Stimulus

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised its forecast for crude oil demand growth this year on the back of an expected stronger economic recovery.

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has reiterated that a rapid global and equitable vaccine roll-out would be the best stimulus for a strong and sustained economic recovery for the global economy.

Dr George Akume, the Minister of Special Duties and Inter Governmental Affairs, on Wednesday said that micro enterprises will be established in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the country.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has thrown its weight behind the federal government’s decision to sell its least valued assets and use funds from the sale to execute infrastructural projects in the 2021 budget.

Nigeria’s prompt exit from recession is a key indicator of the success of the ongoing Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) approved by the Federal Government, the Presidency has said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

A record rush to big technology stocks saw equity funds bagging $27.8 billion inflows last week with the ongoing ultra-easy monetary policy creating the “mother-of-all asset bubbles”, BofA said on Friday.

Oil prices yesterday maintained their upswing, hitting their highest in about 13 months on the back of vaccine rollouts expected to increase demand even as producers kept supply reined in.

Nigeria revenue profile may get a further boost in the days ahead as oil prices near $60 per barrel in a move propelled by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Investigations have revealed that, the federal government and the CBN were warned by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), on the activities of fraudsters using cryptocurrencies to bringing into the country hundreds of millions of US Dollars illegally obtained from the USA and other Western economies.

The federal government announced that the registration for the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus scheme (GOS) and the general micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) grant will commence on February 9.

Chad's former prime minister Moussa Faki Mahamat on Saturday won a second term as head of the African Union's executive body at the opening of a two-day virtual summit expected to focus on the continent's pandemic response.

In his avowed determination to ensure the rapid infrastructural development of the state in line with his completion Agenda aimed at boosting his administration’s industrialization policy, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel has vowed to complete all major infrastructural projects in the state before leaving office, even as he promised to complete for public use, the Ikot Oku Ikono flyover by May 2021, a move he believes, will grant more stress-free access to the state capital, from neighbouring local government areas.

The Central Bank of Nigeria says Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Reserves rose from $34.94 billion in November 2020 to $36.23 billion as at January 21.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday warned the Federal Government (FG) against imposing another total lockdown of the country, saying such a move would be catastrophic to Nigerians and the economy.

Oil prices eased on Tuesday as coronavirus cases globally continued to rise, but losses were capped amid reports of a blast in Saudi Arabia.

The coming second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol has aggravated a rift among his fellow Republicans that was on full display on Sunday.

Among the 17 executive orders and presidential actions Biden signed on Wednesday were moves to rejoin the Paris climate accord, end a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries, and halt Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation.

Oil prices climbed with U.S. stock markets on Tuesday ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as U.S. president on optimism that more government stimulus will eventually lift global economic growth.

An economist, Ms Razia Khan, also Managing Director/Chief Economist, Africa and Middle East, Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank, on Tuesday said Nigeria would see a restoration of positive growth.

Oil demand recovery will take a hit from a spike in new coronavirus cases before vaccine roll-outs and stimulus measures help in the second half of the year, International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

The dollar dropped on Tuesday as investors prepared for U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen to talk up the need for major fiscal stimulus and commit to a market-determined exchange rate when she testifies later in the day.

Oil prices climbed on Tuesday as optimism that government stimulus will buoy global economic growth and oil demand trumped concerns that renewed COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns globally could cool fuel consumption.