Author: Julius Alagbe

Fitch Affirms South Africa at ‘BB-‘ with Stable Outlook Fitch Ratings has affirmed South Africa’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BB-‘ with a stable outlook. According to the rating note, South Africa’s ‘BB-‘ IDR is constrained by low real GDP growth, a high level of poverty and inequality, a high and rising government debt/GDP ratio, and a rigid fiscal structure that hampers budget deficit reduction. The ratings are supported by a favourable government debt structure with long maturities and mostly local-currency-denominated, strong institutions and a credible monetary policy framework. Fitch forecasts low real GDP growth of 1.2% in…

Investment: CBN to Open N290bn Treasury Bills for Subscription Amidst inflation data expectations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is scheduled to open N290 billion worth of Nigerian Treasury bills (NTB) for investors’ subscription next week, its auction circular revealed. The primary market auction is expected to be led by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on behalf of the monetary authority; offers include Nigerian Treasury bills that will mature in 91, 182, and 364 days. The treasury bills market was left high and dry in the just concluded week with zero CBN action despite a robust liquidity level in the…

Naira Value Improves as CBN Intervenes in FX Market With $29m The value of the Nigerian naira improved at the foreign exchange market due to sufficient US dollar volume supplied positioned against FX demand for international payments logged by market platers. Updated data highlighted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official exchange rate closed the week at N1501 per dollar on Friday supported by fx auction sold to banks and additional inflows across other sources. At the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market window, the local currency appreciated by 0.89% week-on-week to close at N1,501.50/$1, buoyed by improved liquidity…

NSIB Report Indicts Air Peace Crew for Taking Alcohol, Substances The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau has indicted an Air Peace pilot and a Co-pilot for taking alcohol and other substances. The accident investigators tested the crew positive for the substances after the aircraft they flew was involved in a runway excursion at the Port Harcourt International Airport on July 13. This was contained in a preliminary report signed by Mrs Bimbo Oladeji, the Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance at Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau. Oladeji said the NSIB preliminary report on Air Peace 5N-BQQ incident occurred on July 13…

NGX Index Shrinks as Equities Investors Lose N81 Billion Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-share index (ASI) shranked on Friday as equities investors lost N81 billion from their combined portfolio vlaue due to selloffs. Investors wealth decline as sell side actors dominated trading activities on Nigerian stock market, dragging key performance indicators downward after four gaining streaks this week. Trading results revealed that All-Share Index closed in the red, slipping by 0.09% to settle at 140,545.69 points. The mild downturn was driven by sell-offs in some mid to high capitalized stocks, including PZ 3.33%, DANGCEM 3.18%, UCAP 3.08%, AIICO 2.57%, INTBREW 1.21%,…

Zenith Bank Investors Are Taking Positions on Expectations Zenith Bank Plc is keeping the uptrend on Friday morning as investors are taking positions based on expectations ahead of earnings. The bank is seeing positive price appreciation during early hours in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as investors begin to re-enter positions in anticipation of earnings release. Stockbrokers are saying the delay in earnings release is due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approval process, without which Zenith Bank is not permitted to make available its financial scorecard in the market. During early trading hours, the bank share price has climbed…

Nigeria’s Crude Oil Losses Drop to 16-Year Low – NUPRC The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says the country’s upstream oil sector is experiencing a significant turnaround. It said Crude oil losses from theft and metering issues had fallen to their lowest levels in nearly 16 years. According to the Commission, daily losses in July stood at 9,600 barrels per day (bpd)—the lowest recorded figure since 2009, when losses dropped to an all-time low of 8,500 bpd. This data was based on year-to-date crude oil loss trends up to July, released by the NUPRC and shared by Eniola Akinkuotu,…

Naira Drops as US Dollar Demand Surpasses FX Supply The naira dropped against the US dollar at the Nigeria foreign exchange market (NFEM) on Thursday, driven by intermittent increase in foreign currency demand from corporate users and other market players. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) updated foreign exchange data showed that the naira closed the day at N1502.1311 per dollar, depreciated from N1,500.9152 quoted the previous day. The local currency hit an intraday high of N1503.5000 while spot rate ended at N1503 due to relatively weak US dollar liquidity today versus demand logged by corporate FX users. While traders…

Euro Climbs Against U.S Dollar, ECB Keeps Rates Steady The euro climbed back to $1.17 level on Thursday on the back of a broad dollar weakness after fresh US inflation and jobless claims data reinforced expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. U.S dollar faced broad sell pressures as inflation accelerated amidst Fed rate cut expectation. In August 2025, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) accelerated compared to the prior month, according to inflation data. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a 0.4% month-on-month increase in the headline CPI, which pushed the annual rate up to 2.9% from 2.7%…

Africa’s Transition States Need $210bn for Transformation-AfDB The African Development Bank (AfDB), says Africa’s transition states will require 210 billion dollars annually to achieve sustainable structural economic transformation. Dr Abdul Kamara, Director-General, Nigeria Country Department of the AfDB, said this during a policy dialogue session at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Society (NES) Conference on Thursday in Abuja. The session was themed “Driving Africa’s Economic Transformation in Transition States: The Role of Capacity Development and Knowledge Management.” Kamara said that in spite Africa’s potentials, transition states faced unique challenges, including fragile institutions, post-conflict reconstruction, limited fiscal capacity and revenue mobilisation constraints,…