Business

DMO Fails To Raise N117bn, CBN Tightens Policy

Published

3 years ago

October 23, 2022

The Debt Management Office has failed to raise N117bn from the sales of Federal Government]s N225bn Bond programme as subscription levels weakened in its October FGN bond auction.

The auction document on the DMO’s website showed that the agency offered N225bn for subscription to investors but raised N107.88bn through re-openings of the 14.55 per cent FGN APR 2029, 12.50 per cent FGN APR 2032 and 16.25 per cent 2037 FGN bonds.

Unlike previous auctions with records of oversubscription, the total subscription level recorded at the October auction was the lowest so far in 2022 as the DMO struggled to secure a total subscription of N119.18bn.

It suffered an under-subscription of about N117bn, which may be seen as a loss to the Federal Government’s effort to finance its budget deficit.

The development came against the backdrop of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent discount window tightening.

The CBN recently insisted that certain categories of its authorised dealers are not allowed to access the discount window on specified transactions.

The central bank stated this in a circular to all dealers on the access to the discount window, which was dated October 7, 2022, and signed by the apex bank’s Director, Financial Markets Department, Dr Angela sere-Ejembi.

It specifically reminded participants with successful bids at the Open Market Operations auctions to refrain from accessing the discount window on the auction date.

The apex bank warned that henceforth, failure for non-compliance to the directive shall result in the reversal of the allotment.

Similarly, the bank emphasised that successful bids at the government securities auctions, including the Nigerian Treasury Bills, FGN Bonds, and Sukuk, are not permitted to access the CBN discounted window on the settlement date.

The CBN explained that the move was necessitated by the non-adherence to the provisions guiding access to the discount window despite two previous circulars on the subject in 2012 and 2016.

It appears that the recent discount window tightening has impacted the FGN Bonds at the primary market auction, forcing local banks to play safe as a possible breach of CBN discount window rules attracts severe financial penalties.

Reacting, an investment research analyst at Meristem Securities Limited, Mr Damilare Ojo, said that there were a number of reasons for the low bond subscription, including the CBN tightening policy.

He said, “It is very low, unlike what we have been seeing in terms of subscription. One reason is the CBN tightening policy, which has reduced liquidity from participating institutions, particularly banks.

“Also, when looking at the system generally, liquidity is very low. The market seems to be saying that for the government to get funds for its budget, it needs to up its game.

“Furthermore, in recent times, there have been speculations that the DMO wants to securitise the ways and means, which is over N20tn, competing with the 2023 budget, which is a huge amount. So, it seems people are holding back from that bond auction to see whether they will be better opportunities.”

Also, reacting to this, a research analyst at Atlas Portfolios Limited, Mr Olaide Baanu, said that the low subscription could be a result of higher rates in secondary markets.

He said, “Since the CBN began the rate hikes to curb inflation, rates in the fixed income secondary market began to trend upward and this poses reasonable returns for investors.

“However, the recent under-subscription of DMO N225bn offer could be attributed to higher rates in the secondary market compared to the rates presented by the DMO. Also, many investors are taking advantage of the exchange rate to invest in dollar-denominated funds.”

He also noted that this shortfall might not affect the Federal Government’s ability to finance its budget deficit as the government can source money elsewhere, like through borrowing from the CBN.

Business

French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

Published

15 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

AFP

Business

BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

Published

20 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…

Business

Why Nigeria’s Crude Oil Production Dropped To 1.63mbpd In August – NUPRC

Published

2 days ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has explained that unscheduled maintenance at a refinery facility made Nigeria’s crude oil production drop on a month-on-month basis in August.

This comes as Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.63 million barrels per day month-on-month in August, down from 1.71 million bopd in July.

NUPRC disclosed this in its Crude Oil and Condensate Production for August 2025, released on Saturday.

This means a 4.7 per cent drop in combined crude oil and condensate production from 1.71 million bopd in July.

In the same vein, crude oil production itself declined by 4.8 per cent, down from 1.5 million bopd in July 2025.

“The month-on-month drop was driven by a single-day unscheduled maintenance at an oil facility.

“In the month of August, the lowest and peak combined crude and condensate production were 1.59 million bopd and 1.85 million bopd, respectively,” NUPRC said.

The data showed that while there was a decline month-on-month, the country’s crude oil production rose on a year-on-year basis by 5.5 per cent to 1.63 mbpd in August this year from 1.58 million bopd in the same period last year.

Further analysis indicates that daily condensate production in August stood at 197,229 bpd, reflecting a decline.

Also, Nigeria’s crude oil output in August achieved 96 per cent of its OPEC quota, which is set at 1.5 million bopd.

Accordingly, in the period under review, Forcados Terminal topped the production charts, delivering a total of 8.99 million barrels, including 8.08 million barrels of crude oil and 915.2k barrels of condensates.