Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
December 29, 2017
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 49)
OPEC weekly basket price reduced from $61.14 to $60.73 per barrel (December 1 8, 2017). Similarly, Global oil benchmark crude sold for as low as $61.22 per barrel during the week, down week-on-week by 1.8 percent. Nigerias Bonny light declined slightly by approximately 1 percent to $63.534. The fall in crude prices came after a sharp rise in U.S. inventories of refined fuel, which suggested that actual demand may be weakening5 (the EIA data shows an increase of 8.5 million barrels of stored fuel). Given that crude oil revenue remains critical to Nigerias budget performance, investments aimed at improving growth and competitiveness of other key sectors is essential to minimize distortions on budgetary expenditure.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 4)
The Naira/Dollar exchange rate remained
unchanged at ?199/$
in the official market but depreciated from ?263/$ to $267 at the Bureau De Change (BDC)
market segment this week. As the naira depreciates, the CBN forex
restriction measures continue to widen the gap between the official rate and
BDC, which has led to increased calls for naira devaluation. The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and Business owners are among the major advocates for a relaxation
of the forex restrictions set by the CBN, in order to enhance the level of economic
activities.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 1)
The
external reserve increased week-on-week by 2 percent to $26.3 billion on
January 6, 2017. The increase was likely triggered by continued
marginal rise in crude oil price, which moderated oil revenue in the review
week. The recent rise in crude oil price is likely to be maintained in the
short term given the recent oil production cut deal by OPEC members. Thus, the Nigerian
government should target short term increase in crude oil production to fully
take advantage of Nigerias exemption from oil production cut and potential
rise in oil prices.