CBN decides on interest rate, oil price watch… 7 top business news to track this week

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — September 26 to September 30

CBN TO DECIDE ON INTEREST RATE

The monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will hold its bi-monthly meeting on Monday. The committee would look at global market conditions as well as inflationary pressures.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, will address the public on the outcome of the meeting.

At its last meeting, the committee raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which measures interest rate, to 14 percent to tame rising inflation.

The monetary policy rate (MPR) is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within an economy is built on it.

NBS TO RELEASE REPORTS ON AIR TRANSPORT, ENERGY GENERATION

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will release a report on air transportation data for the first half of the year 2022.

The bureau will also release a report on daily energy generated and sent out for the first quarter of 2022.

PAT UTOMI, KASHIFU ABDULLAHI TO SPEAK AT LAGOS BLOCKCHAIN CONFERENCE

The Lagos Blockchain & FutureTech Conference/ Exhibition is to hold a growth summit targeting the technologies of the 4IR and their intersection with blockchain technology.

The event is from September 29 to September 30 and is themed: Immerse and Grow in FutureTech.

UK MULLS FURTHER BENEFICIAL TAX CUTS

The United Kingdom said there would be more tax cuts.

Kwasi Kwarteng, UK’s finance minister, said the idea was to put “more money into people’s pockets” as he defended the £45 billion worth of tax-cutting measures announced last week.

On Monday, the pound slumped further by 4.9 percent to $1.0327 before stabilising around $1.05425.

NNPC EARNED N553BN REVENUE FROM JVs, PSCs IN AUGUST

In August 2022, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited generated N553.99 billion in revenue from oil and gas operations.

The national oil firm disclosed this in its monthly presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting on Friday, September 23.

OIL PRICE FALLS BELOW $85 A BARREL

Oil prices fell on Monday on fears of lower fuel demand from an expected global recession sparked by rising worldwide interest rates and as a surging US dollar limits the ability of non-dollar consumers to purchase crude.

Brent crude futures for November settlement slipped 1.57% to $84.80 a barrel at 0640 GMT.

NIGERIA ANNOUNCES INVESTORS FOR NIGERIA AIR

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air, owning 49 percent of the national carrier.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, said this during a media briefing on Friday in Abuja.

Sirika said ET scored 89 percent out of 100 in the technical bidding process and 15 out of 20 as regards financial bids.