CBN’s domiciliary account policy, food prices… 7 business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business stories you need to track this week — June 19 to June 23.

NBS REPORT

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release a report on automotive gas oil (diesel) and liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) prices for May 2023.

The bureau also intends to release a report for selected food prices and transport fares for the same month.

Also this week, the NBS would publish reports on the 2023 terms of trade for the first quarter (Q1) of the year, as well as the Nigerian port statistics for 2022.

CBN CANCELS $10K DEPOSIT RESTRICTION ON DOMICILIARY ACCOUNT

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says cash deposits into domiciliary accounts will not be restricted, and customers “shall have unfettered and unrestricted access to funds in their accounts”.

The bank issued a statement after a meeting with the bankers’ committee on Sunday.

The meeting was meant to provide further guidance to deposit money banks (DMBs) on the recent operational changes to the foreign exchange market and to discuss the implementation and implications of the policy changes for the banking public.

The new directive nullifies the transaction limit that banks placed on domiciliary accounts in 2021, in compliance with regulatory instructions from the CBN.

It also forms a part of a string of reforms put in place by the federal government to improve the economic fortunes of the nation.

AFREXIMBANK 30TH ANNUAL MEETINGS

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it will celebrate its 30 years of impact on the African continent and beyond at its annual meeting in Accra, Ghana.

The event, scheduled to hold from June 18 to June 21, is themed ‘Delivering the Vision, Building Prosperity for Africans’.

The keynote speakers are President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados; and Benedict Oramah, president and chairman of the board of directors, Afreximbank.

Others expected to attend include African and Caribbean leaders, senior government officials, African and non-African policymakers, corporate leaders, bankers, academics, as well as other thought leaders.

CBN ABOLISHES RT200 REBATE, NAIRA4DOLLAR SCHEME

On June 14, CBN said the RT200 rebate scheme and the Naira4Dollar remittance scheme will stop on June 30.

The two policies were introduced under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele, the suspended CBN governor.

The Race to $200 billion in FX Repatriation (RT200FX) initiative was established to stimulate non-oil exports with a $200 billion FX income target in the next three to five years.

The Naira4Dollar scheme was introduced in March 2021 as an incentive for senders and recipients of international money transfers. The policy entailed the payment of N5 for every $1 received as a remittance inflow.

CBN UNIFIES FX MARKET, NAIRA FLOAT

The apex bank also announced the unification of all segments of the forex exchange (FX) market and the floating of the naira.

The regulator said all FX windows are now collapsed into the investors and exporters (I&E) window.

This implies that Nigeria has eased its control of the naira, allowing the local currency to freely float.

The CBN said the move was part of a series of immediate changes to operations in the Nigerian FX market.

BINANCE DECLARES NIGERIAN SUBSIDIARY ‘SCAMMER ENTITY’

Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s chief executive officer (CEO), says the cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary, Binance Nigeria Limited, is a “scammer entity”.

Zhao spoke on Sunday, confirming the illegal operations of the company in Nigeria.

“Binance has issued cease and desist notice to the scammer entity ‘Binance Nigeria Limited’. Don’t believe everything you read in the news,” Zhao tweeted.

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned Nigerians of risks in investment in crypto assets on the platform as it announced that the operations of Binance Nigeria Limited were illegal in the country.

TOTAL ENERGIES DISCOVERS OIL, GAS  IN OML 102 OFFSHORE IN  NIGERIA

TotalEnergies, a French multinational company, discovered Ntokon oil and gas on the oil mining lease (OML) 102 offshore Nigeria.

This discovery is coming at a time when the country is making efforts to meet the oil production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

According to Charles Ebereonwu, TotalEnergies country communication manager, the offshore is located 20km from the Ofon field facilities on OML102.

Ebereonwu said the Ntokon will be developed through a tie-back to existing facilities.

OML 102 is operated by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria with a 40 percent interest, alongside its partner, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, who operates the remaining 60 percent.