APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the exchange rate of the Naira may further depreciate by about 35 percent this year to N2,081/$1 in the official market is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the exchange rate of the Naira may further depreciate by about 35 percent this year, adding that this could lead to inflation rate peaking at 44 per cent before the monetary policy tightening could bring the situation under control.
The IMF disclosed this in its February 2024 Post–Financing Assessment and Staff Report, noting that the nation’s monetary policy is currently insufficiently tightened to bring inflation below 20 per cent while pressures on the Naira persist.
The report noted that amid the absence of local production and the recent liberalisation of commodity imports, the exchange rate would likely depreciate further.
IMF said Nigeria had been hit by another adverse climate shock in early 2024, following severe flooding in late 2022, which exacerbated the current weakness in agriculture and led to a decline in output and a surge in food prices.
According to the Bretton Woods institution, the country would benefit from developing a comprehensive macroeconomic and growth strategy, in collaboration and with support from development partners.
This, it said, would include aggressive monetary tightening, fiscal adjustment to restore macroeconomic stability, and putting in place climate adaptation measures.
It stressed that domestic demand had weakened due to the steep fall in real incomes – as investments in the oil sector would likely stall due to rising costs, and production declines.
The fund further predicted that the country’s growth could fall to zero in 2024 and only slowly recover to two percent in 2028.
The newspaper says that the Department of State Services, DSS, has asked organised labour to shelve its planned nationwide protest over high cost of living and sundry issues in the country in the interest of peace.
But the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday dared the DSS to stop the protest, advising the secret police to face its job of providing credible intelligence to government on the devastating effect of the harsh economic policies.
It will be recalled that organised labour, had served the Federal Government a notice to embark on a two-day protest between February 27 and 28 to protest the hardship which arose from fuel subsidy removal and flotation of the naira by the present administration.
But reacting to the protest notice in a statement yesterday, the DSS said while it is the right of the labour movement to embark on protest, the body should not go ahead with it so as not to further jeopardise the prevailing situation in the country.
The statement signed by the DSS Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications, Dr. Peter Afunanya, read: “While the Service recognises such action as the legitimate right of the labour movement, it, however, urges the body to shelve the plan in the interest of peace and public order. “The DSS further calls on parties to pursue dialogue and negotiation rather than engaging in conduct that could heighten tensions.
‘’This is more so that the Service is aware that some elements are planning to use the opportunity of the protest to foment crisis and by extension, widespread violence. The development, without doubt, will worsen the socio-economic situation across the country.
“It is common knowledge that all levels of government are striving to ameliorate the prevailing economic condition and as such, should be given a benefit of the doubt. “So far, appropriate authorities are working assiduously with a spectrum of stakeholders to fashion out modalities to address the current difficulties. They should, therefore, be given the chance to handle the challenges at hand. “In this vein, citizens are encouraged to recognise that what remains unsolved in peace time, would not be attained in war-time. The timeless piece of the esteemed Poet, JP Clark, ‘The Casualties’ is a resonating reminder to us on the possible dangers of escalated conflicts.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has stated that it uncovered and destroyed 82 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta between February 10 and 15, 2024.
The NNPCL also said on Tuesday that 223 incidents were recorded in the past week by several sources.
According to a short video released on Tuesday, an oil pit feeding directly from an oil source was discovered in Okrika, Rivers State, with several pipelines conveying crude into the pit.
“20 illegal connections were discovered across several locations in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States. A cluster of illegal refineries were discovered in various locations across Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Abia.
“In the past week, 82 illegal refineries were discovered and destroyed,” NNPCL disclosed.
It was added that several illegal storage sites were discovered across the Niger Delta region, while sacks and cans containing stolen crude oil were discovered in Rivers and Edo States.
Vandalised well heads and pipelines were also said to have been spotted in Rivers and Bayelsa, while 13 vehicles conveying crude were also arrested in Warri, Delta State.
The NNPCL added that 83 wooden and fibre boats conveying stolen crude oil were arrested in Rivers.
According to the state-owned firm, eight of the incidents reportedly took place in the deep blue water, 32 in the western region, 123 in the central region, and 60 in the eastern part of the Niger Delta.
The newspaper says that the country’s monthly petrol import was reduced by about 1 billion litres after President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy in June, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.
The NBS report indicated that the country received fuel importation of 2.09 litres in January 2023, while 1.99 billion litres was imported in February of the same year.
It was 2.29 billion litres in March; 1.91 billion litres in April and 2.01 billion litres in May last year.
Recall that Tinubu removed the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit on May 29, having a significant effect on the importation of the product the following month.
Our correspondent observed that the quantity of PMS imported in June, the first post-subsidy month, dropped to 1.64 billion litres.
The downward slope got deeper in July when the import was reduced to 1.45 billion litres.
In August, petrol imported into the country was down to 1.09 billion, a reduction of over 1 billion litres year-on-year from the 2.23 billion litres imported in August 2022.
The NBS report showed that Nigeria did not produce a litre of PMS locally in 2021, 2022, and in the first half of 2023.
However, diesel and kerosene were produced locally during that period, due to a lack of functioning oil refineries.
GIK/APA