CBN’s withdrawal limit begins, new naira notes in ATMs… business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — January 9 to January 16.

CBN CASH WITHDRAWAL LIMIT COMMENCES  JAN  9

The cash withdrawal policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is set to begin on Monday, January 9,  2023.

In December 2022, the CBN directed deposit money banks and other financial institutions to ensure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities per week do not exceed N100,000 and N500, 000, respectively.

However, due to the mixed reactions from Nigerians, the apex bank increased the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all channels by individuals and corporate organisations to N500,000 and N5 million respectively.

According to the CBN, the aim is to boost the cashless policy and reduce the amount of cash outside the banking system.

CBN STOPS OVER-THE-COUNTER WITHDRAWAL OF REDESIGNED NAIRA NOTES 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently directed commercial banks in the country to load their automated teller machines (ATMs) with the redesigned naira notes in a bid to boost circulation.

The CBN also ordered the banks to halt dispensing the new currency notes over-the-counter.

Disclosing this in a phone interview with TheCable on Saturday, Osita Nwasinobi, CBN’s spokesperson, said the new directive takes effect immediately.

He explained that the attention of the apex bank was drawn to complaints from Nigerians who have not been able to access the redesigned notes since the banks started dispensing them on December 15, 2022.

WORLD FOOD PRICES FELL FOR NINTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH IN DECEMBER

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations said global food prices declined for the ninth consecutive month in December 2022 — but rose substantially on a yearly basis.

The UN agency had disclosed this in its latest food price index released on Friday.

It said the food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 132.4 points in December, down by 1.9 percent from November, as well as 1 percent below its value last year.

It, however, said for 2022 as a whole, the index averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up by 14.3 percent from 2021.

FAO said the decline in the index in December was driven by a drop in the international price of vegetable oils, together with some declines in cereal and meat prices.

OIL PRICE RISES TO $78 A BARREL AMID HOPES OF INCREASED CHINA DEMAND

Oil prices rose on Friday on hopes that China, the world’s largest crude importer, would increase its demand.

Brent crude increased 0.15 percent to $78.81 a barrel at 10.00 GMT+1.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude futures also rose by 0.12 percent to $77.58 a barrel.

The increase was linked to the restarting of economic activities in China and the support interventions announced by the authorities for the country’s real estate sector.

ELON MUSK’S STARLINK BEGINS PREORDER SALES IN NIGERIA

Elon Musk’s Starlink, a satellite internet service, has announced the prices for its starter kits as preorder sales begin in Nigeria.

Starlink made the announcement in a statement on its website.

The development follows the company’s plans to roll out and expand its services to Nigeria this year.

According to the statement, interested customers can preorder the starter kits at the price of $600 (N438,000 at the current parallel market exchange rate) for the hardware.

Customers will also pay $43 (N31,390) per month for subscriptions to its services.

NMDPRA TIGHTENS NOOSE ON PETROL STATIONS SELLING ABOVE FIXED PRICE

The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has sealed 14 filling stations for dispensing petrol above approved pump price in Kano.

The development comes amid measures by the authority to ensure marketers complied with regulatory procedures.

Recently, most filling stations have resorted to selling petrol between N295 and N300 per litre — way above the fixed pump price of N250 to N280 per litre.

This has also led to long queues at some filling stations that still sell at the stipulated pump price as citizens hunt for cheaper outlets.

NNPC DENIES EXPORTING 17.87M BARRELS OF OIL WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it did not export 17.877 million barrels of crude oil without proper documentation from 2016 to 2020.

A report, quoting the former auditor-general of the federation (AuGF), had accused some exporters of shipping crude oil without completing the required Nigeria export proceeds (NXP) forms.

The AuGF was also said to have faulted NNPC Limited for appointing inspection agents in 2017, in flagrant disregard of a preceding directive by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, however, said the claims were ‘malicious’.