From capital market secretive report showed a total turnover of 887.037 million shares worth N9.193 billion in 17,837 deals were traded, in contrast to a total of 1.445 billion shares valued at N19.039 billion that exchanged hands last week in 17,400 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 607.224 million shares valued at N6.066 billion traded in 10,125 deals; thus contributing 68.46% and 65.99% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry came second with 112.318 million shares worth N572.831 million in 1,450 deals. The third place went to Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 57.662 million shares worth N201.453 million in1,107 deals.
From maritime angle displaced the first quarter of 2021: The Tin Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N112, 695,693,158.66 billion as revenue for the first quarter of 2021 from the N91 billion it collected in the first quarter of 2020. The record showed an increase of 23 percent translating to N22billion
The report showed the two years comparative analysis of the revenue collected by the command in the first quarter of 2018 to 2020 as follows: in 2018, N76, 789,721,107.42; in 2019, N78, 857,106,168.27; and in 2020, N91, 635,998,490.73 respectively.
Also the Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited Command of Nigeria Customs Service stated that it recorded total revenue of N46.85bn in the first quarter of 2021 which is +3.19% higher than N45.4bn collected in Q1 2020. A breakdown of the monthly collection reveals that the sum of N15.21bn was collected in January 2021 while in February and March the amount collected was N11.71bn and N19.94bn, respectively.
From oil sector of the oil economy disclosed that the first since its take-off last year, the $2.8 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project received a boost at the weekend when a Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC)-operated train delivered 96 pipes from Warri, Delta State to Itakpe in Kogi State.
From national crime angle, there is report; the Supreme Court will tomorrow continue its hearing in the case involving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and an oil and gas company – Petro Union Oil and Gas Limited (Petro Union) over an alleged £2.550billion fraud
Still with national crime side, the country’s foremost anti-corruption group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre) firing President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that oil giants, Shell and Eni face prosecution in Nigeria as they have done in court at Milan, Italy over horrendous alleged cases of corruption in relation to the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245.
According to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission’s Debt sustainability analysis of state governments’, the debts of Lagos, Osun, Cross River, and Ogun state exceeded their net revenues by more than 400% in 2019. It reported that all 36 states and FCT exceeded the DMO threshold of 50%. Lagos State recorded the highest Debt-to-Total Net Revenue as of the end of 2019, with 712.94% while Osun, Cross River, and Ogun State recorded Debt-to-Total Net Revenue of 650.94%, 597.36%, and 402.3% respectively. Furthermore, the commission noted that it cannot be concluded that such states have overborrowed, as the overall debt limits of the governments in the federation has not been set.
Global Economy Actor’s Views on Nigeria:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook update released made an upward adjustment of Nigeria’s growth forecast for the Nigerian economy in 2021 to +2.5% from its earlier projection of +1.5% it announced in January. The new growth projection is 1.0 percentage points higher than the multilateral institution’s 2021 forecast in January. It should be noted that the Nigerian economy exited recession in the fourth quarter of 2020 with a modest growth of +0.11%.
IMF has predicted that the stronger recoveries from the coronavirus pandemic in the US, the UK, and other rich western countries will result in faster than expected growth for the global economy. After contracting by -3.3% in 2020, the IMF has projected that the global economy would grow by +6% in 2021 and a further +4.4% in 2020. It had initially predicted an expansion of +5.2% in 2021 and +4.2% in October 2020. The October forecast for 2021 was later upgraded to +5.5% growth in January 2021. It noted that successful vaccine programs, businesses adapting to the challenges of lockdown, and Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus package were key factors in the upgrade.
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved the third tranche of grants for debt service relief for 28 member countries under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust. This approval followed two prior tranches approved on April 13, 2020, and October 2020, respectively. It enabled the disbursement of grants from the CCRT for payment of all eligible debt services falling due to the IMF from its poorest and most vulnerable members from April 23, 2021, to October 15, 2021, estimated at SDR 168 ($238m). This tranche of grants for debt service relief would continue to help free up scarce financial resources for vital emergency health, social, and economic support to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
