The July 2023 monthly OPEC oil market report indicates a general increase in international crude oil prices. According to the report, the OPEC reference basket, which reflects the average crude oil prices of OPEC member countries, experienced a month-on-month surge of $5.87 (7.8%), reaching an average of $81.06 per barrel. Concurrently, the ICE Brent front-month contract witnessed a substantial increase of $5.18 (6.9%), reaching $80.16 per barrel.

Nigeria's inflation rate surged by 1.29% points in July 2023 to reach 24.08%, compared to 22.79% in the preceding month, June. This is according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest Inflation and Consumer Price Index report. The rise in inflation can be attributed to the drastic impact of the removal of petroleum subsidies and the consolidation of the official currency rate, which affected the price of fuel, transportation, and the general prices of goods and services in the Nigerian economy.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in its monthly oil market report for August 2023, revealed that Nigeria’s oil output fell by 13.6 per cent to 1.08 million barrels per day (mb/d) in July 2023. This indicates a 0.16 mb/d decrease from the 1.25 mb/d produced in June.This implies that the country is still operating below its capacity, below the current quota of 1.7 mb/d allocated by OPEC.

This book provides a fascinating account of how trade affects women’s economic empowerment. This book offers a compelling examination of how women workers and entrepreneurs are empowered through trade. This is a must-read for those that are interested in supporting women-owned/led SMEs.

This book was first published by Springer Link. Read more here.

Authors: Yiagadeesen Samy , Adeniran Adedeji , Augustine Iraoya , Madhurjya Kumar Dutta , Jasmine Lal Fakmawii , Wen Hao

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Update released in July 2023, projects that the Nigerian economy will experience slowdown in 2023 and 2024. Nigeria’s economy growth rate stood at 3.3 percent in 2022. However, due to security issues combined with other factors, the IMF stated that the economy is likely to slow down to 3.2 percent and 3.0 percent in 2023 and 2024 respectively. However, these projections place Nigeria's economic growth below the anticipated expansion of 3.5 percent and 4.1 percent for the sub-Saharan Africa region in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

In resource-endowed countries, the ability of governments to spend on the critical sectors of their economies depends on the stability of resource prices. Similarly, in crude oil-endowed countries, governments face fiscal constraints during a decline in crude oil prices. Such declines often affect economic performance and mostly result in economic downturns (Raifu et al., 2020). This has been the experience of Nigeria, the largest oil-producing country in Africa. Since crude oil was discovered in 1956 at the Oloibiri village of Niger Delta and became commercialised in the early 1970s, it has become the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. The survival of Nigeria’s economy largely depends on oil price stability and oil revenue generation.

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In June 2023, Nigeria's money supply (M2) reached a record high of N64.3 trillion, increasing significantly by 15 percent (N8.8 trillion) from N55.5 trillion recorded in May, according to the Money and Credit Statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The money supply represents the total amount of money available in the economy at a specific time, which includes physical currency and various deposits held by individuals, businesses, and institutions in banks and financial institutions. The increase can be attributed to the supreme court’s judgement on the Naira redesign, which permitted the simultaneous use of old and new notes until the end of the year, and a re-evaluation of some dollar-based investments following the liberalisation of the forex market earlier in June.

The moderating role of regulatory quality in the relationship between ICT and financial development in Africa is investigated in this study. We employ data from 38 African countries from 2003 to 2020. For the analysis, a two-step system GMM is used. Our findings demonstrate that ICT and regulatory quality are essential for financial development. The net effect of ICT and regulatory quality on financial development is positive, implying that regulatory quality moderates upwards the nexus between ICT and financial development. 

_{The journal was written by Isiaka Akande Raifu, Ismaila Adeleye Okunoye and Alarudeen Aminu}

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According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its July 2023 Monthly Oil Market Report, Nigeria’s oil output dropped month-on-month (MoM), to 1.249 million barrels per day (mb/d) in June 2023. This represents a by 5.5 percent increase from 1.184 million mb/d recorded in May 2023. This output falls short of the country’s oil production quota of 1.74 mb/d assigned by OPEC and is also below the 2023 budget target of 1.69mb/d. This is a major source of concern, as the country is faced with challenges regarding revenue generation, with oil, the mainstay of the economy, being underutilised due to lower production levels.