Nigeria’s oil sector shrunk by 12 per cent in the second quarter of this year, per its statistics bureau. A report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday shows that oil production declined to 1.43 million barrels per day in the second quarter, compared with 1.49 million barrels in the previous three-month period. Africa’s largest oil producer has been unable to meet its OPEC+ quota this year, partly because of crude theft.
However, the country’s GDP grew by 3.5 per cent year-on-year, marking its seventh consecutive quarterly expansion, thanks to a 4.8 per cent improvement in the non-oil sector. But this growth rate is less than the 5.01 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2021.
Market Roundup
Below is the Weekly Economic roundup from Ventures Africa for the week ending 26th August 2022. This economic index gives you a glimpse into recent activities in the African economy and price changes that could affect it.
Stock markets
Here is how stocks performed in key African markets (Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya) at the end of the week ending Friday, 26th August 2022:
- Nigeria
The NGX All-Share Index gained 0.63% (311.53 points) at the end of the week to close at 49,682.15 basis points.
Top 5 Gainers
Nem Insurance Plc — +30.89%
Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc. — +20.00%
Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc — +17.24%
Multiverse Mining And Exploration Plc — +14.29%
Honeywell Flour Mill Plc — +12.40%
Top 5 Decliners
N Nig. Flour Mills Plc. — -12.79%
FTN Cocoa Processors Plc. — -12.12%
Ellah Lakes Plc. — -10.00%
Fidson Healthcare Plc — -9.80%
Vitafoam Nig Plc. — -9.78%
- Egypt
The EGX 30, Egypt’s benchmark index, closed the week with a 0.5% (52.31 points) drop to 10,287.27 basis points.
Top 5 Gainers
Belton Financial Holding — +20.00%
Odin For Investment & Development — +10.77%
GB Auto — +9.45%
Medinet Nasr Housing — +9.18%
Egypt For Poultry — +8.97%
Top 5 Decliners
El Kahera El Watania Investment — -19.78%
Arabian Cement Company — -2.05%
Reacap Financial Investments — -1.07%
Sharkia National Food — -1.02%
Development & Engineering Consultants — -0.93%
- South Africa
The JSE benchmark index (J203) gained 1.4% over the week and closed trading at 70,173.13 basis points.
Top 5 Gainers
Sebata Holdings Ltd — +16.34%
Ellies Holdings Ltd — +11.76%
1nvest Platinum ETF — +9.49%
Libstar Holdings Ltd — +8.90%
MTN Zakhele Futhi — +8.70%
Top 5 Decliners
Kibo Energy Plc — -42.11%
Visual International Holdings — -20.00%
Conduit Capital Ltd — -16.67%
Trematon Capital Inv. Ltd. — -12.75%
Advanced Health Ltd. — -10.34%
- Kenya
The NSE All-Share Index dropped 3.93% (5.65 points) over the week to close trading at 137.91 basis points.
Top 5 Gainers
Bk Group — +9.73%
Express Kenya — +8.24%
Ncba Group — +7.33%
Sameer Africa — +7.30%
Home Afrika — +5.71%
Top 5 decliners
Bamburi Cement — -8.10%
Sasini Tea and Coffee — -7.66%
Eaagads Ltd — -7.41%
Longhorn Kenya — -6.77%
HF Group — -6.15%
Currency markets
Here is how Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa’s currencies performed against the US Dollar this week.
- The naira traded at N429.05/$ on Monday and closed the week at N430.33/$ on the Investors and Exporters Window.
- The Egyptian pound started the week at E£19.14/$ and closed trading at E£19.21/$.
- The Kenyan shilling started the week at Ksh 119/$ but closed at Ksh 120/$.
- The South African rand started the week at R17/$ and closed at R16.83/$.
Oil prices
- Brent oil started the week at $95.63/barrel and gained 5.6% to close the week at $100.99.
- The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) started the week at $89.58/barrel and gained 3.88% to close the week at $93.06/barrel.
Crypto markets
The cryptocurrency markets shrunk by 6.6% from $1.03trillion to $962 billion as of report time, according to data from Coinmarketcap.
- Bitcoin (BTC) fell 6.82% to trade at $19,967.
- Ether (ETH) fell 8.87% to trade at $1,474.
- Binance coin (BNB) fell 5.57% to trade at $279.
Tech funding
- SubsBase, an Egypt-based subscription and recurring revenue management platform, raised a $2.4m seed round to accelerate product development and support its expansion strategy across the MENA region.
- OBM, an Egypt-based ed-tech, raised an undisclosed “six-digit sum” to launch its latest application, Taleb and enhance expansion plans.
- Wami Agro, a Ghanaian AgriTech that aids rural farmers, raised $227k to offer training, input loans, and market access to smallholder farmers throughout the grains value chains.
- Taaply, a Cameroon-based digital business card provider, raised $500k to enable it to compete for growth opportunities in the healthcare and health insurance markets.
- Microtraction, a Lagos-based early-stage venture capital firm, raised $15m for the first close of its community fund, hoping to use the money to make first-round investments in at least 60 African entrepreneurs.
From the Experts
Virág Fórizs, an Emerging Markets Economist at Capital Economics, expects Nigeria’s oil to continue to decline. “We expect the drag from the oil sector to diminish further in the coming quarters, but the recovery outside of the oil sector is likely to lose steam, weighing on headline growth.”
