African investors summit, trapped funds payment… 7 top business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — October 31 to November 4.

AFRICA EARLY STAGE INVESTOR SUMMIT 2022

Africa Early Stage Investor summit 2022 (#AESIS2022) is back for its 9th edition taking place from November 2 to November 4, 2022.

This year, the three-day hybrid summit will feature renowned investors and policy makers like Biola Alabi of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund; Iyin Aboyeji of Future Africa; Marsha Wulff of LoftyInc Capital Management; and Ido Sum of TLcom Capital Partners.

Also, the event will feature a talk on pre-seed investment, meet the 14 companies selected for the 2022 VC4A venture showcase: women founder edition, and attend a reverse-pitch session where investors share perspectives on what they value.

TRAPPED FUNDS: CBN TO RELEASE $120M TO FOREIGN AIRLINES

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had said $120 million will be released to foreign airlines to offset part of their funds trapped in the country.

Emefiele disclosed this at a meeting between the leadership of the house of representatives, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON), and representatives of the federal government, including Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation.

He said the apex bank has been working to enable international airlines to repatriate their funds, hence the resolve in August to release $265 million to them, and that the money has been disbursed in bits with $120 million set to be due on October 31.

DIGIBANK SUMMIT & AWARDS NIGERIA

The DigiBank awards is set to take place on November 1, 2022, and it’s designed to celebrate the achievements of organisations and individuals at the forefront of the digital transformation wave within the banking industry.

It aims to recognise the industry’s best and brightest minds, and leaders successfully driving excellence in their spheres of innovation.

Organisational categories are: best digital bank – Africa; best digital bank – Nigeria; best digital bank – Qatar.

Individual categories include; excellence in digital leadership; excellence in customer experience; excellence in data & analytics; excellence in cybersecurity; excellence in payments; excellence in SME banking; excellence in financial inclusion; and femtech excellence.

CBN REDESIGNS NAIRA NOTES

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has redesigned some new naira notes.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said this at a press conference last week.

Emefiele said the new design and issues will be effective from mid-December 2022.

According to Emefiele, the new notes include N200, N500 and N1000.

He advised Nigerians to take old notes to banks to enable them to withdraw the new banknotes once circulation begins.

He also ordered all banks to “keep open their currency processing centres from Monday to Saturday to accommodate all the cash that will be returned by their customers”.

ONLINE BETTING: FIRS NOW DEDUCTING TAX AT TRANSACTION POINT

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it has commenced the deduction of taxes at transaction points from online betting and gaming operators.

Muhammad Nami, FIRS chairman, directed that the online gaming community must fully comply, using the Sentinel National Payment Gateway.

Sentinel National Payment Gateway is a transaction processing system that enables integrated payment service providers to deduct taxes at transaction points and remit the tax deducted directly to government’s treasury.

FOOD CRISIS MAY WORSEN IN NIGERIA AS RUSSIA PULLS OUT OF GRAIN EXPORT DEAL

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, has pulled out of a deal to allow the supply of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

This is comes  three months after both the Ukrainian and Russian military delegations signed an agreement to allow Russia to export its grain and fertilisers.

However, on Saturday, the Russian government said it was suspending its participation in the Black Sea deal, according to Reuters.

Commenting on the suspension, Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine attacked the Black Sea on the Russian-annexed Crimean, peninsula with 16 drones early on Saturday, adding that British navy “specialists” had helped coordinate the “terrorist” attack.

OIL PRICE FALLS BELOW $95 A BARREL AS CHINA BROADENS COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

Oil prices fell on Friday, after the world’s top crude importer, China, widened its COVID-19 restrictions.

Brent crude, global oil benchmark, fell 0.57 percent to $94.50 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 0.75 percent at $88.41.

Two weeks ago, Brent crude had peaked at $97.15 a barrel, as well as West Texas Intermediate, at $89.70 a barrel.

The latest decline came after Chinese cities ramped up COVID-19 restrictions on last Thursday, sealing up buildings and locking down districts to stop widening outbreaks.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) will not hold its general meetings in November.