MPC meeting, GDP report… business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business stories you need to track this week — November 25 to November 29.

CBN TO HOLD MPC MEETING NOVEMBER 25

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will have its 298th monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting between November 25 and 26.

This would be the last meeting of the year.

At the last meeting in September, the committee raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which benchmarks interest rates, by 50 basis points from 26.75 percent to 27.25 percent.

NBS REPORT

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release the report on the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter (Q3) of 2024.

In the second quarter, the GDP grew by 3.19 percent – higher than the 2.51 percent recorded in Q2 2023 and 2.98 percent in Q1 2024.

The bureau is also expected to release reports on company income tax (CIT) and Nigeria’s capital importation for the third quarter (Q3) 2024.

‘NIGERIA HAS SAVED $20BN FROM SUBSIDY REMOVAL, NAIRA FLOAT POLICIES’

Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, says Nigeria has saved $20 billion from petrol subsidy removal and market-based pricing of the foreign exchange rate.

Edun spoke at a ceremony recently held to mark the first 100 days in office of Esther Walso-Jack, head of civil service of the federation, in Abuja.

“An amount of five per cent of GDP is what those two subsidies were costing when there was a subsidy on PMS; when there was petroleum product generally for a long time and when there was a subsidy of foreign exchange. Between them, they were costing five percent of GDP,” he said.

‘NIGERIANS WILL PAY FOR NEW NATIONAL ID CARD’

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says Nigerians will have to pay for the new multipurpose national identity card due to limited government revenue.

Peter Iwegbu, head of card management services at NIMC, spoke on Thursday at a two-day press conference in Lagos.

Iwegbu said paying for the identity card would ensure it is produced for only those who needed it.

He said the decision was made to avoid repeating the mistake of past efforts to issue physical cards to Nigerians for free, which many did not collect.

The NIMC official said over two million cards were produced in a previous attempt to issue free national ID cards by the commission

He said many of them have not been collected till date.

DANGOTE REFINERY REDUCES EX-DEPOT PRICE OF PETROL TO N970 FOR OIL MARKETERS

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced a reduction in its ex-depot price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N970 per litre for oil marketers.

According to a statement on Sunday, the gesture is a cut from the refinery’s N990 ex-depot price announced earlier this month.

The slash would help marketers save about N20 on each litre of petrol bought from the Lekki-based plant.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES TINUBU’S  $2.2BN LOAN REQUEST

The national assembly has approved a $2.2 billion loan request from President Bola Tinubu.

Both chambers of the national assembly approved the loan request after they considered reports by the committees on local and foreign debt on Thursday.

The sum — equivalent to N1.7 trillion using the exchange rate of N800 to a dollar — will be used to finance the N9.1 trillion deficit in the 2024 budget.

‘NAIRA-BASED CRUDE SALE SCHEME FALTERING’

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the federal government’s initiative to sell crude priced in the local currency is faltering, as the plant is still unable to secure adequate supplies.

Edwin Devakumar, the vice-president of Dangote Industries Limited, spoke to Reuters on Friday.

Devakumar said the refinery needs 650,000 barrels per day, adding that the “(state oil firm NNPC Ltd) agreed to give a minimum of 385,000 bpd, but they are not even delivering that”.

He described the supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited under the scheme as “peanuts”.