The International Monetary Fund report that says that inflation, debt, and forex crisis is pushing the Nigerian economy and other African economies to the brink is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that the International Monetary Fund has said inflation, debt, and forex crisis is pushing the Nigerian economy and other African economies to the brink.
The Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said ministers of finance and central bank governors on the continent disclosed this to her this week.
She added that most countries on the continent could raise money from the global financial markets and do not have large domestic markets to turn to.
She stated, “The particularly difficult conditions in many African countries at this moment is important to consider. In my meeting with Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors from the continent this week, many highlighted how the effects of this, entirely exogenous, shock was pushing their economies to the brink.
“The effect of higher food prices is being felt acutely as food accounts for a higher share of income. Inflation, fiscal, debt and balance of payments pressures are all intensifying. Most are now completely shut out from global financial markets; and unlike other regions don’t have large domestic markets to turn to.
“Against this backdrop, they are calling on the international community to come up with bold measures to support their people. This is a call we need to heed.”
Georgieva disclosed this in a report titled, ‘Facing a Darkening Economic Outlook: How the G20 Can Respond,’ on the IMF’s website. The report, which was released on Wednesday, is a backdrop to the meeting that G20 ministers and central bank governors will have in Bali later this week.
The newspaper says that National Association of Stevedoring Operators, on Wednesday, said that the country was losing billions of naira to International Oil Companies over a refusal to allow appointed agents of the Nigerian Ports Authority on board their platforms.
The National President of NASO, Mr Bolaji Sunmola, said this while addressing journalists in Apapa, Lagos, on Wednesday.
Explaining further he said, “Payments to dockworkers are stolen, taxes are stolen, Federal Inland Revenue Service is losing money, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency is losing money. They don’t want us to have the true number of crude oil they are lifting, which is why they have not been engaging us. If you accumulate all these, it runs into billions of naira.
“Anywhere there is cargo, we go there. There are cargoes on the offshore and onshore marginal fields. And there are lots of cargo movements in these field operations. It is the work of the NPA, and the government must earn from it. These were the billions the government was losing over the years till this association came.”
He explained that the association was collecting N250, 000 for membership registration because it had upgraded its status.
“It is untrue that we went to the NPA to plead for them to give us slots. We sold the idea to the NPA because there is nothing we can do without the NPA. If they say they are not interested, there is nothing we can do.
The Guardian reports that Nigerian flag carrier, Air Peace airline, yesterday launched direct flight operations from Lagos to Guangzhou in China.
Similar international operations will commence en route Mumbai, India, and Israel, the airline has said. The Asian routes are among a number of routes the Federal Government ceded to the airline before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spokesperson of Air Peace, Stanley Olisa, said the new operations were motivated by the airline’s commitment to seamlessly connect Nigerians to other parts of the world and deepen international socio-economic ties.
Olisa said that the Guangzhou operation begins with once weekly flight and hopes to increase frequencies when operations gain momentum.
He noted that China and India were not new terrains for the airline. “Air Peace has operated a number of special/evacuation flights into both cities of Guangzhou and Mumbai in the past. So, we are very familiar with the airspace. Plans to launch in Tel Aviv, Israel, are in top gear also.
“Air Peace has an unflinching commitment to reducing the air travel burden on Africans, and we will continue to grow our route network as well as modernise our fleet strategically.
“Air Peace has accomplished so much in just seven years of operation, as we now have a network of 20 domestic routes, seven regional routes and two international destinations, including Dubai and Johannesburg, which we launched in 2019 and 2020 respectively,” Olisa said.
The newspaper says that following the conclusion of training of field officials for the trial census, National Population Commission (NPC) has begun fieldwork, which runs from July 13 to 30, across selected Enumeration Areas (EAs), and Local Government Areas (LGAs) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT.)
NPC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, said the deal, also known as ‘census dress rehearsal’, is one of the pre-census activities to evaluate all aspects of the exercise before the main event on a limited scale.
“It is a process in which all census operations are tested in a detailed and comprehensive manner to assess the level of preparedness of the commission to conduct the 2023 population and housing census.”
The Nation reports that the capital market has enough depth to bridge the country’s infrastructure deficit and provide the government the much-needed breather to focus on other issues of national development.
The Director- General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, called on relevant stakeholders to co-operate and collectively champion the of the capital market as pivot bridging the infrastructure gap in the country.
He spoke during a meeting with the new executives of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers in Abuja.
Yuguda said the capital market is capable of attracting finance that would assist the nation bridge the current infrastructure deficiency.
“We have huge infrastructural deficit in the country like insufficient power, lack of good roads among others. We want our country to have good infrastructure and I know this is possible with the help of the capital market and other stakeholders.
“It requires adequate planning and financing and we can achieve it as a nation. The capital market through the private sector can fund road construction while government focuses on other issues,” Yuguda said.
He pointed out that for the capital market to attain full potential, all stakeholders need to ensure they carry out their functions with integrity and fairness in a bid to restore investor confidence.
GIK/APA