On Wednesday, the Nigerian office of African Telecommunications giant MTN was slammed with a huge fine by Nigeria’s apex bank and financial regulator, the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) for violating extant laws and regulations on foreign exchange in the country.
This comes after the CBN ordered an investigation to unearth the inconspicuous aspects of an incident which took place two years ago. CBN imposed a fine of N5.87 billion on four banks for allegedly repatriating 8.1 billion USD and asked MTN to return the total amount moved through those banks. The Central Bank has directed all affected banks (Standard Chartered Bank, Citigroup, Diamond bank and Stanbic IBTC) to refund 8.1 billion USD which was transferred during the height of the 2016 economic recession.
Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 31st of August, 2018. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy:
Nigerian Stock Exchange
Data revealed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as of 31st August 2018, showed that the All-Share Index depreciated by 1.63 percent from the previous week ending 24th August 2018. Market capitalization at the close of trading during the week under review was N12.722 trillion, a 1.63 percent decrease from N12.875 trillion recorded the previous week. The All Share Index for the week under review closed at
Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:
Top five price gainers
Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc.
AIICO Insurance Plc.
PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc.
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc.
N.E.M. Insurance Co (Nig.) Plc.
Top five price decliners
Ikeja Hotel Plc.
First Aluminum Nigeria Plc.
Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc.
Forte Oil Plc.
Skye Bank Plc.
How did the Naira fare?
The Naira depreciated against the dollar last week as it finished the week at N361/$, one Naira more than N360/$ recorded on Friday, 24th August 2018.
How did the price of oil fare?
Oil prices continue to rise as they rose from $75.60 per barrel on the 24th of August 2018 to $78.23 on the 31st of August 2018. This was due to US sanctions on Iranian oil exports. However, oil prices are expected to fall this week as oil output from OPEC and the USA are expected to rise.
