Naira now 168 to US dollar' – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has devalued the Naira from N155 to N168 to the US dollar.

The devaluation was announced on Tuesday, November 25, by CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele in Abuja.

Mr. Emefiele said that the apex bank was forced to devalue the Naira in a bid to address the sources of foreign exchange demand pressure. He said:

100 Influential Africans: Dangote, Ezekwesili, 29 Nigerians make list

The New African Magazine, a pan African magazine based in London has released its list of 100 influential African which has 31 Nigerians including Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, former Education Minister & convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Group, Oby Ezekwesili making the list.

President Jonathan was conspicuously absent from the list which had four African Presidents- President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, President Idriss Déby of Chad and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Africa's Young Entrepreneurs & international investors to support & fund young Nigerian entrepreneurs

Are you a young entrepreneur? Are you between the ages of 18-45? Do you require smart business skills training? Does your business require funding? Do you lack capital to start your business?

Or do you have what it takes to move Africa forward? Africa¹s Young Entrepreneurs brings you, Nigeria Empowerment 2014. An initiative designed to develop young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. This programme is dedicated to identifying and empowering the next generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs who will shape their country¹s economic and political landscape.

Did Apple just kill the iPod?

The iPod Mini put the iPod in many more people’s pockets.

APPLE this morning released its sales figures for the fourth quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. As expected, iPhone sales are through the roof and Mac sales are doing pretty well also. However, iPad sales are dipping and the iPod has dropped off so much Apple has made a move that all but signs the iPod’s death warrant.

Apple currently divides its products between iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, iTunes/Software and accessories. As of Q1 2015, the iPod will lose its own category and be put into a new category called “Other Products” that will include Beats and Apple TV. Its significance in the company is officially at an all-time low.

Pepsi to launch soda sweetened with stevia

 
COKE and Pepsi are squaring off again, this time with natural sweeteners.
PEPSICO says it plans to roll out a reduced-calorie version of its namesake soft drink made with sugar and stevia, a natural sweetener. Pepsi True will be sold on Amazon.com later in October before rolling out more broadly.
Meanwhile, rival Coca-Cola is testing Coca-Cola Life, which is also made with a mix of sugar and stevia and has fewer calories than its regular coke. That drink is expected to hit markets nationally by November. As consumers cut back on soda, the two beverage giants hope they can win back customers by addressing concerns about the high fructose corn syrup in regular soft drinks as well as the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas. Executives have pushed to come up with formulas with fewer calories using natural sweeteners. But the bitter aftertaste of some natural sweeteners like stevia has made that a challenge. The solution so far has been to mix it with sugar - and therefore, some calories.

Single women not as happy; survey shows

 
YOUNG single women have the lowest levels of wellbeing in Australia, a survey shows.

THE NAB Wellbeing Index rose to 63.8 points in the three months to September 30, up from 61.7 in the previous quarter.
While the survey showed Australians were slightly less anxious, NAB says anxiety was still a key detractor of personal wellbeing. More than one in three people rated their current level of anxiety as very high. Single women aged 18 to 29 reported the lowest levels of wellbeing, followed closely by men in the same age category and people earning less than $35,000. NAB chief economist Alan Oster says he believes this reflects young people's fears about job security due to the high level of youth unemployment. "The difficulty for young people to get jobs and concern about what is happening in the future in terms of higher education are important factors here," he said. "

New International Money Transfer Initiative excites Forex users

The introduction of the Outbound Money Transfer service by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)last month will not only reduce pressure from the foreign exchange market but will also save independent forex users from the hazzles associated with official and parallel foreign exchange market transactions, reports Festus Akanbi
I  spite of the various interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria at the various levels of the foreign exchange market for a very long time, the reality is that the naira has continue to be at the mercy of foreign exchange traders.
A closer examination of the trends in the forex market clearly showed that the pressure predated the tenure of the current Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who stepped into the saddle in June.
These days, the movement of the naira exchange rates is also dependent on factors, which include CBN’s interventions at the the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS), dollar sale by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and to some extent, remittances from abroad.

Emerging realities support CBN’s stance on MPR – Analysts

Last week, financial analysts who x-rayed the outcome of the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, argued, that the desire of the Nigerian business community for more accommodating interest rate policy may wait until all the inherent risks in the financial system are fully addressed as they endorsed the retention of a high monetary policy rate, reports Festus Akanbi
One week after the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the decision to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record high has continued to generate reactions from economic affairs commentators in the face of rising risks to the economy.
After exhaustive deliberations, the committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/-200 basis points around the midpoint;
It retained the public sector cash reserve requirement at 75.0 per cent; and retained the private sector Cash Reserve Requirement at 15.0 per cent.
Financial analysts said the decision of the committee to maintain the status quo in spite of protests by the real sector operators, whose access to credit facility are being blocked by the regime of high interest rates, came as a shock.

Housing prices stall in Sept: RP Data

A DAILY home value index for mainland state capitals compiled by RP Data and CoreLogic was down 0.3 per cent in the first 26 days of September, compared with the average for all of August.
But the trend picked up late in the month, making a "relatively flat" result likely for the month as whole, RP Data research director Tim Lawless said. "The first month of spring has seen housing market conditions remain buoyant with clearance rates consistently above the 70 per cent mark on a weighted capital city basis and agents continuing to report strong housing market activity," he said. "From a valuations perspective we have seen a flattening in the rate of capital gains over the month of September." The September result would bring the three-monthly growth rate for prices back to about 2.5 per cent, a "healthy reduction" from growth of 4.2 per cent over the three months to August, Mr Lawless said. "With the debate around sustainability of dwelling values heating up, the softer September result should be viewed as a welcome evolution in the housing market, although it remains to be seen whether these softer conditions will persist throughout the rest of Spring." The final figures for September, which will include data for smaller capitals and regional areas, are due for release on Wednesday.

Treasury Wines spurns suitors

 
AUSTRALIA'S largest winemaker, Treasury Wine Estates, has rejected takeover proposals from two global private equity firms, prompting a sharp fall in the company's share price.
TREASURY, which owns Penfolds, Wolf Blass and a host of other prominent labels, had been in talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and a rival suitor, believed to be TPG.
The two firms each proposed paying $5.20 a share, valuing Treasury at almost $3.4 billion. But after talking with its major shareholders about the proposals while the two suitors appraised Treasury's business, the winemaker decided to knock them back. Most of Treasury's major shareholders believed the proposed offers were simply too low. Treasury chief executive Michael Clarke said that after two months of talks with the suitors, it became apparent that they were unable to address potential regulatory concerns in the US or finalise an acceptable financing structure.

Interbank rate up at 10.50 percent after T-bill sale

 

Nigeria’s interbank lending rates inched up this week to an average of 10.50 percent on Friday, up from 10.37 percent last week after a treasury bill sale drained liquidity, dealers said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold a combined N200 billion ($1.2 billion) worth of bills on Monday and Thursday this week, to manage excess liquidity. It also sold N114.39 billion  in treasury bills at a primary market auction.

The market opened with a cash balance of around N516 billion from government budgetary allocations, oil company cash call payments and matured open market bills, before settling bills sold this week, dealers said.

The cash balance was around N400 billion last Friday.

“Unless the central bank sells more bills we expect rates to remain stable next week,” one dealer said.

The open buy-back rate climbed slightly to 10.50 percent from 10.25 percent, 1.50 basis points below the central bank’s benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.

Overnight placements remained unchanged at 10.50 percent, the same level as last week.

Australian market set to open higher

AUSTRALIAN stocks are tipped to start the week higher after gains on US and European markets, while the dollar will likely soften as it settles into a downward trend.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says the Australian share market looks set to open a moderate five to 10 points higher on Monday.
This follows a one per cent gain on the Dow Jones industrial average on the back of a strong Nike earnings report and a rally in Apple shares. But the Australian market looks set to stay under some pressure on Monday morning, with nervousness in the iron ore sector and continued weakness in the Australian dollar, he says. "Those factors are a constraint on our market," Dr Oliver said. "Typically when the Australian dollar is coming down it has the effect of keeping foreign investors on the sidelines, so they tend to stay away even though a fall in the Aussie dollar is good from a long-term perspective. "So it looks like we'll have a reasonable start to trade tomorrow. But it will only be modest."