Daily Watch – Oil marketers warn of impending scarcity, Skye Bank asks for more time

10th August 2016

  • The FG borrowed a total of ₦600 billion from local creditors in H1 2016 to augment a shortfall in revenue caused by various challenges affecting the nation’s oil and non-oil receipts, according to a presentation made by the Budget and National Planning minister, Udo Udoma to civil society groups on the proposed MTEF 2017-2019. The MTEF, which is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in October, provides the basis for annual budget planning and indicates fiscal targets, estimates, revenues and expenditure, including government’s financial obligations in the medium term. The debt constitutes about 33 percent of the ₦1.8 trillion in approved borrowing provided in the 2016 budget.
  • Oil marketers have warned that consumers should prepare for another round of fuel price increases, due to continued scarcity of foreign exchange to finance products importation. According to them, the United States dollar hitting an all-time high last week of ₦400/$ made the current approved rates unsustainable in the medium term. The FG in liberalising downstream operations on May 11, announced an increase in the pump prices of petrol from ₦86 and ₦86.5 per litre to between ₦135 and ₦145. A member of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria tells the Punch that the ex-depot price of the PMS has remained at ₦133.28 per litre because the marketers were doing their best to manage the situation but insists PMS dealers hardly get forex at the ₦287/$ rate that the government promised them.
  • The Lagos State Government says it has paid ₦16.33 billion to 3,924 retirees as accrued pensions through the Lagos State Pension Commission from August 2015 to July this year. The Director-General, LASPEC, Folashade Onanuga said this at the 29th retirement benefit bond presentation ceremony in Lagos. According to her, Lagos had paid ₦891 million to 324 retirees from the mainstream civil service, local governments and the state universal basic education board.
  • The CBN intervened in the interbank market on Tuesday to help support the naira after it hit an all-time low of ₦350 to the American dollar in thin volume, traders said. The naira closed at ₦310.50/$ following the bank’s intervention. A single trade of $100,000 was carried out at ₦350/$. A total of $6.86 million traded on Tuesday.
  • Skye Bank has asked for more time to file its unaudited financial statements for the periods ended March 31 and June 30, a letter to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday and signed by its management said. The lender said the extension was necessary due to the delay in the annual audit as a result of the challenges faced with the bank’s integration with Mainstreet Bank, which was approved in mid-2015.