Food prices, aviation workers strike… seven top business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business stories you need to track this week — April 17 to April 21.

NBS REPORT ON PMS, FOOD PRICES 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release a report on the national household kerosene price watch for March 2023.

The bureau also intends to release its price watch report on premium motor spirit (PMS) and automotive gas oil (diesel) for the same month.

Another report to be released by NBS for the month, is the liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) price watch and selected food prices.

IMMINENT FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS AS AVIATION WORKERS EMBARK ON STRIKE

Travellers may experience flight disruptions as aviation union workers threaten to suspend their services across airports in the country from today, April 17 to Tuesday, April 18, 2023.

The unions include the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP).

Others are the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreation Services Employees.

The warning strike is in protest against unpalatable working conditions and entitlements.

According to the unions, an indefinite strike would ensue if the two-day warning strike fails.

AIR PEACE TO BEGIN DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM NIGERIA TO ISRAEL APRIL 20

Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, said scheduled flights operations to Israel would commence April 20, 2023.

In a tweet on Sunday, the airline announced bookings for flights from Nigeria to Tel Aviv.

Last year, the airline had expressed its readiness to operate direct flights to the Middle East nation.

WORLD BANK UPGRADES 2023 GLOBAL FORECASTS TO 2 PERCENT

The World Bank has projected a 2 percent growth in its global growth outlook for 2023.

This is an upgrade from its 1.7 percent forecast in January.

David Malpass made this known at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings last week.

Malpass said despite the upward revision, the pace of global growth would be slow this year compared with the 3.1 percent growth rate in 2022.

The global bank said several factors such as oil price hikes, banking sector stress, and inflation pressure are weighing countries’ growth.

NIGERIA’S INFLATION HIT 22.04 PERCENT IN MARCH

Nigeria’s consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 22.04 percent in March 2023.

This figure represents a 0.13 percent increase compared to the 21.91 percent recorded in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the NBS said food inflation in March 2023 rose to 24.45 percent on a year-on-year basis — indicating a 7.25 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2022.

IPMAN WARNS OF CIRCULATION OF ADULTERATED DIESEL IN SOUTH-EAST

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has raised alarm over the circulation of low-density grade automotive gas oil (AGO), also known as diesel, in the southeast region of the country.

Density is “the mass of fuel per unit volume”.

Chinedu Anyaso, IPMAN chairman of the Enugu depot community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu states, said the leadership of the association had received reports of damaged vehicles and industrial machines from members of the public as a result of suspected off-spec diesel.

Last year, the spread of substandard petrol had caused panic across the country.

OIL PRICE RISES TO $86 PER BARREL

Oil prices increased on Friday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that a record-high global demand would be reached this year as a result of a rebound in Chinese demand.

Brent crude rose 0.24 percent to $86.25 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) rose 0.41 percent to $82.50.

Last week, some members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, announced a new voluntary production, in addition to the two million barrels of oil per day output cut that was already in place.