Inflation rate, $2.5bn World Bank loan… business stories to track this week

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

INFLATION FURTHER RISES TO 33.95% 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 33.95 percent in May, as prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages surged.

The NBS made this known in its consumer price index (CPI) report on June 15.

In April, the inflation rate stood at 33.69 percent.

“Looking at the movement, the May 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.26% points when compared to the April 2024 headline inflation rate,” NBS said.

The bureau also said food inflation rose to 40.66 percent in May, compared to the 24.82 percent reported in the same month last year — indicating an increase of 15.84 percent points.

WORLD BANK APPROVES $2.25BN LOAN FOR NIGERIA 

Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, has announced the approval of two major “financial support packages” by the World Bank — valued at $2.25 billion.

According to a statement on Thursday, this is part of President Tinubu’s ongoing efforts to stabilise the economy, reposition it for sustained and inclusive growth, and provide urgent support to the poor and vulnerable.

The statement was signed by Mohammed Manga, the ministry’s director of information and public relations.

“The approved operations include $1.5 billion for the Nigeria Reforms for Economic Stabilization to Enable Transformation (RESET) Development Policy Financing Program (DPF) and $750 million for the Nigeria Accelerating Resource Mobilization Reforms (ARMOR) Program-for-Results (PforR),” the statement reads.

DANGOTE REFINERY POSTPONES COMMENCEMENT OF PETROL SUPPLY TO JULY 

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, says due to a minor delay, petrol supply from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery would commence in July.

Dangote spoke during the inauguration of the Dangote Sinotruk West Africa’s completely knocked-down (CKD) plant in Lagos on June 9.

On May 18, Dangote had said the refinery would begin petrol production in June, adding that Nigeria would not have to import the commodity again.

Providing updates, Dangote said the refinery should begin supplying petrol to the downstream market by July 15.

The businessman also said the company has repaid about $2.4 billion of the $5.5 billion borrowed to build his $19 billion refinery.

‘LOCAL AIRLINES WILL SOON START FLYING DIRECTLY TO SOUTH AMERICA’

Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation, says the country is looking to commence direct flight operations to South America.

The minister disclosed this on Saturday during an interview with the state house media.

On March 20, Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, commenced its Lagos-London flight services.

Keyamo said more indigenous airlines would soon commence flight operations to other routes.

FIRS, NUPRC, CUSTOMS GOT MORE FAAC ALLOCATION THAN 4 GEOPOLITICAL ZONES IN JANUARY 

Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank, says three government-owned enterprises (GOE) received more federal account allocation committee (FAAC) revenue as cost-of-collection in January than each of four geopolitical zones.

The zones include the north-east, north-central, north-west and south-east.

The GOE are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which receives 4 percent of non-oil revenues; the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which gets 4 percent of royalties, rents and other revenues from the oil and gas sector; and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which receives 7 percent of customs duties and levies.

The policy also said the N43 billion cost of collection received by FIRS in January exceeded what each state got from the FAAC revenue.

NIGERIA’S CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION DROPPED TO 1.25MBPD IN MAY

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production dropped to 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in May.

OPEC made this known in its monthly oil market report released on Tuesday.

According to the organisation, the current output figure represents a 2.34 percent decline from the 1.28 million bpd recorded in April.

Despite the decline, OPEC said the country retained its position as the largest oil producer in Africa, followed by Libya, which produced 901,000 million bpd in the reviewed month.

GHANA TO EXPERIENCE POWER OUTAGE OVER GAS SUPPLY SHORTAGE FROM NIGERIA

Ghana’s state-owned electricity companies have announced an interruption in power supply over reduced gas supply in Nigeria.

In a joint statement on June 13, the Ghana Grid Company LTD (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) said the gas supply shortage is expected to last for three weeks.

“The Ghana Grid Company LTD. (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) wish to inform the public that due to a reduction in gas supply from Nigeria since yesterday, Wednesday 12th June, 2024 some areas across the country have experienced interruption in power supply,” they said.

The companies apologised to Ghanaians for the inconvenience caused.