CAPITALDIGEST, DAILY NEWS 01 JANUARY 2022

MONDAY 17/1/2022 – N1.64TN CRUDE OIL SWAPPED FOR PETROL IN EIGHT MONTHS – NNPC Nigeria’s crude oil valued at N1.64tn was exchanged for refined Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, under the Direct Sale Direct Purchase arrangement from January to August 2021, according to official data. The latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on DSDP cargoes that were swapped for refined petrol show that a total 63.46 million barrels of crude oil were used for the scheme during the period under review. The national oil firm said in compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2007 and NNPC’s Policy and Procedures, it had to engage qualified and credible companies in a direct sale of crude oil and direct purchase of petroleum products to ensure sustained product supply across the country. It introduced the scheme in 2016 to ensure adequate petrol imports into the country, and has been the sole importer of the commodity for over four years as other marketers have avoided PMS imports because of the current realities in the nation’s downstream sector. An analysis of the latest reports on DSDP cargoes indicated that the volumes of crude swapped for petrol in January, February and March 2021 were 5.74 million, 9.39 million and 7.55 million barrels respectively. The reports, which were obtained by our correspondent from NNPC in Abuja on Friday, showed that the average price/barrel of crude oil and the exchange rates in the eight different months varied. The crude oil swapped under the DSDP scheme in January, February and March 2021 were valued at N123.6bn, N231.88bn and N184.53bn respectively.   TUESDAY 18/1/2022 – FOREIGN INFLOWS FALL BY 32%, UK, SOUTH AFRICA, OTHERS SLASH NIGERIA INVESTMENTS The Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that capital importation into the country fell by 32 per cent to $500m in October 2021, from $660m recorded in September. The CBN disclosed these figures in its latest monthly economic report (October) recently released on the bank’s official website. The decline is a negative turnaround from the increase recorded in September when capital inflow rose by $220m from $440m in August. The report also shows that there is a corresponding decline in investment inflows from the United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries leading the pack in capital importation into Nigeria. A breakdown of the inflows recorded in October shows that foreign portfolio investments dominated capital importation with a value of $330m. The CBN said, “New capital importation decreased by 32.0 per cent to US$0.50bn in October 2021, from US$0.66bn in September 2021. “Disaggregation of capital importation by type of investment shows that foreign portfolio investment inflow (mainly money market instruments), at US$0.33bn, decreased by 34.0 per cent, relative to the US$0.50bn in September 2021.   WEDNESDAY 19/1/2022 – CASH-STRAPPED BANKS BORROW N9.17TN FROM CBN IN SEVEN MONTHS Deposit Money Banks and merchant banks have borrowed the sum of N9.17tn from the Central Bank of Nigeria through its Standing Lending Facility window within a period of seven months, according to figures obtained from the banking sector regulator. Banks often access the CBN’s SLF window to borrow funds, subject to certain eligibility requirements, in order to temporarily address their short-term liquidity needs. Lenders also access the CBN’s Standing Deposit Facility window to deposit their excess cash or reserves. Economic reports obtained from the CBN revealed that lenders borrowed N7.27tn via the SFL window during the second quarter of 2021, but reduced their borrowing significantly to N1.39tn in the third quarter. The reports further showed that banks borrowed N503.69bn from the CBN in October. The CBN third-quarter report on the SLF and SDF windows read in part, “The increased level of liquidity was further evident in the pattern of transactions at the bank’s standing facilities window, as a total request for Standing Deposit Facilities by banks increased by 28.2 per cent to N568.15bn in the review period, while request at the standing lending window declined significantly to N1.39tn, from N7.27tn in the second quarter of 2021.” The CBN further stated that lending activity dominated at the standing facility window, reflecting liquidity constraints in the segment in October.   THURSDAY 20/1/2022 – NIGERIA’S STOCK MARKET RISES FURTHER BY 1.01% Nigeria’s equities market increased further on Thursday by 1.01 percent or N248billion, pushing higher the market’s year-to-date (YtD) return to +7.43percent. Week-to-Date (WtD), the market has increased by 3.23 percent. Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc, Learn Africa Plc and Cadbury Nigeria Plc topped the league of advancers. The share price of Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc rose from N6.55 to N7.20, up by 65 kobo or 9.92percent, followed by Learn Africa Plc which rose from N1.18 to N1.29, up by 11kobo or 9.32 percent while Cadbury share price moved up from N8.80 to N9.50, adding 70kobo to 7.95 percent. At the close of trading session on Thursday January 20, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) increased from the preceding day’s 45,430.14 points to 45,890.52 points. The value of listed stocks on the Bourse rose to N24.724trillion from preceding trading day low of N24.476trillion. Computer Warehouse Group, Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings, Transcorp and Sovereign Trust Insurance were most traded stocks on Thursday. In 4,342 deals, equity dealers exchanged 873,492,331 units valued at N31.542billion.   FRIDAY 21/1/2022 – Financial Inclusion: An Overview of e-Naira Prospects In 2022 The year, 2022 has been ushered in with overwhelming expectations for achieving socio-economic and political transformation. In the process of steering the nation’s ship towards the realisation of these transformation targets, the role of financial system, in fact, payment channels for transactions cannot be overemphasized. As expected, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) led by Governor, Godwin Emefiele has a pivotal role, more so, with last year’s launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), otherwise known as the eNaira. The key issues at stake in actualising the eNaira objectives include financial stability, firming up the Naira, increasing financial inclusiveness, facilitating ease of payments and transactions, increasing cross-border trade, strengthening social interventions, strengthening Nigeria’s monetary policy, among others. Therefore, the Prospects of eNaira this year and beyond is looking good if properly deployed by the apex bank as proposed. The advantages of the eNaira are enormous but its prospects will even be more enhanced when the CBN harnesses the expected increase in inflow of Dollar stimulated by the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), diaspora remittances, increase in price of oil in international market which will ultimately lead to accretion in the nation’s foreign exchange reserves.