Daily Watch – Investors get cold feet over power, Petrol price weighs on inflation

13th August 2015

  • Investors are getting cold feet in their acquisition of seven out of ten National Integrated Power plants (NIPPs), having failed to make full payment of the value of the assets thus far. The implication of this is that up to 5,000MW of electricity, which is expected from the NIPPs, will not take off yet. The reasons being advanced for stalling are varied. According to industry sources, some of the investors got multiple assets under different names and feared that a new transparency inclined government would find this questionable. Some were uncertain over the policy direction of the Buhari administration, and some raised concerns over the commercially viability of gas supplies to some of the plants.
  • Nigerian consumer inflation remained at 9.2 percent year-on-year in July unchanged from the previous month, which marked the highest rate since February 2013 and above the central bank’s target upper limit, the National Bureau of Statistics has said. Food inflation remained at 10.0 percent year-on-year in July, unchanged from June, as slower increases in the some food categories such as meat and fruits weighed on the index, the NBS said, but the high cost of petrol, at over ₦87 official pump price, continues to weigh on local consumer prices.
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down four of its zonal offices, Ibadan, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Onitsha, saying that the decision became necessary “after a careful review of the operations and performances of all the zonal offices.” The regulator wants to strengthen the remaining three in Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt.
  • The Flour Mills of Nigeria has sought approval from the stock exchange to list ₦30.06 billion ($151 million) shares from a rights issue, the food manufacturer said on Wednesday. The company issued 1.09 billion ordinary shares at ₦27.50 each on the basis of five new shares for every 12 held, it said in its application to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
  • Nigeria plans to raise ₦62.43 billion ($315 million) in Treasury bills of 3-month and 6-month tenor on August 20, the Central Bank of Nigeria said on Wednesday. The CBN said it will raise ₦32.43 billion worth in the 3-month paper and 30 billion naira in the 6-month debt, using the Dutch Auction System. Nigeria issues Treasury bills twice a month to borrow funds from the banking system to fund the government’s budget deficit and help manage liquidity in the economy.