Daily Watch – Half of Ghanaians oppose Niger intervention, Nigeria FX reserves estimated at $3.7B

Several Nigerian states are experiencing significant increases in petrol and diesel prices, surpassing official post-subsidy rates, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report for July 2023. Borno topped the price chart at ₦657.27 per litre, overshooting the post-subsidy adjusted official price of ₦600.35 per litre for that region by 9.5 percent. Abia followed with ₦643.15, while Gombe ranked third with ₦642.22, thus overshooting the adjusted prices by 7.13 percent and 6.9 percent respectively. Edo, Kwara and Benue States emerged with the lowest retail price at ₦530, ₦535.44 and ₦537.00 respectively.

JP Morgan has estimated Nigeria’s net foreign exchange reserve to be around $3.7 billion, much lower than the net figure of $14 billion reported at the end of 2021. The bank disclosed this in its latest report on Nigeria. The bank noted that the lower-than-reported FX reserve is the result of larger currency swaps and borrowings against the FX reserves. The bank, however, clarified it arrived at the $3.7 billion by making some assumptions which if incorrect will change the figure in their estimates. “FX forwards ($6.84 billion), securities lending ($5.5bn) and currency swaps ($21.3bn); and estimating currency swaps by backing out FX forwards and outstanding OTC Futures balances from an overall aggregate published in the financial accounts,” the report said.

More than half of the Ghanaian population is against the country’s participation in any military intervention in Niger by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a new survey by the Global InfoAnalytics indicates. The survey, which sampled the views of 1618 Ghanaians from across the 16 regions, saw 52 percent of respondents opposing Ghana’s involvement in the intended invasion of Niger. Data released by the research institution also showed that 38 percent of respondents supported Ghana’s participation in any military action in Niger while 10 percent of respondents did not have an opinion. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told AFP that more than two million children are “in need of humanitarian aid” in Niger, including about 1.5 million children under five are suffering from malnutrition and “at least 430,000 suffering from the deadliest form of malnutrition.”

Saudi border guards fired “like rain” on Ethiopian migrants trying to cross into the Gulf kingdom from Yemen, killing hundreds since last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. The HRW report draws from interviews with 38 Ethiopian migrants who tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen, as well as from satellite imagery, videos and photos posted to social media “or gathered from other sources.” Interviewees described 28 “explosive weapons incidents” including attacks by mortar projectiles, the report said. Some survivors described attacks at close range, with Saudi border guards asking Ethiopians “in which limb of their body they would prefer to be shot,” the report said. Other accounts described forced rape and beatings with rocks and iron bars.