Asia stocks drop as bank concerns smoulder, yen stands tall

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday on growing concerns about the health of the world's banks, particularly in Europe, pushing investors into safer assets such as the yen, which stood near a 15-month high versus the dollar.

Spreadbetters expected the pessimism to carry over into Europe, forecasting a slightly lower open for Britain's FTSE .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC .FCHI.

S&P 500 e-mini futures ESc1 fell 0.4 percent, suggesting another weak start on Wall Street.

Japan's Nikkei .N225, which tumbled more than 5 percent Tuesday, suffered another bruising session and slid to a 16-month low.

The Nikkei was last down 4 percent with falling bank shares and a stronger yen continuing to take a toll on sentiment.

The adoption of negative interest rates by the Bank of Japan has provided no support, and the index has dropped more than 10 percent since the central bank's surprise easing on Jan. 29.

Australian stocks touched a 2-1/2-year trough and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.4 percent. The Chinese markets are closed this week for the Lunar New Year holidays.

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› Nikkei tumbles to lowest since October 2014 as bank concerns intensify

Equity markets were struck early in the week by worries about the health of the euro zone banking sector, with very accommodative monetary policy seen crimping bank profits and their ability to repay debt.

Trouble for equities has meant a boon for sovereign debt, with the Japanese government bond 10-year yield JP10YTN=JBTC dropping into the negative for the first time on Tuesday before pulling back to 0.010 percent.

The U.S. Treasury benchmark yield US10YT=RR stood near a one-year trough and the 10-year German bund yield DE10YT=RR was at its lowest in 10 months.

The yen and Swiss franc, often sought in times of financial market turmoil, have also received strong boosts this week.

The dollar traded at 114.60 yen JPY= after sinking to a 15-month low of 114.205 overnight. The greenback traded close to 0.9695 franc CHF=, a four-month low touched on Tuesday.

"Concerns about European banks are contributing to the risk off mood in markets. In addition, U.S. data this month has been weak and Fed officials appear to be toning down on rate hikes," said Shinichiro Kadota, chief FX strategist at Barclays in Japan.

The euro was flat at $1.1287 EUR= after scaling a four-month high of $1.1338 overnight on the dollar's broader weakness.

After a tumultuous start to the week, markets looked to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later in the session for fresh cues on the policy outlook, which may provide some relief for markets.

While Yellen is expected to defend the Fed's first rate hike in a decade last year and likely insist that further increases remain on track, any signs of a departure from such a stance in the wake of global growth concerns could provide risk assets with a breather.

"The narrative that she faces is that the U.S. economy and asset markets are being sucked into the downdraft caused by oil, China, emerging markets, reserve manager and sovereign wealth fund asset selling, commodities, currency war, the strong dollar, weak European banks, weak Japanese banks, weak US banks and policy ineffectiveness...to name a few," wrote Steven Englander, global head of FX strategy at Citi.

In commodities, crude oil prices trimmed some of their sharp losses suffered overnight. U.S. crude CLc1 was up 2.1 percent at $28.53 a barrel. Crude sank nearly 6 percent on Tuesday after weak demand forecasts from the U.S. government and a rout in equities pressured prices. [O/R]

Spot gold XAU= fetched $1,191.36 an ounce, within reach of a 7-1/2-month peak of $1,200.60 struck on Monday on the back of risk aversion in the wider markets. [GOL/]

Source: www.reuters.com

NSE’s market capitalisation rises by N164 billion

Despite price losses that outweighed gains, equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed in an upbeat yesterday, as major highly capitalised stocks appreciated in price, causing market capitalisation increased by N164 billion.

Yesterday, 17 stocks appreciated in price, while 22 constituted the losers chart.

Specifically, Dangote Cement topped the gainers chart with 7.80 per cent to close at N134.00 per share. Unilever followed with 4.94 per cent to close at N31.84 per share. PZ Cussons gained 4.78 per cent to close at N21.90 per share. United Capital added 4.51 per cent to close at N1.39 per share. Cutis gained 4.35 per cent to close at N1.44 per share.

Unity Capital added 3.03 per cen6t to close at N0.68 per share. Oando garnered 2.37 per cent to close at N3.88 per share. UAC-Properties and Guaranty Trust Bank added 2.06 and 1.56 per cent to close at N5.46 and N16.24 per share.

First City Monument Bank gained 1.14 per cent to close at N0.89 per share. NPF Micro finance Bank gained 1.01 per cent to close at N1.00 per share.

However, Conoil led others on the losers ‘chart with 9.36 per cent to close at N20.25 per share while PharmDeko followed with 4.89 per cent to close at N2.14 per share. Tiger Brands lost 4.80 per cent to close at N1.19 per share. Neimeth and Sterling Bank dropped 4.65 and 4.47 percent to close at N0.84 and N1.71 per share.

Learn Africa lost 4.44 per cent to close at N0.86 per share. May&Baker shed 4.35 per cent to close at N0.88 per share. NEM and Okomuoill dropped 4.23 and 3.48 per cent to close at N0.68 and N27.99 per share. Livestock lost 3.08 per cent to close at N1.26 per share. Guinness shed 2.32 per cent to close at N1.26 per share.

Continental Reinsurance also shed 2.00 per cent to close at N0.98 per share.

Consequently, the All-share in rose by 475.23 points or 1.9 per cent from 23,501.87 recorded on Friday to 23,977.10 while market capitalisation rose by N164 billion from N8,082 trillion to N8,241 trillion.

The banking subsector dominated in volume terms with 40.9 million shares worth N142 million. Transactions in the sector was boosted by activities in the shares of United Bank for Africa and Access Bank with 15 million shares and 2.9 million units worth N43 million and 12 million.

In all, investors exchanged 190 million shares worth N1.7 billion in 2,748 deals, lower than a total of 554 million units valued at N4.3 billion that changed hands in 2,304 deals on Friday.

Source: Guardian Newspaper.

The Top Skills That Will Get You Hired

LinkedIn recently announced the hottest skills of 2015 which got people hired. LinkedIn found this data by analyzing all of the hiring and recruiting activity that occurred on its website in 2015.

Cloud and distributed computing

2015 was the year of cloud and it is no surprise to see that cloud and distributed computing is the most sought after skillset. It is expected that this trend will keep rising in 2016. Therefore, if you want to get hired fast, start learning skills like Hadoop, HBase and Hive.

Statistical analysis and data mining

I am pretty sure that everybody has seen at least 1 article about big data in 2015. Guess what? Big data is getting bigger and bigger everyday with so many posts, tweets, photos and video uploads. As a result, companies are dealing with more data than ever. In order to target the right customers and market them the right products, this data needs to be analyzed. Thus, companies need employees who know statistics and use tools like SPSS, SAS, KNIME, R Programming and etc.

Marketing campaign management/SEO and SEM marketing

Before the internet era, the biggest advertising tool was TV. Now, internet is widely used for advertising and it is much better than TV because internet ads can be measured easily. Companies can track their customers using cookies or different algorithms and show only the ads that they may get interested in. Obviously, someone needs to create these ads and manage their budgets. Thus, marketing campaign managers along with SEO and SEM marketers are responsible for designing, placing and managing these ads. If you want one of these jobs, you need to learn internet marketing tools like Google Adwords, Google Analytics and several email marketing programs.

Integration software development

Software programming skills will still be hot in 2016. Companies use many software programs and it is very hard to make sure all programs are compatible with each other. Sometimes, companies need to develop in-house software programs to join two systems together so that they can work in harmony. For this reason, most companies need integration software developers to mediate between two or more separate programs.

Mobile app development

An app exists for anything you can imagine. Still, companies are creating more and more apps for their customers. Creating these apps is not enough by itself. They need to be maintained, fixed and upgraded according to the changing technology. As a result, if you still want to learn how to develop apps, you are still not late!

Source: www.entrepreneur.com

10 Ways to Fund Your Small Business

During the life of most any business, the owner will need to seek out cash to help with its growth or to keep it going through a rough patch. So, planning how to fund a business is hardly a trivial or brief topic. Indeed, a thorough discussion would take much more space than we have here.

However, we can provide an overview we hope will help start you thinking about your business’ options.

First, there are two ways to externally fund a business: debt and equity. When debt is used, the investor receives a note for his or her cash. The note spells out the terms of repayment, including timing and interest. The benefit of using debt is that you retain ownership of your company. The downside is that you have an obligation to repay. If you fail to meet your commitment, the lender, under certain circumstances, can force the company into liquidation.

Then there's equity. An owner who uses equity to fund a business turns over an ownership stake to an investor in return for the latter's cash. The benefit is that there is no obligation to repay the investor. The downside is the owner has to give up a part of the ownership of his or her business. This can entail losing some control over the company.

There are many different sources of equity and debt funding. We’ll briefly consider several examples.

Equity

Bootstrapping -- The business funds itself. As the business grows, it throws off cash that enables further growth. We know a company that distributes and installs VoIP (voice communications) technology systems. The owner had approached us for an angel investment. After we looked at his books, sales funnel and business model, we turned him down. Instead, we suggested that the owner bootstrap his business. We reasoned that the sales in the pipeline would be sufficient for the growth he planned. He didn’t need outside cash, and we suggested he not sell part of his company.

Self-funding -- Many entrepreneurs fund their businesses themselves. They use savings or personal debt (such as a second mortgage or credit cards). Alternatively, they sell assets to generate cash (e.g., a second home or a boat) for the business.

Friends and family -- Obviously, friends and family can provide either equity or debt funding. While this may initially seem like a good source, be careful about selling part of your business to this group. Unfortunately, businesses fail. The loss of capital can then cause hurt feelings, ruin friendships and make for unpleasant family gatherings. Be sure that your investors know the true risks.

Angel investors -- These people are typically affluent individuals willing to invest in businesses. Increasingly, angel investors are forming investment groups to spread risk, and to pool research. We belong to a couple of these groups. Search online for local angels or talk to your chamber of commerce. Your local chamber may know who is interested in funding new ventures and ideas in your area.

Cloud funding – There are a number of groups that will allow you to pitch your ideas to investors via the internet. Typically, when this type of funding is successful, multiple investors will contribute funds to the idea. Be aware that there are restrictions on how cloud funders can operate.

Partners -- Taking on a partner can be a source of funding. The partner may or may not become an employee of the business. Strategic partners can benefit the business by aligning resources. For example, a property management company might make a strategic investment in a property maintenance company because it could eventually feed work to the maintenance group.

Venture capital -- These firms provide early-stage funding, but are typically looking to make relatively large investments and take a significant share of the company -- often a controlling interest.

Crowdfunding – These are primarily web-based projects and allow individuals with a business, idea or project to reach out to thousands of potential investors through various platforms. Investments can be debt, equity or rewards-based. There are hundreds of crowdfunding platforms, so you will need to do your homework before launching into this arena.

Debt

Small business lenders -- Many organizations are interested in lending to small businesses. Try Googling “small business loans” to see the plethora of results. Most lenders will want the loan to be secured by assets of some type, and rates may be high. An owner spoke to us about a short-term loan he was considering. He said the rate was 3 percent. However, the term was 30 days. We had to explain to him that the annual interest rate for the loan was actually 36 percent, because the calculation was actually: 3 percent/per month X 12 months/per year = 36 percent/per year. This was quite different from the 3 percent he had assumed.

SBA loans – The Small Business Administration has many programs, but in general, these loans require a guarantee that the loan will be repaid, to enable businesses to get loans from traditional lenders.

Banks – Traditional banks make small business loans. However, they typically require a track record and will often want the loans secured with assets.

There are more options for funding small businesses than we can cover here. However, with a good business plan and much persistence, funding can be secured.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com

Wall St. turns positive after weak start as tech rebounds

Wall Street eked out small gains in early trading on Tuesday, easing off a lower opening, as a drop in energy and financial stocks was offset by a rebound in the technology sector.

Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by a 0.9 percent rise in the technology sector .SPLRCT.

Facebook (FB.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) were both up about 2 percent. Microsoft (MSFT.O) was up 1.2 percent. The stocks, all of which fell heavily in the past two days, were giving the biggest boost to the S&P and the Nasdaq.

U.S. stocks have taken a beating for the better part of this year on increasing concerns of a sustained slowdown in global economic growth and falling oil prices.

Global markets were also lower on Tuesday, again led by a fall in European bank stocks.

"The general thematic continues to be the European banking situation that has unhinged the risk market and slowly crept into the credit markets," said Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey.

At 10:06 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 16.75 points, or 0.1 percent, at 16,010.3.

The S&P 500 .SPX was up 2.71 points, or 0.15 percent, at 1,856.15 and the Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC was up 28.98 points, or 0.68 percent, at 4,312.73.

The energy sector .SPNY was the biggest decliner among the 10 S&P sectors as crude oil prices gave up early gains.

The financial sector .SPSY has taken the biggest beating this year, falling 15 percent as recession fears compounded concern about their exposure to the energy sector and expectations that global interest rates are unlikely to rise quickly.

Viacom (VIAB.O) tumbled 11 percent to $37.16 after its revenue missed estimates.

Regeneron Pharma (REGN.O) fell 7.3 percent to $363.89 after it forecast slowing sales growth for its blockbuster eye drug.

Disney (DIS.N) and Tesla (TSLA.O) were off 3 percent ahead of their results due after the bell.

Source: www.reuters.com

Wall Street bleeds as financials, tech stocks sell off

Wall Street sank sharply on Monday as financial stocks sold off amid worries about interest rates and investors backed off from richly valued tech and consumer stocks amid persistent fears of a global slowdown.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.5 percent to its lowest since October 2014, weighed down by Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, stocks that lent strength to the market last year.

All 10 major S&P sectors were down, with the 3.15 percent fall in financial stocks .SPSY leading the decliners as they followed European banks lower.

U.S. crude oil prices eased from their session lows, but were still down 2.8 percent, while Brent was off 2 percent. Global stock markets have closely tracked the rise and fall in the price of the oversupplied commodity this year.

"Equities are in a 'go-nowhere-fast' mode, with a downward bias in the near term," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

Investors have also been worried about the unraveling of rich valuations in a narrow group of stocks that led the market higher through most of 2015.

"What you've seen regarding technology and other sectors is that the (higher) valuations are being ratcheted back down closer to the underlying fundamentals that are going to support their growth, if its there," said Ryan Larson, head of U.S. equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago.

At 13:04 p.m. ET (1804 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 335.5 points, or 2.07 percent, at 15,869.47.

The S&P 500 .SPX was down 39.08 points, or 2.08 percent, at 1,840.97.

The Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC was down 113.75 points, or 2.61 percent, at 4,249.40. The index is on track for its worst two-day fall since August.

Gold XAU= prices rose to their highest since June and the yield on 30-year U.S. treasuries hit their lowest since April.

The CBOE volatility index .VIX, seen as a measure of Wall Street's fear, was up 14 percent, its biggest jump in a month.

Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N) tumbled 35 percent to $1.97 after sources told Reuters that the natgas company had tapped existing adviser Kirkland & Ellis to explore restructuring options. Chesapeake said it has no plans to pursue a bankruptcy.

Among financials, Goldman Sachs (GS.N) dropped 6.5 percent, set for its biggest drop in more than three years and weighing the most on the Dow.

The financials sector, down 15 percent for the year is the worst performing among the 10 major S&P sectors on increasing uncertainty about when the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise rates again.

Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O) were down between 2.5 percent and 5 percent.

Cognizant (CTSH.O) dropped 7 percent to $54.46 after the IT services provider issued a weak sales forecast.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,630 to 429. On the Nasdaq, 2,140 issues fell and 586 rose.

The S&P 500 index showed five new 52-week highs and 82 lows, while the Nasdaq recorded two new highs and 419 lows.

Source: www.reuters.com

Asia stocks slip, Japan rebounds in holiday-thinned trade

Asian shares pared losses on Monday as a weaker yen helped Japan's Nikkei snap a four-day losing streak, but trade was thin with many regional markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Wall Street's losses on Friday curbed overall sentiment, though S&P 500 E-Mini futures ESc1 rose about 0.4 percent as investors focused on signs of strength in a mixed U.S. nonfarm payrolls report released late last week.

Financial spreadbetters predicted Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open around 0.6 percent higher, and Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI to each open up about 0.4 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.1 percent, with Australian shares slipping a few points to end nearly flat.

But Japan's Nikkei .N225 erased early steep losses as the dollar gained on the yen, and ended up 1.1 percent.

With Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China all closed for the new year holiday, volume was thin. China, a focus of recent market concern, will be closed for the entire week for the holiday.

Data released over the weekend showed China's foreign reserves fell for a third straight month in January, as the central bank dumped dollars to defend the yuan and prevent an increase in capital outflows.

Beijing has been struggling to underpin the yuan, which faces depreciation pressure as China's growth rate slows to its lowest levels in a quarter of a century.

"Just as China's persistent accumulation of foreign reserves in the first decade of the 21st century signalled that its managed currency was undervalued, its persistent loss of foreign reserves signals that the yuan has become overvalued by market criteria," economist Bill Adams at PNC Financial Services Group said in a research note.

"There is a large probability that China's central bank tires of spending its foreign reserves to defend an overvalued currency in the near future. The People's Bank of China will likely widen the currency's trading band and permit a larger managed slide against the dollar in coming months."

Also over the weekend, North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket drew international condemnation.

SOME STRENGTH IN US JOBS

On Wall Street, major U.S. indexes logged both daily and weekly drops. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC led session losses, plunging 3.25 percent after a spate of disappointing forecasts from the technology sector.

Recently weak U.S. economic data has led investors to pare bets on a steady pace of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.

The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday showed an increase of just 151,000 jobs last month, falling well short of expectations for a rise of 190,000.

But the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, the lowest since February 2008, and wages rose, indicating some signs of underlying strength in the labour market despite the weak headline figure.

Speculators slashed bullish bets on the U.S. dollar for a sixth straight week through Feb. 2, as net longs fell to their lowest level since roughly the third week of October, according to Reuters calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.

In currency markets, the dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged up 0.1 percent to 97.127, well above a nadir of 96.259 plumbed last Thursday, its lowest since October.

The dollar rose about 0.5 percent to 117.42 yen JPY=, moving away from Friday's 2-1/2 week low of 116.285. It slid 3.6 percent last week, its biggest weekly drop since July 2009.

"What we are seeing today is a correction after overwhelming selling in the dollar we saw last week. It is just unwinding of positions, not fresh bets against the yen," said Koichi Takamatsu, executive director of forex trading at Nomura Securities.

The euro edged down about 0.2 percent to $1.1137 EUR=, though it remained in sight of Friday's three-month high of $1.1250 scaled immediately after the headline figure of the payrolls data led investors to reduce their bets on further Fed rate hikes.

The Australian dollar AUD=D4 added 0.5 percent to $0.7094 after plunging nearly 2 percent against its U.S. counterpart on Friday.

Crude oil futures edged higher on hopes that big oil producers will take steps to address the global supply glut that has led to recent steep selloffs.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi discussed cooperation between OPEC members and other oil producers to stabilise the global oil market with his Venezuelan counterpart on Sunday, according to state news agency SPA.

But nothing was decided, so caution kept gains in check. Brent crude LCOc1 added about 0.9 percent to $34.38 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures CLc1 also rose about 0.9 percent to $31.17.

Source: www.reuters.com

Nigeria Requests $1 Bln African Development Bank Budget Support Loan

Nigeria, reeling from the oil price plunge that has slashed vital revenues, has asked the African Development Bank for a $1 billion loan to help fund an increased budget deficit, the AFDB said on Tuesday.

The bank said it was considering the loan to Africa’s largest economy and oil producer, where the drop in crude prices has hit growth, and that an appraisal mission would visit soon to work with authorities. Nigeria is planning to borrow as much as $5 billion to help fund a deficit due to the slump in global oil prices, which have also sent its naira currency into a tailspin.

Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said this week Nigeria had held exploratory talks with the World Bank and looked at options to borrow from the AFDB and China Exim Bank. Earlier this month she said that about $4 billion might come from international institutions and the remainder from eurobonds. Nigeria expects a budget deficit of 3 trillion naira ($15 billion) in 2016, up from an initial 2.2 trillion naira ($11 billion) estimate.

The budget, presented by the president at the end of last year, is sitting with parliament, which aims to pass it at the end of this month. At 6.08 trillion naira ($30.6 billion), it is a more ambitious budget than under the previous administration and will see capital expenditure tripled compared to 2015 to about 30 percent of the total. 

Source: Guardian Newspaper.

Auditor General queries FIRS over ‘missing N400b’

• Tax Agency raises N25.782 trillion in 6 years

• Non-oil contributes about N10 trillion

• We’re auditing our processes, says Fowler

For failing to account for how it has expended about N400 billion, representing four per cent cost of non- oil tax collection between 2010 and 2015, the nation’s tax agency- the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has earned the ire of the Auditor -General of the Federation (AuGF) Mr. Samuel Ukura.

FIRS is entitled to a four per cent of non oil taxes it generates and the sum is disbursed to it every month at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee ( FAAC) where federation revenue is collated and distributed amongst the three tiers of government.

The Nigerian Customs Service ( NCS) on the other hand is entitled to seven per cent of its revenue generated from import duties and export fees. FIRS during the period under review generated nearly N26 trillion out of which the non- oil components was around N10 trillion for which the tax agency was entitled to four per cent translating to about N400 billion.

But the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has come up to say that it was yet to receive statement of account detailing how FIRS deployed the sum, in spite of repeated reminders.

This information was brought to the fore yesterday during interaction between the new Executive Chairman of the FIRS , Mr. Tunde Fowler and the visiting members of the Senate Public Accounts Committee led by its chairman, Dr.Andy Uba.

According to Uba : “ We are just coming from the Office of the Accountant – General of the Federation (OAGF ) for a similar oversight function and while we were there, there is a question I asked the Accountant General, Alhaji Idris Ahmed about Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs) compliance with accounts  and he said it is on record that four per cent cost of collection enjoyed by the FIRS had not been included in the financial statement of FIRS since 2010 despite  the Auditor General’s persistent queries.”

Reacting, Fowler informed the committee that the FIRS management under his leadership had just commenced a comprehensive audit of the agency as well as other MDAs, including banks with a view to ascertaining if all the taxes due to the government have been duly remitted to Government’s Account. .” We also wrote them in September that if there are any amounts unapplied because sometimes tax payers pay them and quote the wrong account number and it goes into suspense account and so we have told them to remit any amount unapplied that belongs to the Federal Government directly to our account”, he added

A breakdown of the about N26 trillion tax revenue generated by the agency within the period 2010 to 2015 indicated that that it generated a sum of N2.839 trillion in the year 2010; another sum of N4.61 trillion in 2011 out of which non-oil constituted the sum of N1.40 trillion; in 2012 , the sum of N5.07 trillion was generated, out which the non oil component contributed the sum of N1.792 trillion.

In 2013, a cumulative sum of N4.805 trillion was generated with non- oil contributing N2.096 trillion while the balance was from oil mineral taxes. The following year, total collection was N4.715 trillion, out. of which non oil yielded they sum of N2.096 trillion. Also in 2015 , taxes fetched the sum of N3.743 trillion out of which the sum of N2.059 trillion was contributed by non -oil taxes.

Source:Guardian Newspaper.

Govt’s import bill on petroleum products hits N1.8tr in nine months

The Federal Government spent N1.82 trillion on importation of petroleum products between January and September last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

NBS disclosed in its petroleum products import statistics 2010 to 2015 released recently that the country imported N1.4 trillion worth of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) during the period under review.

Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) gulped N305.2 billion while N118.7 was spent on Household Kerosene (HHK).

The country imported N109.1 billion worth of PMS in January 2015; N116 billion in February; N209 billion in March; N178 billion in April; N188 billion in May; N147 billion in June; N182 billion in July; N185 billion in August; and N133 billion in September.

Also, about N29 billion worth of AGO was imported into the country in January 2015; N41.9 billion in February; N21.2 billion in March; N26.1 billion in April; N36.8 billion in May; N45.9 billion in June; N50.3 billion in July; N30.4 billion in August; and N22.5billion in September.

The amount of kerosene imported into the country in January stood at N17.8 billion; N11.4 billion in February; N11.2 billion in March; N21.8 billion in April; N26.1 billion in May; N4.8 billion in June; N2.6 billion in July; N6.7 billion in August; and N15.9 billion in September.

The agency noted that the volume of products discharged within a month was based on actual quantities discharged during the month.

It added that average landing cost per month was the average landing cost of the product during the period of discharged. “The value of the product is estimated value based on the average landing cost of the product as at the month of discharge.

Meanwhile, the declining crude oil prices may have affected the country’s capital importation in 2015.

According to NBS in its capital importation report for third and fourth quarter of 2015, the level of capital imported between 2012 and 2014 was markedly higher than the year under review.

This, it said, may have been due to some external factors, such as the globally low interest rates triggering a search for higher yields from investors over this period.

It added that the drop in 2015 may be partly a result of these factors unwinding, as well as the tougher economic environment in Nigeria resulting from the effect the lower oil price has had on export earnings. Furthermore, the widely anticipated decision to raise interest rates in the United States may have played a part in the drop of capital inflows in the final quarter.

It stated: “The total value of capital imported into Nigeria in the Third quarter of 2015 was $2.7 billion, up 3.07 per cent from the preceding quarter.

“This was followed by a total of $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a decline of 43.34 per cent from levels recorded in the previous quarter. The total for 2015 was recorded at $9.6 billion. This is represent a 53.53 per cent fall on the previous year, when the total was $20.7 billion. Each consecutive quarter of 2015 saw a larger annual fall than the previous; in the third and fourth quarter, capital inflows were respectively 58.00 per cent and 65.40 per cent lower than in the same quarters of 2014”.

Source: Guardian Newspaper.