Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank last week raised the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 500 basis points to 27.5 percent on fears of inflation while it maintained other key parameters.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this while reading the communique at the end of the first MPC meeting in the year 2020 on Friday in Abuja. More details here.
Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 24th of January, 2020. 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 January 24, 2020, showed that the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization both appreciated by 0.03 percent to close the week at 29,628.84 and N15.262 trillion respectively. All other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE Premium, NSE Pension, NSE Insurance, NSE Industrial Goods index, etc while NSE ASeM Index closed flat.
Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:
Top five price gainers
Law Union & Rock Ins. Plc.
Honeywell Flour Mill Plc.
NEM Insurance Plc.
Lafarge Africa Plc.
Caverton Offshore Support Grp Plc.
Top five price decliners
NCR (Nigeria) Plc.
Eterna Plc.
Arbico Plc.
Associated Bus Company Plc.
Unity Bank Plc.
How did the Naira fare?
The Nigerian currency maintained its value against the dollar at the close of last week, trading at 362 Naira per dollar, the same rate recorded a week before.
How did the price of oil fare?
Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 24th of January, 2020 at $61.06 per barrel, a decrease from $65.10 a week earlier. But as concerns grow over the potential impact of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China, oil prices slid on Monday – brent fell below $60 per barrel for the first time since October – with safe-haven assets such as government treasury bills recording higher demand.
