Daily Watch – Ghana records trade surplus, KCB cuts interest rate
6th December 2024

Nigeria’s 2025 budget, which is pegged on an optimistic oil price and production of over two million barrels per day (bpd), may suffer a major threat given the decision by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to maintain production cut into 2026. The decision may freeze oil prices as Brent traded for about $72 per barrel on Thursday with the highest in the last month being about $75 per barrel. Nigeria is proposing a budget of ₦47.9 trillion for 2025 while the Federal Government’s revenue is projected at ₦34.82 trillion. The revenue target may only be realistic on the assumption of an oil price of $75 per barrel and production of two million bpd. Currently, Nigeria produces less than 1.5 million barrels per day while the country’s OPEC quota for 2025 stands at 1.5 million barrels per day.
The Federal Government earned ₦2.78 trillion in taxes from information, communications technology and telecoms firms in the first half (H1) of 2024. Some foreign digital companies operating in Nigeria, including Google, Microsoft and TikTok paid ₦2.55 trillion ($1.5 billion) in taxes in the period. The details were revealed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). In the first half of 2024, MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest mobile network operator, paid N232 billion in taxes – an astonishing 586 per cent increase from last year. It paid 54 separate taxes in 2024 alone across various federal, state and local government agencies. The Development agency also commended Google, Microsoft, X and TikTok for their compliance with the Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries.
Ghana recorded a trade surplus of GH₵3.9 billion in quarter three of 2024. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), exports in the third quarter of 2024 amounted to GH₵74.8 billion, while imports totalled GH₵70.9 billion. This marked a significant improvement, with a turnaround of a trade deficit of GH₵2.3 billion in Q3 2023 to a surplus of GH₵3.9 billion in Q3 2024. In US dollar terms, the total trade amounted to US$9.6 billion, consisting of US$4.9 billion in exports and US$4.7 billion in imports. Gold bullion, valued at GH₵46.5 billion, was the top export product in the third quarter of 2024, with a value more than four times that of the second-highest export, crude petroleum, which was valued at GH₵11.6 billion. The top five export products – gold, crude petroleum, cocoa paste, manganese ores and tuna, accounted for 83.2% of total exports.
South Africa’s current account deficit was broadly unchanged from the second to the third quarter of the year, staying at 1% of gross domestic product (GDP), central bank data showed on Thursday. In rand terms, the current account deficit narrowed to 70.8 billion rand ($3.91 billion) in July-September, from a revised 75.3 billion rand in the previous three-month period. The trade surplus narrowed slightly to 177.0 billion rand from 179.5 billion rand, as the value of goods exported decreased more than that of imports. Meanwhile, Kenya’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate by a larger-than-expected 75 basis points to 11.25% on Thursday, saying there was room for looser policy to support economic growth as inflation was under control. In October it also cut by 75 basis points (bps) after a 25-bps cut in August.