Author: Marketforces Africa

Aliko Dangote Becomes 86th Richest in the World as Wealth Spikes Billionaire Aliko Dangote has seen his wealth nearly double to $23.9 billion, according to Forbes, which ranks the Nigerian entrepreneur as the wealthiest person in Africa and 86th in the world. It would be recalled that Forbes ranked Aliko Dangote as the 144th richest person in the world in 2024 with $13.4 billion. Forbes estimates Dangote’s net worth at $23.9 billion, primarily due to his 92.3 percent stake in Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals. At 67 years old, Dangote is once again one of the top 100 richest individuals…

CBN Directs Banks to Publish Dormant Account, Unclaimed Dividends The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks and other financial institutions to publish details of dormant accounts, unclaimed balances, and other financial assets on their websites. All accounts that have remained inactive for at least one year are often considered dormant, a banker at one of the commercial banks said in a chat. The CBN outlined the regulations in a circular on Monday, titled ‘Guidelines on Management of Dormant Account, Accounts, Unclaimed Balances, and Other Financial Assets In Banks And Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria’. The circular was…

NASS Transmits Investments, Securities Bill to Tinubu for Assent The National Assembly has transmitted the Investments and Securities Bill, 2024 to President Bola Tinubu for assent. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market, Sen. Osita Izunaso, has announced this during the Securities and Exchange Commission’s budget defence on Tuesday in Abuja. Izunaso said that the president was expected to sign the bill into law within the next 30 days. He said that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had signed the bill and that it had been moved to the executive for assent. Izunaso also told the meeting that the committee…

Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves Fall by $2.04 Billion Nigeria’s foreign reserves plunged below by more than $2 billion from the beginning of the year to $39 billion, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The gross external reserves balance settled at $38.88 billion this week on the back of a sustained increase in foreign obligations settlements. A review of the nation’s US dollar-denominated reserves movement showed the outflows occurred in just 40 days. There have been successive weekly declines since the beginning of the year, when the gross external reserves was at $40.92 billion, its three-year high, bolstered…

FG Constitutes Committee to Enhance Financing of MSMEs The National Council on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has constituted a committee to interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance financing of small businesses in Nigeria. The committee was set up on Tuesday during the first meeting council for 2025 held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The committee headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Sen. John Enoh, has Ministers of Science and Technology; Women Affairs; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on…

MPC: CBN to Keep Interest Rate on Unchanged- Analysts The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will likely keep benchmark interest rate on hold as inflation pressures eased, analysts predicted. The CBN will hold its first committee meeting in the year 2025 on 19, and 20 of February, according to its updated notice. Analysts are projecting a pause to the prolonged rate-hiking cycle, allowing the impact of previous rate increases to fully transmit through the economy. The committee’s decision will be primarily influenced by near-term expectations of moderating inflation and the continued stability of the…

NBS Introduces New Inflation Indices- S-G The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has introduced special inflation indices to its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report. The Statistician-General (S-G) of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran made this known at a news briefing on the CPI Rebasing Results in Abuja on Tuesday. Adeniran said the new indices include the Farm Produce Index, Energy Index, Services Index, Goods Index, and Imported Food Index. He said this was in line with improvements made to the rebasing of the CPI, which he said would inform policymakers. According to him, these new indices have been introduced based…

Nigerian Exchange Shrinks as Equities Investors Lose N166bn The equities market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, declined as investors lost more than N166 billion on Tuesday amidst inflation slowdown. The huge amount that was knocked from the equities market capitalisation as a results of sell pressure that faced major movers. Some lightweight stocks with lower valuations actually posted gain, though insufficient to upturned negative market direction. Equities market investors kick started profit taking activities on Friday persisted, causing moderation in year to date return with key performance indicators losing 25 basis points. The bearish run for the third consecutive…

Yield on Nigerian Treasury Bills Falls to 22% The average yield on Nigerian treasury bills fell to by four basis points to settle at 22% in the secondary market following buying momentum registered on Monday. Before inflation data release, investors had slowed down trading activities on expectation of a huge decline in consumer price index. The market opened the week on a relatively quiet note, with minimal activity as market participants adopted a cautious stance to weigh inflation rate direction. Traders said only mild activity observed at the long end of the curve. Buying interest was recorded at the long…

Egypt Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.4% With improvement in private sector activities, Egypt’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Joblessness decline by 30 basis points from 6.7% in the previous three-month period. According to data released by the statistics office, the latest reading was the lowest rate on record, as the number of unemployed individuals decreased by 29,000 (-1.3%) to 2.13 million, while employment rose by 935,000 (+3.1%) to an all-time high of 30.99 million. Unemployment among men declined to 3.9% in Q4 from 4.2% in Q3, while the rate for women dropped to 16.6%…