The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (a group called OPEC+) agreed Saturday to extend its current record output cuts by another month, a move targeted at providing further support for oil price recovery. The current output cut is to terminate at the end of June but the cartel will now maintain production cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day till the end of July as against the daily 7.7 million barrels that were initially planned. 

The agreement, reached in a virtual meeting, is seen as a victory for Saudi Arabia and Russia, who have been trying to persuade other members of the alliance to implement these cuts. Meanwhile, Nigeria has restated its commitment under the existing agreement and will make additional cuts from July to September to compensate for producing more than its quota in May and June, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources said via its official twitter handle.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index, for the week ending 5th of June 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 June 5, 2020, showed that the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization both depreciated by 1 percent and 0.9 percent to close the week at 25,016.30 and N13.050 trillion respectively. All other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE AFR Div Yield and NSE Consumer Goods Indices while NSE ASeM closed flat.

Top price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc.

Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc.

Japau Oil & Maritime Services Plc.

UACN Property Development Company Plc.

Associated Bus Company Plc.

Top five price decliners

Afromedia Plc.

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.

UACN Plc.

Fidson Healthcare Plc.

PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc.

The NSE on Friday held the first webinar in Sustainable Capital Markets Forum for West Africa series in partnership with the Milken Institute. The event themed, Fundamentals of Developing Green Bond Markets kicked off with an Executive Director at the Milken Institute, Staci Warden sounding the closing gong of the exchange to commemorate World Environment Day 2020.

How did the Naira fare?

Nigeria's-Inflation-rate
Picture credit:  PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images

The Nigerian currency slid against the dollar at the close of last week, trading at ₦389 per dollar, a fall from the ₦387 to a dollar recorded a week before.

At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the naira appreciated to ₦386.50 per dollar  as of Friday, June 5, 2020, different from the Central Bank’s published exchange rate, which currently stands at ₦360/$1. This is also different from the exchange rate at the parallel market, which depreciated to ₦450 to a dollar, according to data available on AbokiFX.

How did the price of oil fare?

Oil on Friday 5th of June 2020 saw a weekly rise as international benchmark Brent rose to $42.66 from $35.47 a week earlier. This was followed by news of the OPEC+ agreement on Saturday, which has had a positive impact on crude oil prices. 

Brent crude went up by more than 5 percentselling for $42.30 per barrel on Saturday morning while the American WTI crude went up by over 5 percent to close at $39.55 per barrel. The Nigerian Bonny light crude rose by 2.90 percent to sell for $41.17 per barrel, the highest in 5 months, reports show.

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