Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%

Published

2 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the lending interest to 27.50 per cent from 27.25 per cent.

This latest increase in the Monetary Policy Rate came after a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday and concluded Tuesday.

The Monetary Policy Rate measures the benchmark interest rate.

The CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, announced this in Abuja on Tuesday after the MPC meeting, last for the year, held at the apex bank’s headquarters.

He said the MPC voted unanimously to raise the MPR by 25 basis points from 27.25% to 27.50%; and retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 50% for Deposit Money Banks and 16% for Merchant Banks.

The CBN governor also said the MPC retained the Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30% and Asymmetric Corridor at +500/-100 basis points around the MPR.

Related Topics:CBN Featured interest rate

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PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency

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Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS

PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency

Published

1 hour ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

Port Harcourt Refinery

PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency

No fewer than 200 trucks are set to load petroleum products at the government-owned Port Harcourt Refinery, the presidency has said.

A presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, made this known in a statement through his official X handle on Tuesday.

Newstrends had reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company on Tuesday announced that Port Harcourt Refinery has resumed operations and crude oil processing after years of inactivity.

PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency

Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS

Published

6 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS

Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said in its latest report.

The report released on Monday said the unemployment rate decreased compared to the 5.3 per cent recorded in the Q1 of 2024.

The NBS defined the unemployment rate as the share of the labour force (the combination of unemployed and employed people) who are not employed but actively searching and are available for work.

“The unemployment rate for Q2 2024 was 4.3%, showing an increase of 0.1 percentage point compared to the same period last year,” the report stated.

“The unemployment rate among males was 3.4% and 5.1% among females.

“By place of residence, the unemployment rate was 5.2% in urban areas and 2.8% in rural areas. Youth unemployment rate was 6.5% in Q2 2024, showing a decrease from 8.4% in Q1 2024.”

Report also said the unemployment rate among persons with post-secondary education was 4.8 per cent; 8.5 per cent among those with upper secondary education, 5.8 per cent for those with lower secondary education, and 2.8 per cent among those with primary education in Q2 2024.

Employment rate – 76%

The report showed that the employment-to-population ratio, which measures the number of employed workers against the total working-age population, increased to 76.1 per cent in Q2 2024.

“In Q2 2024, 76.1% of Nigeria’s working-age population was employed, up from 73.1% in Q1 2024,” the report stated.

Self-employment – 85.6%

The report further showed that Nigeria’s labour market saw a notable shift as the proportion of self-employed individuals increased in Q2 2024.

It stated, “The proportion of persons in self-employment in Q2 2024 was 85.6%.”

Business

Mixed reactions trail moves to privatise PH, Warri, Kaduna refineries

Published

9 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

Port Harcourt Refinery

Mixed reactions trail moves to privatise PH, Warri, Kaduna refineries

Reactions have poured in after the Presidency announced plans to privatise Nigeria’s four government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

Special Adviser, Media and Public Communications to President Bola Tinubu, Sunday Dare, disclosed the privatisation plan in a reforms tracker posted on his X handle.

He stated that “Full privatisation of Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna refining is in the works. Local oil refining and production to peak steadily with Dangote and modular refineries active.

“With full local refining capacity gradually being met, days of fuel queues to end.”

Let’s use PIA as guide – Prof Iledare

Reacting, Prof. Wumi Iledare, a Professor Emeritus in Petroleum Economics and Policy Research, said: “The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA 2021 is really the place to go on this issue. What is the essence of the law when it is blatantly not followed?

“The Federal Government has the right to express an opinion but ultimately, it is the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL Board prerogative to decide what to do with NNPCL assets. That is why the Board has a Chairman, who is not the Minister of Petroleum.

“On whether or not the move was the best option, he said, “The Board of Directors of NNPCL, not the government has the options. NNPCL is held in trust for the Federation by Ministry of Finance Incorporated; MoFI 50 per cent and 50 per cent owned by MoPI, NNPCL Board calls the shot.

“The capacity of the buyers to maintain and operate the refineries is very important. However, let the PIA 2021 provisions guide decision making in the oil and gas sector.”

Privatisation will yield better results — 11Plc

On his part, the Managing Director, 11Plc, Mr Tunji Oyebanji, “The development is a good one as I will say it is better. This will lead to better results than what we had in the last 10 years. My advice is that it will be sold to competent and people who know what they are doing.

Private firms structured to win – CPPE

Also, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said: “The reality is that a public sector organization or institution is not structured to be able to manage such a strategic enterprise as a refinery.

“The management and ownership model needs to change. We can adopt the LNG model where we have a majority shareholder maybe holding 52 or 60 that have the technical and financial capacity to manage the refinery. The government can hold the balance of the shares.”

We’ll only accept NNLG model if… – PENGASSAN

Reacting, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, faulted the government haste to privatize the public refineries going by the experiences of the privatization exercise.

Speaking through its General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, said “One of our main points of activism as an Association, is the issue of local refining of our crude oil production. Then challenges like pipelines vandalism, crude oil theft, refusal to carry out Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, as and when due, non- replacement of departed staff, self interest, smuggling and many more, reared their ugly heads. This led to importation of refined products which became a cash cow for some privileged Nigerians.

“Our preference will be that of the NLNG model, where the investors would have 51 per cent while the Government would have 49 per cent shares. We are not opposed to change of ownership but a preferred NLNG model for them.”

Earlier in August, PENGASSAN in a communiqué at the end of a three-day conference on Oil and Gas titled PENGASSAN Energy and Labour submit (PEALS), among others said “The Summit agreed that there is a need to support local refineries to achieve additional values in a way to spur economic growth, healthy competition and energy security in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Four refineries

The nation’s two refineries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which combine to form the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), have an installed capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd).

While the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (KRPC) has an installed capacity of 110,000 bpd; the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC) has an installed capacity of 125,000 bpd.

Earlier, the NNPCL said it was seeking private companies to operate and maintain two of its refineries.

The NNPC Ltd in an invitation for Expressions of Interest posted on its X handle said it was seeking to engage reputable and credible operations & maintenance companies to operate and maintain the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).