analyzes how the government spends money.

In 2024 alone, N13.55 billion was spent, which is 66% of what was set aside for the aircraft fleet in this year’s budget. Most of this money was marked as ‘Forex Transit Funds’ – these are funds used for expenses in foreign currencies. When it comes to the President’s aircraft fleet, this money typically pays for things like fuel and maintenance when the planes are in other countries.

IMF reached a staff agreement with Zambia for a $185.5 million disbursement

The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that it reached a staff-level agreement for the fourth review of Zambia’s loan program that would release about $185.5 million to Lusaka upon approval by the IMF’s management and its executive board.
The agreement was announced after an IMF mission to Zambia from Oct. 2-15, followed by subsequent discussions at IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, the Fund said in a statement.
The IMF said Zambia’s economy has been hit hard by drought, with reduced agricultural output and electricity shortages impacting economic activity widely. It forecast Zambia’s 2024 real GDP growth at 1.2%, down from a 2.3% forecast in June. Inflation accelerated to 15.7% in October, driven by food prices and currency depreciation, well above a target band of 6-8%.