TheCable

Here are the seven top business news you need to track this week — December 12 to December 16.

CBN RELEASES NEW NAIRA NOTES

The newly redesigned naira notes will be released to the public this week, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said the new design and issues would be effective from mid-December 2022.

The new notes include N200, N500 and N1000.

Nigerians are advised to take old notes to banks to enable them to withdraw the new banknotes once circulation begins, as the naira notes currently in use will remain as legal tender till 31st January 2023.

The introduction of new notes was a deliberate step by the government to check corruption and counterfeiting of the notes.

WORLD BANK TO LAUNCH NIGERIA DEVELOPMENT UPDATE AND COUNTRY ECONOMIC MEMORANDUM

The World Bank will launch the new Nigeria Development Update and Country Economic Memorandum.

The launch will hold virtually on Thursday, December 15, 2022.

The Nigeria Development Update (NDU) is prepared twice a year to assess economic and social developments, prospects, and policies, take a closer look at selected emerging issues and spotlight critical aspects of Nigeria’s development agenda.

Alongside the NDU, the World Bank would launch the Nigeria Country Economic Memorandum (CEM). The CEM is a report produced every few years which assesses Nigeria’s longer-term economic growth and development trajectory and provides evidence-based policy recommendations for achieving inclusive, sustainable growth. 

NBS TO RELEASE INFLATION RATE, GAS PRICE WATCH 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release a report on the customer price index (CPI) and Inflation report on Thursday.

The bureau also intends to release a report on automotive gas oil (diesel) price watch as well as premium motor spirit (petrol) price watch for November this year.  

SECOND NIGER BRIDGE WILL OPEN TO TRAFFIC DEC 15 

The federal government says the Second Niger Bridge will open to traffic on December 15.

Jimoh Olawale, federal controller of works in Delta, had said that the bridge would be open for only 30 days.

According to Olawale, Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, ordered the opening of the bridge, which is 95 percent complete, to ease traffic during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

CBN WITHDRAWAL LIMITS

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks and other financial institutions to ensure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities per week do not exceed N100,000 and N500, 000, respectively.

The CBN said the policy will take effect nationwide from January 9, 2023.

It explained that after the policy takes effect, all cash withdrawals above the stated limits will attract processing fees of 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The aim is to reduce the amount of physical cash circulating in the economy and encourage more electronic-based transactions.

OIL PRICE DOWN TO $75 A BARREL 

The development came 24 hours after Brent crude hit a 2022 low of $77 a barrel.

Falling further, Brent crude, the world’s oil benchmark, dipped 1.56 percent to $75.97 a barrel — first time since December 2021.

West Texas Intermediate crude also dropped 0.47 percent to $71.67 a barrel.

NIGERIA’S OIL PRODUCTION ROSE TO 1.18M BPD IN NOVEMBER

Nigeria’s crude oil production increased in November to an average of 1.18 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1,014,485 bpd in the previous month.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said this in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for November 2022.

The production figure — a second consecutive month-on-month rise — represents a 16.87 percent increase.

NRC HIKES TRAIN FARE

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced new fares for Lagos-Ibadan and Lagos-Abeokuta train services.

It also adjusted the take-off schedule for its last two trains from Idu (Abuja) to Rigasa (Kaduna) and vice versa.