MPC meets today
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is meeting today, for the first time this year, to review economic and financial conditions in the economy, and review CBN’s monetary policy framework- adopting changes when necessary.
Today’s meeting would be behind closed doors but the announcement of the committee’s decision, especially concerning Nigeria’s main interest rate (MPR), would be made public tomorrow in a live broadcast.
The decision will not depend on alone-but a handful of the apex bank’s top officials, who voted unanimously to maintain status-quo last time they met.
Read also: CBN can try, but banks as financial inclusion champion not happening soon
Analysts say CBN would likely leave the policy rate unchanged. The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) is at 13.5%; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5%, Liquidity Ratio (LR) as well as the Asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +200/–500 basis points.
The CBN earlier in the month shifted its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for the year to January 23 and 24, 2020, citing no reasons.
The meeting which held last in November 2019 was earlier scheduled for January 20 and 21 this year.
Nigeria to go Lebanon way?
Lebanese crisis may foretell Nigeria’s fiscal fate if reforms don’t happen.
If there is one thing Nigeria can learn from the small matter of Lebanon’s economic crisis, it is that paying over the top to attract foreign portfolio investors could quickly backfire and prove damaging for the economy.
Economists believe Lebanon will see its first contraction in 20 years this year-with some saying by as much as 2%. What went wrong? Lebanon’s capital controls have made the currency too strong to allow for cheap imports and that has resulted in current account deficit. The country has also suffered a downgrade from global credit-rating agencies.
DMO sells N409.99bn at primary bonds auction
The Debt Management Office (DMO) yesterday sold approximately N410bn worth of bonds across the three maturities on offer (2023s, 2029s, and 2049s) at the primary auction as demand pushed stop rates to 9.85%, 11.125%, and 12.56% across the tenors respectively compared to a previous stop rate of 11.00%, 12.00% and 13.00% each.
Analysts at Zedcrest said the debt office raised 264 percent of its scheduled amount with bid-to-cover ratios of 1.61x, 4.04x, and 6.21x across the three maturities on offer.
Expectations are for “the secondary market to open bullish today as investors look to cover bids lost especially on the 5-yr and 10-yr maturities,” Zedcrest said in its daily report. “Demand on the long end of the curve should wane following the huge supply from today’s auction.”
NLNG strikes 10-yr sales contract deal with Total
Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) and Total Gas & Power (TGP) yesterday signed an LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement for some of the re-marketed volumes from NLNG’s Train 1, 2 and 3.
The agreement is for the supply of 1.5mtpa for a 10-year-term on a delivered Ex-ship and Free On Board (FOB) basis.
The SPA with TGP, which is in line with NLNG’s plan to remarket volumes from three trains, is expected to boost the company’s global presence and reach.
5 days to go! Old Mutual, TransCorp to headline BusinessDay’s Nigerian Economic Outlook Conference
It would be the outlook for the decade when business experts, economists, policymakers and stakeholders across various sectors of the economy meet at the BusinessDay’s Nigerian Economic Outlook Conference set to hold on the 28th of January 2020.
The event sponsored by Old Mutual, a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, a diversified conglomerate with strategic investments and core interests in the hospitality, agribusiness and energy sectors, will focus on “The Nigeria’s prosperity Ahead 2030: population, data, productivity.”
The theme shows and reflects the levers through which Nigeria’s economic prosperity will be determined in the coming decade. For instance, Nigeria’s population dynamics has been on the rise for a long period. However, it is becoming desperate as the country continues to overtake many previously higher populated countries, become the poverty capital of the world, and set to become the third-most populous country in 2050 if the trend continues.
Keynote Speakers at the event will include BusinessDay’s Managing Director and renowned economist, Ogho Okiti, as well as Andrew S Nevin, Chief Economist at PwC.
The events to hold on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, at the Africa + Asia + America Room, Eko Hotels & Suites, VI Lagos, will bring together industry experts, analysts and policymakers who would, in interactive sessions, deliberate on challenges and opportunities around data, population and technology in driving Nigeria’s new decade and where investment opportunities will lie in the coming years.
Panellists at the events will (in no particular order) include the following: Val Ozigbo, President/ CEO of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria; Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Chairman, National Population Commission; Samuel Ogbu, CEO, Old Mutual West Africa; Nonso Obiliki, Chief Economist at BusinessDay; Egie Akpata – Director, Union Capital Markets Ltd; Fola Fagbule – Senior Vice President, Africa Finance Corporation; Mohammad Sani Abubakar – Chief of Staff, Kaduna State Government; Olu Akanmu – Executive Director, FCMB Plc; Patrick Nwakogo, CEO at Dale Carnegie Nigeria, and Ebehijie Momoh, Senior Vice President, Mastercard, among others.
