Economy

Experts to Buhari: Remove Petrol Subsidy, Cut Interest Rates

Published

6 years ago

March 6, 2019

Experts to Buhari: Remove Petrol Subsidy, Cut Interest Rates

Foreign and local economic experts have said President Muhammadu Buhari should put at the top of his second-term agenda the removal of petrol subsidy as well as the reduction of interest rates in a bid to stimulate investments and economic growth.

Experts at Agusto & Co Limited, a credit rating agency, said in a report on Tuesday that the country “is currently in a dire fiscal strait and the numbers are quite grim.”

“For instance, despite the positive spin about Nigeria’s benign debt to Gross Domestic Product currently around 20 per cent, interest payments as a percentage of revenue are over 60 per cent,” they said.

The Lagos-based rating agency said Buhari’s government would have to work to raise revenue while also restructuring government spending.

It said, “All options on the table for Mr Buhari in his last term are hard choices with no easy way out. For instance, Nigeria’s current fuel subsidy regime indicates the country may have re-adopted opaque practices of the past that not only create a huge fiscal hole but a morass as well.

“With subsidy payments probably in the range of N1.2tn-N1.3tn annually, the country is obviously hemorrhaging especially amidst the steep opportunity costs. Mr Buhari will not only have to stop this fiscal hemorrhage but also muster the political will to deregulate the downstream petroleum industry once and for all.”

According to Agusto & Co, some of the big issues that will make or mar Buhari’s economic records will be the management of subsidies and other cost-unreflective tariffs being stifled by price controls.

“These reforms will require the removal of subsidies on the pump price of petrol, allow market forces to determine the domestic price of natural gas, allow electricity tariffs that enable operators to earn margins on their costs and also ensure exchange rates reflect fundamentals. These reforms could help stimulate investments across the board and unlock economic growth,” the experts added.

They said the Buhari administration should seek to improve efficiencies in the economy by concessioning key infrastructure and eliminating monopolies of state-owned enterprises in key sectors such as aviation (airport ownership and management), railway and electricity transmission by opening up the sectors to private sector investments.

The Global Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital, Charlie Robertson, in an emailed note on Tuesday, said Nigeria would require a doubling of oil price or industrialisation to achieve real per capita GDP growth of four to six per cent (i.e. headline GDP growth of seven to nine per cent).

He said, “Without it, per capita GDP growth may be around zero per cent, which implies headline GDP rising at roughly three per cent annually.

“To achieve industrialisation, Nigeria needs to raise the adult literacy rate from 60 per cent to 70-80 per cent – which we think can happen from 2024 onwards; treble electricity consumption – which we assume requires at least a doubling of the electricity tariff, and double the investment rate from 13 per cent of GDP to 26 per cent of GDP – or triple it, to match what Ethiopia is doing.”

Robertson added, “To double the investment rate, we suggest that reforms may be needed, like removing the implicit fuel subsidy that costs about 0.5 per cent of GDP. It supports consumption and not investment.”

He said the government should “boost domestic savings and bring down interest rates which will probably require a smaller budget deficit and higher taxes, and encourage foreign direct investment, which in 2018 fell to $2.2bn, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

“Ghana got $3bn. To match Ghana (per capita), Nigeria should be getting $24bn a year. A change of approach to MTN, the oil majors and others may be required.”

According to Robertson, the naira should be allowed to trade closer to fair value, estimated today at N440/$, N470 by year-end and N670 by end-2023.

“Allowing faster currency depreciation does partly contradict point 3 on cutting interest rates,” he added.

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Samed Olukoya

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Economy

Ubeta Project to Produce 350 Million Standard Cubic Feet of Gas Per Day Once Operational – FG

Published

3 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Ugwoke Ogbodo

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that once the Ubeta gas field is fully operational, it will produce 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

With this dream realised, the Federal Government said the anticipated achievement would enhance energy security, attract investments, and strengthen collaboration with key partners.

This was made known by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, at the inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, hosted by the US State Department in Washington, DC.

Recall that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, in partnership with French energy giant TotalEnergies, had in July planned to invest a significant $550 million to develop gas facilities in oil-rich Rivers State.

Verheijen had announced the kickoff of a $550 million upstream gas project between Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPCL) and TotalEnergies for the development of the Ubeta field.

At a luncheon during the dialogue, Verheijen mentioned that the upstream gas project would produce 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day once operational.

A statement from Morenike Adewunmi, Stakeholder Manager, Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, quoted Ms. Verheijen as informing the gathering that President Bola Tinubu’s major energy reforms since June 2023 have been aimed at enhancing energy security, attracting investments, and strengthening collaboration with key partners, including the US government.

According to her, the reforms have significantly improved the viability of Nigeria’s gas-to-power value chain.

She explained that in support of the reform efforts, the President issued five new executive orders designed to offer fiscal incentives for investment and reduce the cost and time required to finalize and implement contracts for developing and expanding gas infrastructure.

Verheijen said that the directives aim to immediately unlock up to $2.5 billion in new oil and gas investments in the country.

She acknowledged the valuable support of financing and technical partners, including the US government, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, in efforts to expand electricity access and reliability through both grid and off-grid solutions.

Economy

Nigeria’s Trade Surplus Hits N6.95 Trillion in Q2 2024, Marking a 33.63% Increase

Published

6 days ago

September 13, 2024

Investors King

Nigeria’s trade surplus, the difference between exports and imports, rose to N6.95 trillion in the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest foreign trade statistics report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

This marks a 33.63 percent increase from the N5.19 trillion recorded between January to March 2024, bringing the total value at N12.14 trillion in the first half of 2024.

This is however higher than N154.12 billion recorded in the first six months of 2023, the NBS data revealed.

The report showed that the country recorded a positive trade balance for the sixth straight quarter in Q2, signifying key economic development.

A trade surplus occurs when a country’s exports exceed its imports.

Total merchandise trade in Africa’s most populous nation stood at N31.8 trillion in Q2, a decline of 3.76 percent compared to the preceding quarter and a 150.39 percent jump compared to a year ago.

“Exports accounted for 60.89% of total trade with a value of N19,418.93 trillion, showing a marginal increase of 1.31% compared to the value recorded in Q1 2024 (N19,167.36) and a 201.76% rise over the value recorded in the second quarter of 2023 (N6,435.13),” NBS said.

Analysts attributed the surge in exports to the exchange rate depreciation caused by the foreign exchange reform implemented last June.

Tobi Ehinmosan, a fixed income and macroeconomic analyst at Lagos-based FBNQuest Capital, said the major factor for this significant trade surplus numbers is the decline in import trade.

“No doubt, our export performance has been on the rise but then the main driver is the drop in import trade, especially from June 2023 when the exchange rate was floated,” he said.

“A reasonable explanation for the lower import figure is the challenges traders face in sourcing for FX,” Ehinmosan noted, adding that the scarcity of FX has led to lower import of commodities into the country.

Echoing the same sentiment, Michael Adeyemi, an economics lecturer said the surplus suggests a reduction in imports, caused by such factors like currency devaluation or high import costs.

“A trade surplus strengthens the balance of payments, which can help stabilize Nigeria’s currency, the naira,” Adeyemi said.

“It also allows the country to build foreign reserves and pay off international debt obligations more comfortably,” the university lecturer explained.

The naira has tumbled by over 70 percent this year following a two-time devaluation last year. The official exchange rate increased from N463.38/$ on June 9, 2023, to N1.558.7/$ as of September 12, 2024.

At the parallel market, the naira depreciated to over N1,600/$ from 762/$.

Recent data from the International Monetary Fund highlighted that Nigeria’s current account balance, a measure of its net trade in goods, services, and transfers with the rest of the world, rose to $1.43 billion this year from $1.21 billion surplus in 2023.

“A growing current account surplus can be a sign of economic strength, indicating that the country’s industries are competitive internationally and that its exports are in demand,” Ibrahim Bakare, a professor of Economics said.

“It may also lead to an appreciation of the country’s currency, as increased demand for its goods and services boosts the value of its currency relative to others,” he added.

Economy

FIRS VAT Revenue Surges to N1.56 Trillion in Q2 2024 Amid Economic Struggles

Published

1 week ago

September 10, 2024

Samed Olukoya

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) generated N1.56 trillion in Value Added Tax (VAT) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This represents an increase of 9.11% compared to the N1.43 trillion reported in the first quarter of 2024.

A breakdown of the report showed that local VAT payments accounted for N792.58 billion of the total amount generated, while foreign VAT payments stood at N395.74 billion, and import VAT contributed N372.95 billion.

A quarterly analysis of the report revealed that human health and social work activities recorded the highest growth rate with 98.44%. This was followed by agriculture, forestry, and fishing with 70.26%, and water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities with 59.75%.

On the other hand, activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use had the lowest growth rate with –46.84%, followed by real estate activities with –42.59%.

Sectoral analysis showed that the manufacturing sector contributed the most at 11.78%. Information and communication and mining and quarrying contributed 9.02% and 8.79%, respectively.

Nevertheless, activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the least share with 0.00%, followed by activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies with 0.01%, and water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities and real estate services with 0.04% each.

On a year-on-year basis, VAT collections grew by 99.82% from Q2 2023 despite ongoing economic challenges.

Nigeria’s inflation rate remains well above 30 percent, while new job creation is almost nonexistent.

Other key economic factors, such as investor sentiment, the purchasing managers’ index, and consumer spending, remain weak amid intermittent protests by citizens demanding improvements in quality of life.