Data shows that currency outside the banking system has dropped by 9.51 per cent in almost three months, driven by the current naira policy. Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that currency outside banks declined to ₦2.57 trillion in December 2022, from ₦2.84 trillion in October 2022, when the policy was announced. Historic data from the CBN showed that in 2015, currency-in-circulation was only ₦1.4 trillion. As of October 2022, currency in circulation had risen to ₦3.23 trillion; out of which only ₦500 billion was within the banking system and ₦2.7 trillion was held permanently in people’s homes.
Ex-depot price of petrol has risen by 110 per cent in four months, according to reporting by The Punch. The data showed that the ex-depot price rose from ₦148 per litre last October to an average of ₦312 per litre on 3 February this year. However, the scarcity had seen prices hit an average of ₦312 per litre within the space of four months, according to the latest industry data report published by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN). While the hike was witnessed at the depots, pump prices had also jumped from ₦179/₦180 per litre to as high as ₦500/litre, depending on the location. According to the data, the least average ex-depot price of petrol within the period under review was ₦303/litre. Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) recently jacked up the ex-depot price to ₦172 per litre, the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) said rising foreign exchange rates contributed to elevated depot prices of petroleum products. DAPPMAN also cited illegal levies and the high cost of daughter’s vessels as other factors fuelling the price hikes.
Ghana’s Finance Ministry has announced that the country’s domestic debt exchange programme has been successfully closed as foreign lenders discuss forming an official creditor committee, which would be a first step for the country to start debt relief talks as it struggles to manage its post-Covid economic crisis. After five extensions of a December deadline, Ghana closed its domestic debt exchange program (DDEP) on 10 February with more than 80 per cent participation of eligible bonds, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. Addressing domestic debt means the country is getting closer to securing a $3 billion (2.8 billion euro) International Monetary Fund bailout.
Kenyan soldiers will join the police to fight “rampant incidents of banditry” across the arid northwest that have killed more than 100 civilians and 16 police officers over the past six months, officials have said. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the situation in the northern Rift Valley Region constituted a national emergency and gave people in the area three days to surrender their firearms before being subjected to the “full force of the law. “Painful and decisive measures must be taken effective immediately,” Kindiki said in a statement. As part of the response, the army will be sent to six counties in the region on Wednesday, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale said in a separate statement.