Nearly a month after reports surfaced that Nigeria may be ready to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), President Muhammadu Buhari has blown the lid off, stating reasons for the country’s reluctance to commit to the trade pact.
The president, who demanded an impact assessment on the deal and approved the report in May, cited Nigeria’s lack of capacity to prevent other African countries from dumping goods into the country. According to him, this would impede the growth of emerging local industries, thus posing a challenge in the continental trade accord.
“I don’t think Nigeria has the capacity to effectively supervise and to ensure that our colleagues in AU (African Union) don’t allow their countries to be used to dump goods on us to the detriment of our young industries and our capacity to utilise foreign exchange for imported goods,” President Buhari said, in a meeting with the National Council of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Abuja.
The African leader’s claim is in line with that of the President MAN, Engineer Mansur Ahmed, who had urged the Federal Government not to sign the trade pact to save Nigeria from being used as a dumping ground for foreign goods.
“The position of the association is that the government should not sign the framework agreement until wide-reaching sensitization and proper assessment is conducted on its impact on the economy and the manufacturing sector,” Ahmed said in January. The association’s stand is based on a sector-specific study conducted on AfCFTA. Read more here.
Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 21st of June, 2019. 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 21st June 2019, showed that the All-Share Index depreciated by 0.65 percent from the previous week ending 14th of June 2019. Market capitalization at the close of trading during the week under review was N13.155trillion, a 0.59 percent decrease from N13.233 recorded the previous week. The All Share-Index for the week under review closed at 29,851.29
Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:
Top five price gainers
Linkage Assurance Plc.
NEM Insurance Plc.
Thomas Wyatt Nig. Plc.
Lafarge Africa Plc.
Champion Brew Plc.
Top five price decliners
CHAMS Plc.
CAP Plc.
Okomu Oil Palm Plc.
C & I Leasing Plc.
Associated Bus Company Plc.
How did the Naira fare?
The Naira’s value remained the same against the dollar last week as it ended at 359 Naira per dollar on the 21st of June 2019, the same value it had recorded a week before.
How did the price of oil fare?
Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 21st of June 2019 at $65.20 per barrel, up from around $64 recorded a week ago. Heightened tensions between oil producers, Iran and USA, with the former shooting down a US drone has meant had a positive effect on oil prices. The prospect of war between both countries and the disruption of trade on the seas in the Middle East gave oil prices a momentary lift last week.
