Telecoms Q3 report, vehicle insurance rates hike… 7 business stories to track this week

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — December 26 to December 30.

CBN’S INCREASE OF WEEKLY CASH WITHDRAWAL LIMIT

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently increased the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawals across all channels by individuals and corporate organisations to N500,000 and N5 million, respectively.

The development came more than two weeks after the CBN reduced the weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawal limit for individuals to N100,000 and that of corporate organisations to N500,000.

The CBN new upward adjustments followed intense criticism of the policy from aggrieved Nigerians in several quarters.

The bank also reduced withdrawals at automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale terminals to N20,000 per day.

INCREASE ON PREMIUM RATES FOR VEHICLE INSURANCE

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has increased the premium rates for vehicle insurance in the country.

In a circular dated December 22, 2022, and addressed to insurance companies, the commission said the new rates will take effect from January 1, 2023.

Under the new template, private vehicles that were paying N5,000 premium for N1 million third party property damage (TPPD) limit are now to pay N15,000 premium for N3 million limit; N5 million limit for own goods with a premium of N20,000; and staff buses are to pay N20,000 premium for N3 million limit.

NBS REPORTS ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says it will release a report on telecoms data: active voice and internet per state, porting and tariff information, for the third quarter of 2022 (Q3 2022).

NBS said the report will be on Tuesday, December 27, 2022.

NIGERIA’S OIL OUTPUT RECORDS SHORTFALL

Nigeria recorded a shortfall in crude oil production totalling 6.9 million barrels per day (bpd) between January and November, 2022.

This was contained in reports obtained from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

While its latest production share is 1.8 million bpd for Nigeria, the country fell short in its quota in the months under review, due to a myriad of sectoral challenges.

Due to Nigeria’s failure to optimally produce crude oil, it lost its position as Africa’s top crude oil producer for two consecutive months, regaining it when production improved in November, 2022.

Although the government plans to raise production, analysts believe that Nigeria may still not get the best from oil revenue even if it increases output as prices are expected to crash.

OIL PRICES NEAR $85 PER BARREL

Oil price rose on Friday on hopes that Russian crude oil supplies will drop.

Brent crude was up by 2.63 percent to $83.71 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 2.09 percent to $79.11 a barrel.

According to traders and Reuters calculations, Russia’s Baltic oil exports could fall by 20 percent in December from the previous month after the European Union and group of seven (G7) nations imposed sanctions and a price cap on Russian crude from December 5.

Russia may cut oil output by 5 percent to 7 percent in early 2023 as it responds to price caps on its crude and oil products by halting sales to the countries which support them. 

FG TARGETS 3M BPD OIL OUTPUT, SEEKS COMPANIES’ RETURN TO FULL PRODUCTION CAPACITY

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, says the federal government is committed to ensuring that all local and international oil companies return to full domestic oil production.

The minister said oil majors have slashed crude oil production due to massive vandalisation of pipelines and theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta region by “criminal elements”.

He assured oil companies that the federal government will continue to work to bring stability and build confidence for everyone to return to the field to produce their maximum capacity.

CBN HIGHLIGHTS SECURITY FEATURES OF REDESIGNED NAIRA NOTES

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed the position of security features on the new series of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

On December 15, commercial banks began dispensing the redesigned naira notes to customers across the country.

The CBN said the new notes were protected by a number of security features to facilitate easy recognition of genuine ones in case of counterfeiting.

The distinguishing features which can be recognised by touch and visibility, are the raised print, the security thread, and the watermark.

According to the CBN, other areas such as the portrait, lettering and the denominational numerals on the obverse and reverse of the notes, are embossed.