The report of the International Monetary Fund that Nigerians should brace up for higher food prices risks in 2023 due to recent floods and high fertilizer prices is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the International Monetary Fund has said that Nigerians should brace up for higher food prices/ risks in 2023 due to recent floods and high fertilizer prices.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation hit 23.72 per cent on a year-on-year basis in October 2022, with inflation on certain food items rising to between 50 – 100 per cent.
Despite that, the IMF has predicted that since recent floods have affected agricultural productivity, saying that food prices would worsen in 2023.
It added that the volatility in the value of the naira, the Federal Government’s continued dependence on the Central Bank of Nigeria for financing its budget deficit, and climate change were also risk factors.
The Washington-based lender disclosed this in its ‘Nigeria: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2022 Article IV Mission’ report seen by our correspondent at the weekend.
It said, “The effects of recent flooding and high fertilizer prices could become more entrenched impacting negatively both agricultural production and food prices in 2023.
“Similarly, further volatility in the parallel market exchange rate and continued dependence on central bank financing of the budget deficit could exacerbate price pressures. In the medium term, there are downside risks to the oil sector from possible price and production volatility, while climate-related natural disasters pose downside risks to agriculture.”
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit has flagged suspicious transactions valued at over N150tn between January and March 2022, according to its Suspicious Transaction Report/Suspicious Activity Report released on Sunday.
The development came as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and NFIU officials said they had intensified their surveillance on campaign spending by political parties and their candidates ahead of the 2023 polls.
Multiple EFCC and NFIU sources said their personnel were carrying out a series of joint operations to close in on several suspicious spending by parties, candidates and top chieftains.
NFIU, formerly a unit under the EFCC, is the central national agency responsible for the coordination of the country’s anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing frameworks.
Also, the EFCC has deployed its operatives to track candidates’ campaign spending and monitor their bank accounts as part of actions to combat money laundering ahead of the general elections.
The development, it was gathered, was also meant to frustrate the movement of huge cash under the guise of election spending by the candidates and their political parties.
According to the latest NFIU report, the N150tn suspicious transactions were reported by banks, insurance firms, microfinance banks, assets management companies, brokers and other financial institutions.
The report shows that suspicious transactions have risen by 23 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period of last year.
Meanwhile, out of the 2,845,927 suspicious transactions recorded by financial institutions in the first quarter of the year, banks alone accounted for 2,810,213, according to the NFIU activity statistics.
The Punch also reports that Nigeria now ranks seventh on Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ crude oil production list, according to the organisation’s Monthly Oil Market Report for November, which examined oil production performance in October.
Nigeria’s output was a mere 1.014 million barrels per day in October, ranking seventh after Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Angola and Algeria.
While Nigeria’s production was 1. 014mb/d in October, Angola produced 1. 051mb/d; Algeria, 1.060mb/d; Kuwait 2.811mb/d; UAE, 3.188mb/d; Iraq, 4.651mb/d; and Saudi Arabia, 10. 957mb/d.
While Venezuela’s production was 711b/d, Equatorial Guinea’s was 57b/d. The likes of Gabon, Libya and Iran did not produce a barrel in the month.
Nigeria used to rank fifth, with countries such as Angola and Algeria behind it in terms of crude oil production.
West Africa’s largest economy has been through a rough path as its crude oil production is bedevilled by theft and pipeline vandalism.
A recent report by The PUNCH revealed how the country lost N415bn to the shutdown of nine crude oil terminals within the space of two months.
The Guardian says that barely six months to the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the Federal Government’s total debts and other financial liabilities have reached N71.46 trillion.
The figure does not include undocumented contingent liabilities to university lecturers, public school teachers and other public employees to whom government is indebted.
Analysts say these undocumented liabilities could run into several trillions. The figures also exclude other pending financial liabilities to non-lending bilateral and multilateral institutions. These include regional and global institutions the country subscribes to as a member.
While the traditional debt stock of the central government has ballooned from less than N10 trillion as at June 2015, a month into the current administration, to N35.7 trillion in June 2022, FG has revealed that its debt obligations to road contractors are about N11.16 trillion.
During a recent budget defence, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said government was committed to highway contractors to the tune of about N10.4 trillion even as a total of about N765 billion relates to unpaid certificates for executed works.
Of Nigeria’s documented N42.8 trillion sovereign debts as at June, FG’s obligation stood at N35.7 trillion. The amount does not include the controversial Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s estimated N20 trillion overdraft extended to the Federal Government.
Besides, government’s “contingent liabilities” to different institutions and projects stood at N4.6 trillion at the close of last year. The figure is projected to reach N4.98 trillion by December and jump by as much as 50 per cent to N7.52 trillion next year when the current administration is billed to hand over.
Last year, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said the facility would be converted to a 30-year instrument. This was to be done in line with the debt management strategy of the administration, which leans towards long-term maturing.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, followed up with confirmation of the securisation plan, but it drew a shocked reaction from experts who warned that the plan was alien to Ways and Means (W&M) management and runs foul of the CBN Act.
The newspaper reports that unspecified number of terrorists were killed in Kaduna State, at the weekend, following fresh raid by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) that destroyed their camps and forced several others to flee with wounds.
The state government, yesterday, confirmed the fresh raid by the military on the bandits’ hideouts. In a statement, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed: “The Air Component of Operation Whirl Punch (OPWP) has continued aerial assaults on identified bandit enclaves around Kaduna since last week.
“According to an operational feedback to the Kaduna State Government, a major enclave south of Kidandan, Giwa Local Council, which was confirmed as the hideout of a bandit, Alhaji Ganai, was struck and destroyed. The bandit and several others were neutralised in the strike.”
He added that the hideout of Ali Kawaje in Birnin Gwari Local Council was targeted and destroyed, as well as those of Musa Pajelo and Kachalla Bello.
The statement reads: “Targets were also engaged and destroyed in Walawa area, Fadaman Kanauta and Kuduru. Bandits were sighted and neutralised in locations 4km south-west of Alhaji Ishiaka, 6km north-east of Maguzawa and 2km west of Yelwa.
“Several armed bandits were sighted and neutralised at Dankero in Giwa. Areas covered by the military onslaught in Chikun Local Council include Gwagwada Forest, Kugosi, Godani, Twali, Gwagwada, Sarkin Pawa, Kabai, Kabusu Hills, Amara Hills, Sabon Gayan and Polewire. An active location was engaged and destroyed about 4km south of Godani.”
GIK/APA