– Water scarcity to affect an increasing proportion of the world’s population – Several emerging markets have launched national water-management strategies – Upgrades to infrastructure and smart metering help to reduce water loss – Innovative funding mechanisms key to financing water security projects With extreme weather events such as drought or flooding becoming more…
One of the main benefits of a successful capital market is its ability to provide financing for important projects. Nigeria’s capital markets are no exception and are now regarded by a government keen to press ahead with a major programme of infrastructure development. According to Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, the country needs around $2.3trn over the next 21 years to become a fully modernised…
Interview:Tapas Das What is your assessment of capital markets amid the launch of exchange-traded derivatives (ETDs) on the Nigerian Exchange? TAPAS DAS: Nigeria’s capital markets were primarily client identification-based, whereby trades were executed on the client level. In contrast, the omnibus model used by Western counterparts permits managed trades of more than one person by a broker…
While recent years have seen many more established capital markets in the red, Nigeria’s capital markets have shown positive growth. At the close of 2022 the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) had a 19.9% return on investment, earning it the fourth best-performing index in the world, according to the MSCI-All Country World Index which tracks the performance of some 3000 stocks in 48 developed and emerging market…
A number of sub-Saharan African countries have sought to introduce taxes on electronic transactions in response to the sustained uptick prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. While such moves have been met with criticism, they represent an opportunity to boost tax revenue. Public finances in the region have been affected over the last two years by the global economic crisis, which has eroded revenue from…
At a ceremony in Lagos on October 25, 2022, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officials, government representatives and business leaders gathered to mark the one-year anniversary of the eNaira, Nigeria’s official digital currency and the first of its kind in Africa. At the ceremony, the central bank announced that the eNaira had been used in some 700,000 transactions worth around $18.3m since its introduction…
Banking has seen a major uptake in financial technology (fintech). The Covid-19 pandemic led to further development in the sector, with Nigeria experiencing the same global shift from physical workspaces to online ones. The pandemic also increased the need for Nigerian businesses and traders to find capital abroad, as foreign investors moved towards safer investments. Fintech has proven to be invaluable…
The Nigerian banking sector has seen robust growth in recent years despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation and exchange rate volatility. Driving this has been a combination of high-tech innovations from the financial technology (fintech) industry and a low-tech, traditional policy that has kept banks well capitalised and buffered against external…
Financial technology (fintech) firms are gaining market share that was formerly the preserve of established remittance service providers. Remittances have grown in importance in recent years and currently constitute the largest source of foreign income for many developing economies. They also tend to be countercyclical, increasing during economic downturns or natural disasters when other capital flows…
Despite global supply chain challenges, the value of trade between China and Africa rose to record levels in 2022. The increase partially reflected a shift in China’s policy away from government-backed investment and towards enhanced trade and cooperation. According to China’s Customs agency, the value of the country’s trade with Africa rose by 11% to $282bn that year, driven by an increase in…
