Photograph — Financial Watch

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari signed the country’s 2018 budget into law last week Wednesday, making it the latest the Nigerian yearly budget has ever been signed. The N9.12 trillion budget was signed on the 171st day of the year, just a few days before mid-point of the Nigerian government fiscal year of January to December. This year’s budget is 22.6 percent higher than the 2017 budget, on a benchmark oil price of $45 per barrel.

The 2018 budget was presented to Nigeria’s National Assembly in November 2017 by the president. However, it took the House of Assembly six months to sign the budget appropriation bill. The Nigerian senate also increased the budget by N508 billion, increasing its own allocation in the budget by N14.5 billion, while removing N347 billion in the allocations for more than 4,000 projects across Nigeria, many for the country’s social infrastructures. The House of Assembly introduced 6,403 projects amounting to N578 billion.

The Nigerian senate has been criticized for removing projects and adding some of its programmes, with many questioning the legality of doing that. The Nigerian federal government also criticized the National assembly for the delay and the re-direction of budget allocations, and promised to “to remedy some of the most critical of these budget alterations through a supplementary and/or amendment budget.”

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 22nd of June 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 released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as of 22nd June 2018, showed that the All-Share Index depreciated by 2.74 percent from the previous week ending 14th June 2018. Market capitalization at the close of trading during the week under review was N13.716 trillion which was a 2.74 percent decrease from N14.102 trillion recorded the previous week. The All-Share Index for the week under review closed at 37,862.53

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers
Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc.
C & I Leasing Plc.
N.E.M Insurance Co (NIG) Plc.
Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc.
Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc.

Top five price decliners
Honeywell Flour Mill Plc.
Lasaco Assurance Plc.
Cement Co. of North NIG. Plc.
Seplat Petroleum Development Company Ltd.
Skye Bank Plc.

How did the Naira fare?


The Naira rose in value slightly against the Dollar in the parallel market. In the week under review, It was sold at N360/$ on Friday 15th of June 2018, a slight rise from N361/$ recorded on the 22nd of June 2018. The value of the Naira to the dollar has oscillated between 360 and 361 Naira for the most part of the year, suggesting that perhaps the exchange rate has been held constant by the Nigerian government.

How did the prices of oil fare?

Brent Crude prices ended at $75.06 last week even as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting (OPEC) finished its ministers’ meeting last week at Vienna, Austria.

OPEC members on Friday agreed to produce more oil, though this new agreement will not affect the production cuts that they all signed 18 months ago. Saudi Arabia says the new deal would see an increase of about 1 million barrels per day, which is 1 percent of the global oil supply. Iran, on the other hand, argues that the increase in oil production will be closer to 700,000 barrels per day.

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