Daily Watch – Gold refinery breaks ground today, Edo gets World Bank funding
13th December 2018
The total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $2,855.21 million in the third quarter of 2018, representing a decrease of 48.21% compared to Q2 2018, and a 31.12% decrease compared to the third quarter of 2017, according to the NBS. The data shows that the largest amount of capital importation by type was received through portfolio investment, which accounted for 60.5%, $1.723 billion of the total capital importation, while other investment accounts for 21.07%, $601.53 million. FDI accounts for 18.58% ($530.63 million) of the total capital imported in Q3 with the United States emerging as the top source of capital investment in Nigeria in the quarter under review.
The World Bank is committing about $18.5 million (₦6.7 billion) to be spent on State for Employment and Expenditure For Results projects in Edo State for 2019. Parminder Brar, who led a team of World Bank officials on a courtesy visit to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, said that the state’s performance has led to the release of another tranche of $18.5 million to complete 59 sub-projects, which will provide jobs for about 9,000 youths in the next twelve months. Brar assured the state that SEEFOR would be supporting Technical and Vocational Training, as the institution is pleased with the progress recorded at the Government Science and Technical College, for which the bank has committed $2 million.
Moody’s has said that Nigeria’s credit profile, currently at B2 stable, is constrained by the continued exposure of the sovereign balance sheet to shocks due to the government’s inability to expand its non-oil revenue base sufficiently. According to Aurélien Mali, Moody’s VP, Senior Credit Officer and co-author of the report, only a durable increase in Nigeria’s non-oil revenue will improve its resilience to oil price volatility and increase realisation rates of capital spending on the large infrastructure projects that are crucial to its economic development. Until that is done, the country’s balance sheet will be exposed to further shocks, while deficits will remain elevated and debt affordability challenged.
Nigeria’s first gold refinery gets underway in Mowe, Ogun State, with a ground breaking today. Bawa Bwari, minister of mines and steel development would be joined by the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, and other functionaries from the public and private sectors for the ground breaking ceremony of the Kian Smith Gold Refinery. Udo Udoma, minister of budget and national planning, had recently announced in Abuja that the Federal Government has issued first gold refinery license in the country to Kian Smith.