Nigeria owes its central bank N20 trillion ($47 billion) and the obligations are yet to be added to the nation’s outstanding public debt, according to a report by the budget office. Nigeria’s budget office stated this in a document on its website on Friday, giving details of the country’s expenditure plans from 2023-2025. The country’s outstanding public debt also rose to N41.6 trillion.

Africa’s largest crude producer barely earned enough revenue to cover debt service payments in 2021, according to the budget office. In the first four months to April, government income of N1.63 trillion was less than the N1.94 trillion needed to cover debt-service payments, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said, according to a presentation on the budget office’s website.

Here’s a rundown of what happened in key African markets for the week ending 5th August 2022.

Stock markets

Here’s how stocks performed in key African markets (Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya) at the end of the week:

• Nigeria

The NGX All-Share Index increased by 0.7% to close the week at 50,722.33 basis points.

Top 5 Gainers

1. Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc – +47.83%
2. Honeywell Flour Mill Plc – +36.10%
3. PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc – +20.59
4. Courteville Business Solutions Plc – +17.50
5. Caverton Offshore Support Grp Plc – +17.00

Top 5 Decliners

1. Mcnichols Plc – -18.68%
2. Learn Africa Plc – -15.38%
3. Bua Cement Plc – -15.15%
4. University Press Plc – -9.79%
5. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc – -9.68%

• Egypt

The EGX 30 index grew by 6.06% to close the week at 10,043.23 basis points.

Top 5 Gainers

1. E-Finance for Digital & Financial Investments SAE – +27.45%
2. Fawry Banking and Payment – +22.33%
3. Delta Construction & Rebuilding – +12.07%
4. T M G Holding – +11.71%
5. Cairo Development And Investment – +11.42%

Top 5 Decliners

1. Maridive & Oil Services – -11.11%
2. Medinet Nasr Housing – -8.21%
3. Nozha International Hospital – -4.61%
4. General Co. For Land Reclamation, Development & Reconstruction – -2.99%
5. Grand Investment Capital – -1.48%

• South Africa

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange closed at 69,519.25 basis points, representing a 1.28% week-on-week growth.

Top 5 Gainers

1. Grand Parade Investments Ltd – +21.78%
2. 4Sight Holdings Ltd. – +12.00%
3. Sephaku Holdings Ltd. – +8.62%
4. Master Drilling Group Ltd. – +7.69%
5. Sea Harvest Group Ltd. – +7.65%

Top 5 Decliners

1. Finbond Group Ltd – -10.00%
2. MC Mining Ltd – -10.00%
3. Cloud Atlas AMI Big50 – -7.17%
4. Onelogix Group Ltd. – -7.14%
5. Trematon Capital Inv Ltd – -6.98%

• Kenya

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index gained 2.26% at the end of the week to close at 142.01 basis points.

Top 5 Gainers

1. Crown Paints Kenya – +9.62%
2. Uchumi Supermarkets – +9.09%
3. Eveready East Africa – +8.11%
4. Home Afrika – +6.06%
5. Standard Group – +5.20

Top 5 Decliners

1. TPS Eastern Africa – -10.00%
2. East African Cables Ltd – -8.33%
3. Eveready East Africa Ltd – -7.5%
4. Liberty Kenya Holdings Ltd – -6.78%
5. Home Afrika Ltd – -5.71%

Currency markets

Here’s how these countries’ currencies performed against the US dollar at the close of the week:

• The Nigerian naira started the week at N428.88/$ and closed at N428.12/$ at the Investors and Exporters Window. At the parallel market, it started the week at N692.25/$ and closed at N650/$.
• The Egyptian pound started the week at E£18.98/$ and closed the week at E£19.11/$.
• The South African rand started the week at R16.51/$ and closed the week at R16.78/$.
• The Kenyan shilling started the week at Ksh118.90/$ and closed the week at Ksh119.92.

Oil price

• Brent crude traded at $100.03/barrel on Monday but tanked to $94.92/barrel as of Friday.
• U.S. oil traded at $93.89/barrel on Monday but settled at $89.01/barrel on Friday.

Crypto markets

The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $1.1 trillion as of Monday and closed the week at $1.09 trillion. Here’s how the top three cryptocurrencies performed:

• Bitcoin dropped 3.24 per cent over the week to $23,013 as of 11:30 AM WAT on Sunday.
• Ethereum dropped 1.15 per cent to $1684 as of report time.
• Binance Coin gained 6.76 per cent to $313.58 as of report time.

Tech funding

• FaidiHR, a Kenyan cloud HR automation startup, received undisclosed funding from SprintX to expand its business in East Africa, eyeing entry into Uganda, Tanzania, and DRC.
• Oui Capital, a Lagos and Massachusetts-based VC firm, has announced the completion of the first close of its $30 million second fund, Oui Capital Mentors Fund II, as part of its efforts to strengthen its footprint on the continent.
• South African gaming startup, Skrmiish, raised a $2.5million seed for its mobile play-to-earn app.

From the experts

According to Telit Sule, Assistant Editor at BusinessDay, Nigeria’s internal debt problem is causing concerns that its inflation woes are not yet over. “For the CBN to lend that much money to the FG, it has to print more naira,” said Sule. “And when too much currency in circulation causes inflation, the benchmark interest rate will be raised. That would in turn make the cost of doing business go up and consumers will have to start paying more. In the end, citizens become poorer as their purchasing power is reduced.”