Monetary policy rate, food prices in February… 7 top business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — March 20 to March 24

CBN TO HOLD MPC MEETING

The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will meet this week to decide on key lending rates. The meeting will hold between March 20 and March 21, respectively.

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

In January, the committee decided to raise the interest rate from 16.5 percent to 17.5 percent to tame rising inflation.

To determine the interest rate, the country’s inflation movement is usually one of the metrics considered by the CBN.

Last week, inflation increased to  21.91 percent in February 2023, from 21.82 percent in the previous month.

NBS FOOD PRICE WATCH

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release a report on the selected food prices and transport fare watch for February.

The bureau also intends to release terms of trade report for the fourth quarter of 2022.

BUSINESSES STRUGGLE AS CASH SHORTAGE PERSISTS

A week after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive for commercial banks to comply with the supreme court’s judgment that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023, cash circulation is still low.

Most Nigerians still find it hard to access to cash, even as some traders and business owners are sceptical about accepting the old notes for payment.

The situation may likely linger as banks lament over insufficient supply of both the old and new naira notes.

NIGERIA’S GDP PROJECTED TO DROP IN Q1 2023 OVER NAIRA REDESIGN POLICY

Oyeyemi Kale, former statistician-general of the federation, says Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) would contract in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, due to the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Kale, who was recently made chief economist at KPMG Nigeria, projected that the country’s GDP would reduce by about N10 trillion to N15 trillion due to the CBN currency redesign policy which has led to a nationwide cash scarcity.

The economist, who served as the CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) from 2011 to 2021, said this would affect Nigeria’s total GDP which stood at N198 trillion in 2022, as most sectors are cash-based.

NCC INTRODUCES HARMONIESED SHORT CODES

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has directed all mobile network operators (MNOs) to commence the implementation of the approved harmonised short codes (HSCs) in order to provide specific services to telecom customers.

This new policy is said to align with the commission’s consumer-centric approach to telecom regulation, according to a statement by Reuben Muoka, NCC’s director of public affairs.

NCC said the short codes include 300, to be used as the harmonised code for call centre/help desk on all mobile networks; 301 for voice mail deposit; 302 for voice mail retrieval; 303 for borrow services; 305 for stop service; 310 for check balance; and 311 for credit recharge.

The commission added that the common code for data plans across networks is now 312; 321 is for shared services, while 323 is for data plan balance.

TheCable explained what harmonised short codes policy entails here.

TIKTOK TO FACE MORE BANS OVER SECURITY CONCERNS

The government of the United Kingdom has banned TikTok, a video-sharing social media application, from all government-owned phones with immediate effect, over security threats.

The latest ban comes weeks after the European Union took a similar step against TikTok — an app owned by ByteDance Ltd, a Chinese-based firm.

TikTok use may also be prohibited from government devices in the United States.

The government had asked that the company sell its stake or get banned.

Aside from the US, some other countries have banned TikTok and blocked future downloads for “threat to security”.

OIL PRICE FALLS TO $72 A BARREL

Last week, oil price fell to $72 a barrel for the first time in more than one year.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell over 5 percent to $72.39 a barrel — first time since December 2021.

The US West Texas Intermediate also fell over 5 percent to $67.06 a barrel.

According to Reuters, the price of the commodity dropped as worries about Credit Suisse shook global markets and countered expectations of a recovery in Chinese oil demand.