Nigeria is toiling to find buyers for its crude oil as strikes in the French refining sector and seasonal maintenance at European plants cut into the OPEC producer’s sales.

There are reports that about 25 shipments of the country’s crude for April loading were still searching for buyers, according to four traders specialising in the West African market. Each cargo was reported to contain about a million barrels of crude.

According to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, France, one of Nigeria’s biggest buyers, took an average of 110,000 barrels daily of Nigeria’s oil over the past year.

However, demand has shrivelled this month, with France’s overall crude imports dropping by half in March as the nationwide dispute over pension reforms escalated.

READ ALSO: Uncertainties Might Persist Amid High Risks To Financial Stability – IMF

Bloomberg also reports that European plants are also buying less crude because of seasonal maintenance adding to the impact of the strikes.

“The Nigerian backlog is a combination of higher freight costs, lower tanker availability — specifically into Europe — as well as lower overall demand for West Africa light sweet as crude from other regions is deluging markets,” said Viktor Katona, a lead crude analyst at Kpler.

Amid the continued tension necessitated by the Russia-Ukraine war and the post-COVID-19 pandemic effect, the International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday that risks to financial stability have increased following the recent sector in the financial industry.

Speaking at the China Development Forum in Beijing, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said she expected 2023 to be another challenging year.

Her position is based on the rate of global growth slowing to below 3.0 per cent due to the war in Ukraine, monetary tightening and scarring from the pandemic.

READ ALSO: IMF Warns CBN, Others Over Rising Inflation

She also stressed the need for vigilance despite the high risks.

She said, “Uncertainties are exceptionally high, with the outlook for the global economy likely to remain weak over the medium term. It is clear that risks to financial stability have increased.”

At the end of last week’s trading activities in the Nigeria Stock Market, the market capitalisation declined by N13 billion following the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Rate hike to 18 per cent.

According to data gathered by DAILY POST, the All-Share Index closed 0.04 per cent lower at 54,892.53 compared to the 54,915.39 it commenced last week.

A review of last week’s trade showed that similarly, all other indices finished lower except for NGX Consumer Goods and NXG Growth, which appreciated by 1.11 per cent and 2.90 per cent, respectively, while the NGX ASeM, NGX Oil and Gas indices and NGX Sovereign Bond index closed flat.

The NGX ASI went up slightly on Wednesday, a day after the new MPR rate was announced, but it continued to dip till the close of trading on Friday.

READ ALSO: Marketers Predict Six-month Fuel Scarcity, Prices Rise

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria raised Monetary Policy Rates, MPR, to 18 per cent from 17.5 per cent last month.

Muda Yusuf, the director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, earlier disclosed to DAILY POST that interest rate hike would affect investors in Nigeria.

However, stock analysts are optimistic that the market will bounce back since the elections are over.