Business
Dollar to exchange for N1,993 by 2028 — Fitch
Dollar to exchange for N1,993 by 2028 — Fitch
Fitch Solutions, a financial intelligence service provider, has predicted that the Naira would depreciate to N1,993 per USdollar by 2028.
A report by the company’s subsidiary, BMI Research, further said despite expected rebound in the economy, Nigeria’s medical devices market will continue to face operational and demand headwinds over the near term.
“Nigeria’s medical device market will grow at a 2023-2028 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% in local currency terms and 9.6% in US dollar terms, taking market value to N171.1billion (USD344.7million) by 2028,” the report said.
It added, “We do believe that improving health spending through a focus on universal health coverage coupled with large population size and double burden of chronic and communicable diseases will sustain high demand for all medical devices, particularly diagnostics, consumables and hospital equipment over the near to medium term.
“For instance, in 2022, the country signed the National Health Insurance Authority Bill into law, making health insurance mandatory for citizens and legal residents.”
Listing Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline as firms that left the country due to the naira devaluation, the report said the continued weakness of the currency would increase medical device import costs and erode consumer purchasing power.
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According to the Fitch’s subsidiary, several challenges remain for local manufacturing of medical devices to take off in Nigeria, despite government incentives.
“Similar to other markets in sub-Sahara Africa, Nigeria heavily relies on medical device imports, with reliance of over 95%. We expect that the naira will end 2028 at N1993/USD from N306/USD in 2018.
“As the naira weakens, the cost of importing medical devices will continually increase, eroding both the health system and patient purchasing power especially to invest in essential medical technologies given underfunding of the public health sector.
“This would particularly affect high-cost demand for devices such as diagnostics, orthopaedics and dental products.
“On the export front, a weaker naira will enhance the competitiveness of locally manufactured medical devices, fostering growth in the sector.
“For instance, in June 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed an executive order to reduce medical service costs amid high inflation.
“This order eliminates tariffs, excise duties as well as VAT on specific machinery, equipment, and raw materials, aiming to cut local production costs and enhance competitiveness.
“The order targets healthcare products including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, biologicals and medical textiles.”
Dollar to exchange for N1,993 by 2028 — Fitch
Business
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
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.
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Reacting, Dare said, “200 trucks are expected to load products daily from the refinery, Renewing the Hopes of Nigeria.”
He added that “the Port Harcourt refinery has two wings.
“The Old Refinery comes on stream today with an installed production capacity of 60, 000 barrels per day of crude oil.”
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
Business
Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%
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.
Business
Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS
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%.”
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