Nigeria struggles to borrow as creditors close vault over poor ratings

November 15, 2022 Segun Odunewu 0

Nigeria is struggling to raise funds from investors following poor credit ratings by two leading providers of corporate credit ratings, Moody’s and Fitch, after they downgraded the country to Category ‘B’ economy. It was learnt that foreign creditors prefer to invest their money in G-7 securities such as the United States, Germany, France, Japan, as high inflation, interest rates scare Read More

Another recession looms as economy dips

August 12, 2022 Administrator 0

Forex scarcity, galloping inflation, low oil production, burgeoning debt service, and worsening insecurity seem to be pushing Nigeria into another recession; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes. In what many have come to regard as recession bells tolling when Nigeria’s inflation figures rose to a five-year high of 18.60 per cent, added to a negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ballooning debt service and Read More

Security agencies now speaking language bandits, IPOB, others understand- APC group

June 22, 2021 Bode Olagoke 0

A group of the ruling All Progressives Congress on the platform of APC Legacy and Awareness Campaign (APC-LAC) said peace has gradually returning to the country because the security agencies are now speaking the languages understood by bandits, terrorists and members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) terrorising the nation. The group said “the fear that has gripped the nation Read More

CBN retains interest rate at 11.5% to support economic recovery

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) retained its benchmark interest rate for a fourth straight meeting, prioritizing the recovery of the economy from last year’s recession over fighting inflation that’s near a four-year high. Blueprint Newspaper had earlier predicted that, the slow down in inflation rate in April may give the doves a weapon Read More

Pantami: No terrorist in Buhari’s govt, BMO blasts PDP

April 20, 2021 Bode Olagoke 0

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has dismissed claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that President Muhammadu Buhari harbours a terrorist sympathiser in his administration. In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said that the opposition party is lashing on fake news to further its disinformation agenda. “We are actually not surprised Read More

CBN retains MPR at 11.5%

March 23, 2021 David Agba 0

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Tuesday resolved to leave all monetary policy parameters unchanged, retaining the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) otherwise known as interest rate at 11.5 per cent with the assymetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR. Addressing journalists at the end of the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja, the CBN Read More

Breaking: Nigeria has exited recession – NBS

February 18, 2021 Editor 0

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has declared that Nigeria has exited recession. NBS revealed in its quarterly report released on Thursday. The bureau said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.11%(year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters. Details loading…

Stem the naira slide

January 20, 2021 Administrator 0

The expectation expressed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, to the effect that if Nigeria is able to receive even $2 billion monthly Diaspora remittances the exchange rate of the naira will be boosted, albeit speculative. The minister’s permutation is probably borne out of the inability of the nation’s monetary authority, namely, the Central Read More

The ‘unflying’ pigeons and a soaring country

January 18, 2021 Tahir Ibrahim Tahir 0

The narrator’s voice, over the live coverage of Nigeria’s January ,15, 2021, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, went on with the script that had the pigeons flying, saying; “there they go, and up they go”… supposedly describing the pigeons that were let out of their cage, as ceremoniously done every year by the presiding commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. This time Read More

Stop borrowing to save our children’s future, Onuoha tells FG

January 15, 2021 Agi Onda 0

The federal government has been called upon to stop further borrowing from both national and international financial organisations in order not to mortgage the future of the country’s children. Giving this advice recently, President of Vision Africa International and co-chair of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, called on the federal government to desist from Read More

Insurance consumers urged not to ignore insurance because of recession

December 31, 2020 Benjamin Umuteme 0

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has appealed to the insuring public to continue to embrace insurance as risks mitigating mechanism notwithstanding the impact of economic recession in the country. The commissioner for Insurance, Olorundare Sunday Thomas, made the appeal at a webinar conference organized by Coronation Insurance Plc in partnership with Access Bank Plc, said that given the high inflation Read More

Recession: Nigeria needs expansionary economic policy

December 9, 2020 Abdulhaleem Ishaq Ringim 0

Recession is a function of a country’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP); which is defined as the cumulative value of all finished goods produced and services rendered in a country within a year(although usually calculated quarterly). The GDP as calculated using the national spending approach is a summation of the value of all the “Consumption”, “Investment”, “Government Spending” and “Net Export(Exports – Read More

Recession: NACCIMA calls for urgent recovery plans, support to MSMEs

November 25, 2020 Administrator 0

The news that the Nigerian economy has entered into recession requires urgent action to halt the trend and the adoption of measures for recovery, the Director General, National Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, has said. The DG in a statement made available to the Blueprint noted that the contraction of the Gross Read More

Humanitarian, afterall

November 1, 2020 Tahir Ibrahim Tahir 0

“Do not count your chickens before they are hatched” – so they say, but then I went ahead and and held my breath; and prayed on my gut feeling that they would all hatch and come to life. Back in October 2019, I wrote an article titled, “The burden of humanitarian services and social development”, just when Sa’adiya Umar Farouk Read More

Ailing economy: So, what about the CBN interventions?

October 2, 2020 BENJAMIN UMUTEME 0

Falling oil price, weakened naira and the coronavirus pandemic have driven Nigeria’s economy to the precipice, thus forcing the country’s apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, to intervene in almost every sector of the economy. In this report, BENJAMIN UMUTEME takes a look at how these interventions have impacted on the economy. As the number one oil producing country in Read More

COVID-19: Air passengers to pay N2, 000 PSC from Sept 1 – FAAN

August 27, 2020 Agi Onda 0

Ahead of resumption of international flights into the country from August 29, the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) has reviewed upward air travellers’ Passenger Service Charge (PSC) from N1, 000 to 2, 000; effective from September 1, 2020. Making the decision of the federal aviation agency public during a press briefing, Thursday at the FAAN corporate headquarters in Abuja, its Managing Read More

The ominous projection by IMF

August 11, 2020 Editorial IV 0

The projection by the  International Monetary Fund (IMF) that all revenue that will accrue to the federal government in 2020 will be spent on interest repayments is quite worrisome. The forecast is ian ominous sign that the nation’s economy is indeed in a steep recession whose recovery may not be anytime soon unless drastic measures are put in place.  Jesmin Rahman, IMF’s mission Read More

Sa’adiya Farouq and 100m out-of-poverty scheme

June 24, 2020 Editorial IV 0

  The statement credited to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sa’adiya Umar Farouq, that her ministry will ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within 10 years is achieved is quite reassuring. This is more so considering the despondency of the mass of the people, no thanks Read More

IMF cautions banks to halt dividend payment, save for “raining” day

June 3, 2020 Blessing Anaro 0

The International Monetary Bank (IMF) is urging banks to stop satisfying shareholders now and face a bleak future when recession take its toil on potential buffers. Instead, the international bank has advised shareholders to rather sow in tears now, and reap in joy when the expected storm is over. Kristalina Georgieve, IMF managing director said, “but as we brace ourselves Read More

Covid-19: Nigerians jittery as economy staggers towards recession

May 30, 2020 BENJAMIN UMUTEME 0

With the double effect of Covid-19 and oil price crash, Nigeria’s economy is teetering towards recession and Nigerians, again, are jittery. BENJAMIN UMUTEME in this report seeks remedies. As the coronavirus pandemic has forced global economies to shut down, analysts are of the view that it is only a matter of time before Nigeria slips into another recession, especially with Read More

Nigeria’ll work for oil market stability – Sylva

April 7, 2020 Benjamin Umuteme 0

Ahead of the rescheduled meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday, the federal government says it is ready for work for the stability of the oil market. The price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has drove  down oil price to as low as $22 per barrel. However, with hope of an agreement, crude prices have rose Read More

The catastrophic economic cost of Covid-19

April 6, 2020 Jerry Uwah 0

Mankind is at war with an invisible, seemingly inanimate substance which has wrecked more havoc on the United States of America (USA), the world’s largest economy, than the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour in December 7, 1941. The coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) has sent shock waves down the spines of the entire human race. For the first time in human history Read More