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June 16, 2021

June 16, 2021June 16, 2021 IFMNEWS

World Bank: Rising Prices Pushed Seven Million Nigerians Below Poverty Line

The World Bank has stated that inflationary pressure in Nigeria has pushed about seven million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone.

The World Bank gave the data in its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU), released on Tuesday, a few days after President Muhammadu Buhari in his Democracy Day broadcast claimed on Saturday that his administration had lifted 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty in the past two years.

The bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, said lack of economic opportunities was contributing to the rising crime cases and insecurity in Nigeria.

The multilateral institution also reiterated the need for the federal government to set policy foundations for a strong recovery as well as to tame inflation.

The report was released on a day the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation dropped to 17.93 per cent (year-on-year) in May compared to 18.12 per cent in the preceding month.

Besides, the World Bank also attributed the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria and rising criminality to a lack of economic opportunities in the country.

The NDU, titled: “Resilience through Reforms,” stated that in 2020, the Nigerian economy experienced a shallower contraction of 1.8 per cent than had been projected at the beginning of the pandemic (3.2 per cent).

It said: “Although the economy started to grow again, prices are increasing rapidly, severely impacting Nigerian households. As of April 2021, the inflation rate was the highest in four years. Food prices accounted for over 60 per cent of the total increase in inflation. Rising prices have pushed an estimated seven million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone.”

The report acknowledged notable government’s policy reforms aimed at mitigating the impact of the crisis and supporting the recovery, including steps taken towards reducing gasoline subsidies and adjusting electricity tariffs towards more cost-reflective levels, both aimed at expanding the fiscal space for pro-poor spending.

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May 14, 2021

May 14, 2021 IFMNEWS

Musk Tweets, Doge Leaps And Bitcoin Retreats

Bitcoin was pinned near its lowest in more than two months on Friday and headed for its worst week since February, while dogecoin leapt by a fifth as tweets from Tesla boss Elon Musk sent the two cryptocurrencies on a wild ride.

Markets have gyrated to Musk tweets for months since his interest in dogecoin sparked a hundred-fold rally in the previously ignored token’s value this year, while Tesla’s $1.5 billion bitcoin purchase helped it break past $50,000 in February.

Yet in an equally surprising U-turn he dented the world’s biggest cryptocurrency this week after announcing Tesla stopped accepting bitcoin in payment owing to environmental concerns, making investors uneasy about Musk’s influence on crypto prices.

Bitcoin is down nearly 15% this week at $49,804.

Dogecoin is down about a third since last Friday, having tumbled after Musk referred to it as a “hustle” on Saturday Night Live. It then jumped 20% after his latest comments that he was involved in work to improve its efficiency.

“Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising,” Musk said on Twitter, vaulting dogecoin from about $0.43 to $0.52 on the Binance exchange.

It was unclear if Musk was referring to efficiency in terms of energy use, ease of use or suitability as a currency, said Mark Humphery-Jenner, an associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales business school in Sydney.

Dogecoin consumes 0.12 kilowatt hours of electricity per transaction compared with 707 for bitcoin, according to data center provider TRG, but it is near impossible to use it to buy anything.

Almost worthless in late 2020, dogecoin is the latest darling of a frenzy gripping crypto markets that began last year as institutional investors announced big bitcoin purchases.

It has surged to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to CoinMarketCap.com. Second-biggest cryptocurrency ether has also soared more than 400% this year. It last sat at $3,865, steady for the week so far.

The huge moves have begun to attract regulatory scrutiny, and a Bloomberg report on Thursday which said major exchange Binance was under Justice Department investigation in the US added to some of the price pressure on cryptos this week.

Musk’s tweets and the market’s response may also invite attention, said Edward Moya, an analyst at brokarage OANDA.

“Tesla is drawing tremendous scrutiny for Musk’s cheerleading of Bitcoin,” he said. “If Tesla unveils a bet on dogecoin, regulators may have their eyes on Musk.”

Others, however, say the market might be more comparable to an old fashioned bubble.

“Dogecoin remains a lesson in greater fool theory,” said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade, which posits that buying overpriced assets can be profitable, so long as there is a “greater fool” to buy them at ever higher prices.

“It’s being pumped by people that want to get rich quick (and Elon Musk),” he said.

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April 20, 2021

April 20, 2021April 20, 2021 IFMNEWS

Fuel Queues Will Soon Disappear – NNPC

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has assured the current queues at fuel stations in different parts of the country would soon disappear.

Kyari gave the assurance on Tuesday while speaking with State House Correspondents, after a routine briefing with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Fuel stations all over the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have started witnessing long queues of motorists struggling to buy the premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol since Saturday.

The situation worsened on Tuesday.

However, while fielding questions from State House Correspondents, Kyari, who explained the observed scarcity had been as a result of suspension of operations by tanker drivers, who were protesting some labour issues with their employers, said the worst is over as the strike had been suspended for one week.

He added the agreement struck with the aggrieved drivers would enable government to reach a more lasting understanding on the matter.

“These queues will go away. It’s because there was an industrial action by petroleum tanker drivers against their employers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners around their compensation package and those issues were not resolved up till yesterday, until we intervene to ensure that there’s an amicable settlement between the parties so that they will have peace and then normal loading operations will commence from the depots.

“As I speak to you at this moment, loading has commenced in all depots in the country, dispatches of trucks are ongoing in all the depots in the country and they have called off the strike for a period of one week to enable us intervene and find a solution. So there’s really nothing fundamental that is happening now,” he assured.

Asked about government’s plan to end the petrol subsidy regime, the NNPC GMD said government was still in the process of working out the best way out of the current situation, which he assured would be in the best interest of the ordinary citizen.

“Subsidy is a policy matter, I’m sure you’re aware of this, there are engagements going on within government to get the best framework for having a fully deregulated PMS market.

” As this is going on, we are engaging all parties and all stakeholders as government and to make sure that at the end of the day, there’s an exit that is beneficial to the ordinary man.