Author: Marketforces Africa

Tariff Hike: Nigeria’s Internet Users Decline—NCC Report Nigeria’s telecommunications sector witnessed a notable decline in internet users following a 50 percent tariff hike on voice, data, and SMS services implemented in January 2025. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) made this known in industry statistics on its website. According to the report, the industry lost approximately one million internet users in February, with the user base shrinking from 142.16 million to 141.25 million. It said although a slight recovery was observed in March, with the figure rising to 142.05 million, the sector’s data consumption patterns were significantly impacted. The NCC data…

Coronation Capital Advises African Entities on Funding Projects Coronation Capital Limited advised African entities to prioritise funding African projects for sustainable growth. Its managing partner, Kayode Akindele, made the call while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos. Akindele said that this was necessary as a result of overdependence on developmental money, which is not sustainable. He emphasised the need for African-led funding to drive long-term progress, reducing dependence on external sources. He said by supporting African projects, entities can foster economic independence, promote local innovation, and address specific regional needs. “There has been an overdependence on developmental…

Dangote Donates N15 billion to Kano Varsity Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group and chancellor of Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUSTECH) Wudil, has pledged N15 billion for various capital projects in the university. Dangote announced the largesse at the university’s 5th combined convocation ceremony held on Saturday in Kano. Dangote hinted that the funds would support a five-year development plan to upgrade the university to global standards. He said the planned projects included the design and construction of additional student hostels and the design and construction of engineering labs. Other projects were the design…

Oil Prices Close Positive as U.S Inventories Decline Oil prices ended the week on a positive note, driven by a drop in US crude inventories, renewed optimism surrounding US-China trade talks, and expectations of sustained global demand despite rising output from major oil producers. Brent crude traded at $63.75 per barrel, marking an increase of around 4% from last week’s closing price of $61.31. Similarly, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $60.69 per barrel, up approximately 4.4% from last Friday’s closing level of $58.10. The increase came despite initial pressure from an announcement by the Organization…

Equities Investors Lose N313bn as Nigerian Exchange Pullback Equities investors trading highs and lows on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) platform lost more than N313 billion as the market began to correct its latest explosive rally in the past four days. The Nigerian equity market ended the week on a negative note, snapping its recent bullish streak, as key market performance indicators dropped by 0.46%. Despite a positive market breadth, the bearish close was driven by profit-taking activities in recently appreciated medium- and large cap stocks across major market sectors of the market. As a result, the market index fell by…

Riskoff Provokes Nigerian Eurobond Yield Surge With riskoff sentiment, investors selloffs significantly impacted Nigeria’s sovereign Eurobond market, fuelling bearish sentiment and driving yields higher across the curve, according to Cowry Asset Limited. The sell pressures emerged despite the fact that Nigeria’s settlement of $3.4 billion COVID-19 support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2020. Foreign portfolio investors, and other market players have continued to weigh the impacts of latest disinflation after the rebased consumer price index, which analysts projecting inflation rate could pause the monetary policy committee from cutting benchmark interest rate in May. Fixed income market analysts said…

Oil Prices Extend Gains on US-UK Trade Deal In the global commodity market, oil prices extended gains Thursday on expectations that the US-UK trade deal could pave the way for similar agreements, as US and Chinese officials prepare to meet for talks later this week. International benchmark Brent crude increased by around 0.42%, trading at $63.28 per barrel, up from $63.01 at the previous session’s close. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose by about 0.43%, reaching $60.20 per barrel, compared to its prior session close of $59.94. Oil prices continued to increase amid expectations that the US-UK trade agreement…

Treasury Bills Yield Slips 3bps as Investors Seek to Reload The average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills declined by three basis points (bps) in the secondary market after oversubscribed midweek auction conducted by the Central Bank. Investors who lost their bids returned to secondary market with buying interest on the NOV-06 (-91bps) paper at the mid-segment (-12bps) of the curve and the new 364-day bills priced higher at 19.63% at the main auction. Across the curve, the average yield increased at the short (+1bp) end driven by the sell offs of the 91DTM (+14bps) bill, Cordros Capital Limited said in…

Naira: CBN NFEM Rate Falls on FX Liquidity Shortfall The naira exchange rate fell at the Nigeria foreign exchange market official platform of the Central Bank to close at N1608.63 amidst relatively FX intervention slowdown. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aggressive fx intervention has begun to ease in May as financial market continues to stabilised after riotous sell down in naira assets in the recent past months. Official FX spot rate hit as high as N1614 in the official window and traded low at N1608 per dollar on Thursday. FX liquidity supply in the interbank market—primarily driven by the…

Gabon’s Debt Swap Not Distressed Exchange –Fitch Gabon’s recently concluded local-currency liability management exercise does not constitute a distressed debt exchange, Fitch Ratings says. However, Gabon still faces high foreign- and local-currency liquidity challenges, as reflected in the sovereign’s ‘CCC’ rating. But Moody’s rating thinks otherwise. Moody’s noted that Gabon debt swap improves the country’s liquidity profile but constitute a distress exchange. The Gabonese authorities announced on 28 April that the exchange of local-currency regional market bonds and bills had been concluded. Fitch has determined that the exchange did not constitute an event of default as it only met one…