• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Five Things to Know to Start Your Day

Five things to know to start your day

Buhari regime borrows $2.02bn from China in six years

The Buhari’s administration has borrowed $2.02bn as loans from China from 2015, data obtained from the Debt Management Office on Monday showed.

According to the statistics obtained from the DMO, Nigeria’s total debt from China as of June 30, 2015, stood at $1.38bn.

However, as of March 31, the country’s debt portfolio from China had risen to $3.40bn.

According to the DMO, loans from China are concessional loans with interest rates of 2.50 per cent per annum, a tenor of 20 years and grace period (moratorium) of seven years.

The debt office said that the terms of the loans were compliant with the provisions of Section 41 (1a) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.

The loans from China are tied to project. The projects, (eleven in number as at March 31, 2020), include the Nigerian Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna section), the Abuja Light Rail Project, Nigerian Four Airport Terminals Expansion Project (Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt), Nigerian Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan section) and the Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Abuja-Keffi-Makurdi Road Project.

Naira tumbles by 51.95% despite CBN’s defence measures

The value of the naira to the dollar fell from 196.99 in December 2015 to 410 in April 2021, reflecting a 51.95 per cent decline despite the various foreign exchange policies introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to strengthen the currency.

Read Also: Data fails to justify Buhari’s claim of lifting 10.5m out of poverty

According to a monthly document obtained from the CBN’s website, the value of naira at the inter-bank forex market stood at N196.99 as of December 2015.

Last month, the CBN officially adopted the NAFEX exchange rate of N410.25/$1 as its official exchange rate, devaluing the naira from N379/$.

In a move to achieve exchange rate stability and preserve the country’s forex reserves, the CBN in 2015 reviewed downwards the spending limit on the usage of naira-denominated debit cards for transactions abroad.

Inflation, devaluation push millennials away from N20 trillion stock market

Despite years of stability of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, many Nigerian youths are diversifying and hedging their investment portfolios from the country’s high inflation and devaluation, through virtual currencies, online bets and international stocks.

Already, yields from many invested entities in the last 10 years are of little value to many holders of such stocks today, especially if the dividends of below N1 per share are anything to go by.

The present inflationary trend and currency devaluation compound the woes of many investors in traded equities on the Nigerian stock market, as many shares are currently selling at the lowest possible value.

COVID-19 shortens Africa’s blood banks by 17%

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said blood donation fell by 17 percent in Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysis released yesterday by the global agency showed that blood drive in the region dropped by 25 per cent, while demand dipped by 13 per cent besides suspension of routine surgeries in some countries and observation of fewer people seeking care in health facilities.

The report also discovered that some seven million people needed blood transfusion yearly on the continent.

With the theme, ‘Give blood and keep the world breathing’, this year’s World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) acknowledged the invaluable contributions of blood donors to saving lives and health improvement.

Senate probes NSITF for alleged N61.1 billion diversion

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has begun a probe into the alleged diversion of N61.1 billion by officials of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).

Billed for today in Abuja, the Senator Matthew Urhoghide-led panel is hinging the Investigation on the 2018 report of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF).

According to the document, the agency is being accused of diverting N5.5 billion.

In another query, NSTIF was said to have paid N38.2 billion as personnel cost from 2012 to 2017 without approval of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, in addition to payment of N17.1 billion to some persons and companies from the organisation’s accounts.

Urhoghide acknowledged that the agency has over 50 queries to respond to, the highest in the report under review.