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Recent domestic Crude oil statistics from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), reveals an increase in total crude oil export sales in December 2016. Relative to November 2016, total export sales of crude oil rose from $166.18 million to $195.40 million in December 2016 representing 17.6 percentage (Month-on-Month) increase. The increase is attributable to a rise in crude oil production following a drastic (Year-on-Year) reduction in pipeline vandalism in the preceding month. Given that improvement in oil revenue is critical to fiscal sustainability and external balance, intensified efforts should be implemented towards the maintenance and sustainability of peace in the Niger Delta Region.

The nations foreign reserves have been on a steady rise. In the review week, reserves increased by $415.2 million from $28.3 billion on February 3, 2017 to $28.8 billion on February 10, 2017. The increase is likely the reflection of a sustained crude oil revenue complemented by moderating global crude oil price and increasing domestic production. This should help strengthen the ability of the CBN to foster forex liquidity, and thus help maintain stability in the domestic forex market. If sustained, it should also help improve the value of the naira overtime. Hence, the government should implement proactive and effective policy strategies to, not only, sustain improvements in oil revenue but also boost non-oil revenue.

The Naira continued to depreciate in the review week. At the parallel market, naira exchanged for N498/$ on January 27, 2017 and N500/$ on February 3, 2017. Despite the weekly sales of forex to BDCs and the significant improvements in the external reserves, the naira has continued to lose value to other currencies. The pressure on the naira has been triggered by escalating scarcity of forex in the spot market, likely due to forex hoarding. However, in the preceding week, the CBN sold $660 million in forwards contract in an attempt to manage liquidity and stabilize the naira. In the face of growing speculation in the parallel market, the monetary authority should institute mechanisms that would discourage excessive forex hoarding among licensed BDC operators. An initiative that monitors transaction dealings in the parallel market would go a long way in detecting erring BDC operators.

By Adedeji Adeniran Economic crisis is no doubt a painful episode for different economic entities; however it also presents an opportunity for implementing reforms, especially for economies like

This study examines the potential of regional trade in facilitating the achievement of inclusive development in the West African region. It employs descriptive analysis to examine the nature, composition and dimension of ECOWAS trade within the group and with the rest of the world, vis--vis three other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). From the preliminary study, it can be observed that the growth rate of West African economies is increasing, but the rising economic growth does not translate to improvement in inclusive development, as there was no significant reduction in poverty levels in the region. Further evidence reveals that extra-regional trade of the region is increasing at a very high rate, and also at a disproportionate rate with intra-regional trade, compared with SADC. This indicates the existence of opportunity to boost regional trade for inclusive development through conversion of part of the extra-regional trade into regional trade.

Recently released power sector report by the National Bureau of Statistics records a total average energy generation of 2,548GWH by 25 power stations, from October 2016 to December 2016. Daily Energy generation, attained the 2016Q4 highest level of 3,859.6MW in October 2016, and a lowest level of 2522MW in the same month. On the average, current daily energy generated which is below 3,000MW, prompts system malfunctions. Thus, the irregular power generation and supply experienced in recent times is attributable to shortage of gas owing to non-functional major pipelines, in addition to the inability of GENCOs to make payments for the available gas supply. Given the recent challenges to power supply, efforts should be geared towards the diversification of electricity generation. Government should consider investment in renewable as well as coal energy to complement gas power supply.

Global economic growth remained fairly stable in 2016Q3 with baseline projections for global growth at 3.1 percent and 2.4 percent by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank respectively. Growth in developed countries was moderate but unevenly distributed: while the U.S and the UK showed improvements, growth in other economies remained tepid. Among emerging countries, India witnessed higher growth while growth in China remained constant but the Chinese Yuan continued to appreciate. Given that India is Nigerias major crude oil importer, improving economic conditions in India may translate into rising demand for Nigerias crude oil. However, the continuous appreciation of the Yuan poses significant inflationary threat in Nigeria given the high level of imports from China. Subdued global demand, weak trade, uncertainties in commodity prices and consequences of the Brexit were the key constraining factors to growth over the period. In addition, growth in Sub-Saharan African countries remained generally slow on the account of low commodity price, political turmoil, and inconsistent government policies.

Provisional Monetary statistics by the CBN show an increase in currency in circulation a portion of overall money supply. Specifically, currency in circulation rose (Month-on-Month) by 14.2 percent to N2.2 million in December 2016  the highest Month-on-Month increase recorded for the year 2016. The rise in currency- outside-bank may be attributed to the growing demand for cash balances for spending activities during the festive period. This development would largely compound the liquidity problem associated with TSA implementation and ongoing CBN monetary tightening as deposit money banks might be cash-strapped. Going forward, efforts should be geared towards intensifying initiatives that promote a cashless economy that encourages cashless transactions.

Recent ranking by the World Bank, portrayed Nigeria as having a poor business environment based on the ease of doing business in 2016. Although, Nigeria moved one position forward from previous (2015) ranking, to attain the 169th position out of the 190 global economies reviewed4. This poor rating is resultant of a myriad of factors, including: difficulties in starting a business, enforcing contracts, inaccessibility to credit, tax payment issues, as well as unreliable supply of energy, and labour market regulations. Going forward, improving the efficiency of tax administration by adopting the latest technology to facilitate the preparation, filling and payment of taxes will be beneficial for the business community.