Features
Naira Appreciates To N435/$, As CBN Injects $180m
The improving fortunes of the naira in the parallel market continued, Monday, as it appreciated to N435 per dollar due to declining demand for dollars.
Vanguard investigation revealed that the parallel market exchange rate, which declined to N445 per dollar last week, further dropped to N435 per dollar at the close of business, yesterday, translating to 3.4 per cent appreciation of the naira.
Vanguard investigations reveal that the naira appreciation is being driven by decline in demand for dollars occasioned by increase dollar supply by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) .
Confirming this development to Vanguard, President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said: “The appreciation is due to both increase in dollar supply and reduction in demand. First is the increase in number of BDCs accessing CBN dollar sales, the second is the sustained dollar sales by CBN to banks for invisible items and the third is the fact that most of the demand in the market before the CBN began its intervention, were driven by fear of further depreciation of the naira, added to this were frivolous demand or demand for speculation. Demand for dollars for these purposes has dropped to near zero. If the CBN continues its intervention, demand will continue to drop and the naira should further appreciate”.
Meanwhile, the CBN today intervened again in the foreign exchange market by selling $180 million comprising $100 in forwards transactions to be delivered in 60 days and $80 million for invisibles such as medicals, school fees and personal travel allowances . This increases the apex intervention to $2.26 billion.
Confirming the figures, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the wholesale requests will be settled on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, adding that the closing interbank rate for Monday, March 20, 2017, was N307.5/$1.
While disclosing that the Bank had so far met all the legitimate demands from genuine customers, he reiterated that the CBN would ensure sustainable forex liquidity and transparency in the process to enable as many customers as possible get access to the foreign exchange they genuinely demand.
He, therefore, advised eligible individuals with genuine foreign currency needs to freely approach their banks and authorised dealers with their request, stressing that the CBN had made adequate provisions of foreign currency for all such legitimate purposes. Since Monday February 20, 2017, when it announced new measures to boost dollar supply and forestall the declining fortunes of the naira in the parallel market, the CBN has injected $2.26 billion by intervening in the forex market 11 times as follows: Tuesday February 21st, $417 million; Thursday February 23rd, $231 million; Monday February 27th, $180 million; Friday March 3, $350 million; Monday March 6, N367 million; Tuesday March 7, $100 million; Thursday March 9, $170 million; Tuesday March 14, $190 million; Wednesday March 14, $150 million; Thursday March 16, $100 million and Monday March 20, $143 million.
Kosi’s emergence on the Afrobeat scene feels both familiar and fresh. Rooted in a childhood shaped by gospel music and choir rehearsals, his sound carries the discipline and soul of his church background. But, there’s also a raw edge, drawn from the streets of Festac, Lagos, that gives his music a grittier, lived-in texture. The blend is strikingly obvious as you’d hear a voice trained in harmony and a message born of hustle.
The artist’s approach to songwriting is intentional, pulling from personal experiences and everyday realities rather than chasing empty trends. It’s this mix of vulnerability and confidence that has quickly earned him attention within Lagos‘s music circles, even though he has just a few releases. Kosi is already making a case for himself as a voice that can stand out in the crowd, honest, grounded, and undeniably Afrobeat.
A man places a Russian national flag on a balcony of a residential building in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, which is now territory under the control of the self-described Luhansk People’s Republic
As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 132nd day, we take a look at the main developments.
Here are the key events so far on Tuesday, July 5.
Fighting
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his troops have “no alternative” but to “push back and destroy the offensive potential” of Russian forces, as the battle moves from Luhansk to nearby Donetsk.
- Ukrainian forces that retreated from Lysychansk are now holding the line between Bakhmut and Sloviansk, preparing to fend off a further Russian advance, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said.
- President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian troops on “liberating” the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.
- At least 345 children have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s invasion and 644 have been wounded, the prosecutor general’s office reported.
Diplomacy
- Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson met Ukraine’s president in Kyiv, with the two parties signing a joint statement on defence and energy cooperation.
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will fly to Hanoi on Tuesday for a two-day visit to Vietnam before heading to a G20 meeting later this week in Indonesia, the Vietnamese government said.
- Zelenskyy thanked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for supporting a ban on Russian teams and athletes competing in most Olympic sports.
- Putin did not congratulate President Joe Biden on the United States’ Independence Day on July 4 due to “unfriendly” relations, the Kremlin said.
Economy
- Ukraine needs $750bn for a recovery plan, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by Switzerland.
- Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, Zelenskyy said.
- Britain said it would on Tuesday introduce new economic, trade and transport sanctions on Belarus over its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and also sanctioned six Russians it said were spreading disinformation.
- Belarus said it was freezing foreign shareholdings in 190 Belarusian companies, including the software engineering company EPAM Systems and Lukoil Belarus, in response to Western sanctions.
Race plays key factor in a society where 10 percent of population owns more than 80 percent of wealth, World Bank says.
South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, with race playing a determining factor in a society where 10 percent of the population owns more than 80 percent of the wealth, a World Bank report has said.
“South Africa… is the most unequal country in the world, ranking first among 164 countries,” the Washington-based institution said Wednesday in a report, Inequality in Southern Africa.
Almost three decades after the end of apartheid, “race remains a key driver of high inequality in South Africa, due to its impact on education and the labor market,” it said.
When race is considered as a factor in income disparities, the report added, “its contribution to income inequality amounts to 41 percent, while contribution of education is reduced to 30 percent.
“The legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rooted in racial and spatial segregation, continues to reinforce inequality.”
The country’s neighbours that make up the rest of the Southern African Customs Union – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia – established in 1910, all finish higher on the list of the most unequal countries in the world.
In the region, women earn on average 30 percent less than men with the same level of education with the pay gap as wide as 38 percent in Namibia and South Africa.
The uneven distribution of agricultural land is also a factor driving inequality, especially in rural areas.
In Namibia, 70 percent of the 39.7 million hectares (98.1 million acres) of commercial agricultural land “still belong to Namibians of European descent”, the World Bank said.
The report was produced before the COVID-19 pandemic and its authors used the Gini coefficient – an indicator of income inequality – to rank countries.
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