Coronavirus

Covid-19: Tinubu asks FG to print more naira notes, outlines economic measures

The National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has urged the Federal Government to print more naira notes to save the economy from total collapse due to the adverse effect of the coronavirus pandemic

Published

2 months ago

March 29, 2020

Chike Olisah

Bola Tinubu, coronavirus, Covid-19: Tinubu asks FG to print more naira notes, outlines economic measures, COVID-19: Tinubu donates 200million

The National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has urged the Federal Government to print more naira notes to save the economy from total collapse due to the adverse effect of the coronavirus pandemic and crash in crude oil prices globally.

This advice is part of a special message which was issued by the former Governor to President Muhammadu Buhari, a day before his 68th birthday.

In his special message which was monitored by Nairametrics and titled: A message on the coronavirus; A time for unity, a time for thought, a time for action, Tinubu, outlined ideas and measures that the president and members of his team can take in order to navigate Nigeria out of a possible recession that will arise from the coronavirus pandemic as oil prices fall and government revenue shrinks.

He admitted that we as Nigerians are facing challenges that we cannot see, but can find us too easily. That the coronavirus disease is here and cannot be paid off and bargained with by the rich, read their bank statements or intimidated by them. The disease as well does not care or have mercy for the poor, recognize religion or geographical location.

He admonished Nigerians that the present crisis is a wakeup call to unite and act as one blood.

Asiwaju Tinubu, asked Nigeria to emulate China and other Asian countries, who took very drastic actions like lockdown of cities and closure of key segments of their economies in order to confront the spread of the coronavirus.

On the economic front, he said that economic activity is a fraction of what it was just a month ago and as such, deep recessions are forecasted.

In his statement, he said, ‘Economic activity is a fraction of what it was just a month ago. Deep recessions are forecasted.

‘Some experts fear depression now tracks the world down. Governments worldwide are responding by embarking on unprecedented stimulus packages to keep their economies afloat’.

The APC National Leader listed some of the stimulus package announced by some major economies around the world to include; the pumping of trillions into their financial markets by the Chinese, launching of an unprecedented fiscal stimulus package in the United Kingdom, the Germans putting aside its constitutional prohibition on deficit spending to formulate a historic and an unprecedented fiscal stimulus package, the $2 trillion fiscal stimulus by Trump administration in the US.

Tinubu believes that Nigeria should take lessons from some of these countries in the implementation of some of those strong economic measures. He said that the crash of oil prices to less than $30 dollar per barrel will lead to a massive reduction in government revenue and foreign exchange earnings.

As a result of this, he advised the Federal Government to print more Naira, just as the US has used its sovereign right to issue its own currency, the dollar to stave off economic disaster. He said, while individuals, companies and state governments can go bankrupt during hard times, the federal government cannot be naira insolvent because it has the ability to issue our national currency.

However, in doing this, together with increased spending, the government needs to monitor the inflation rate and ensure that it doesn’t go too high.

Other economic measures to help manage the coronavirus threat to the economy includes:
• Suspension of VAT for the next 2-4 months and tax credits of partial tax reductions for companies. This is to help lower import costs and guard against shortages.
• Lower interest rates in order to encourage borrowing and private sector activity.
• Maintaining of government expenditure rather than reduce spending at this critical period. In fact, he encouraged an increase of at least 10%-15% during this kind of emergency.
• Ensuring food security by protecting citizens from food shortages and high prices.
• Increase of stipends to the poor. This can be done by widening the net and substantially increasing the number of recipients of this programme.
• As for the exchange rate, he advised CBN to allow some downward pressure on the naira and should only intervene when it looks like the rate will come down. He said government should revisit the ban on non-institutional Nigerian dollar holders from taking part in open market operations.
• The enactment of extraordinary measures by CBN to forestall stress in the financial sector. They should ensure liquidity in the financial system by expanding its balance sheet and buying of government bonds and other instruments held by banks and other institutions.

Chike Olisah

Chike Olisah is a graduate of accountancy with over 15 years working experience in the financial service sector. He has worked in research and marketing departments of three top commercial banks. Chike is a senior member of the Nairametrics Editorial Team. You may contact him via his email- chike.olisah@nairametrics.com.

1 Comment

Public Mail

March 30, 2020 at 12:06 pm

Such a simplistic proposition to ‘print naira notes’. What is required is a mechanism to guarantee the provision of household items and other requirements in an effective way. Someone in Ondo state suggested the establishment of food banks. That’s a brilliant idea. Majority of the items on this news are better said than done.

Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Coronavirus

CBN extends timeframe for submission of banks’ audited financial statements

“Therefore, the deadline for submission has been extended by three months. For the avoidance of doubt, all Other Financial Institutions are required to submit the 2019 Audited Financial Statements on or before July 31, 2020.”

Published

6 hours ago

May 30, 2020

Chike Olisah

LDR: Growing the real sector by fiat?, Rapid increase in food prices temporary – Emefiele, CBN and other industry stakeholders establish N1 billion Bankers’ Charitable Endowment Fund , How the CBN’s OMO restriction is affecting the market , Nigerian economy to grow by 2.38% in Q4 - CBN, New CBN report shows Nigerians will reduce consumption of luxury items, Banks violating CBN’s directive on N50 charge on accounts, send contradictory messages, What is on Godwin Emefiele’s mind?, These CBN policies are contradictory and stifling on banks, What you need to know as Banks rebrand CBN intervention funds to woo borrowers, CBN extends timeframe for submission of audited financial statements by other financial institutions

In recognition of the effect of the economic lockdown across major cities in the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has announced the extension of the timeframe for the submission of 2019 audited financial statements of banks and other financial institutions (OFIs).

This was disclosed in a letter to OFIs that was signed by CBN’s Director of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Nkiru Asiegbu, as seen by Nairametrics.

In the letter, which was dated April 30th, 2020, the CBN extended the timeframe for submission of its audited financial statement by 3 months to July 31st, 2020, as against the initial timeframe of April 31st, 2020.

The decision by the apex bank is in recognition of the fact that the lockdown of most of the cities in the country and movement restrictions have seriously affected the operations of the external auditors and all other financial institutions across the country. Part of the letter said:

“Pursuant to the provisions of section 27 (1) (a) of BOFIA, all the banks and OFIs are required to forward the audited financial statements of each financial year to the CBN for approval before the end of the fourth month following the year to which they relate. Accordingly, the 2019 Audited Financial Statements should have reached the CBN on or before April 30, 2020.

“However, we have observed that the lockdown of most cities in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic has restricted the engagement of External Auditors and the daily operations of all OFIs across the country.

The CBN also threatened to sanction defaulters as they would monitor the compliance to the extended date.

Coronavirus

Covid-19 Update in Nigeria

On the 29th of May 2020, 387 new confirmed cases and 2 deaths were recorded in Nigeria bringing the total confirmed cases recorded in the country to 9,302.

Published

14 hours ago

May 30, 2020

Samuel Oyekanmi

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to rise as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 9,302 confirmed cases.

On the 29th of May 2020, 387 new confirmed cases and 2 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

To date, 9302 cases have been confirmed, 2697 cases have been discharged and 261 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Covid-19 Case Updates- May 29th 2020

Total Number of Cases – 9,302
Total Number Discharged – 2,697
Total Deaths – 261
Total Tests Carried out – 58.726

The 387 new cases were reported from 14 states- Lagos (254), FCT (29), Jigawa (24), Edo (22), Oyo (15), Rivers (14), Kaduna (11), Borno (6), Kano (3), Plateau (2), Yobe( 2), Gombe (2), Bauchi (2), Ondo (1).

The latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 4377, followed by Kano (942), Abuja at 564, Katsina (358), Oyo (275), Jigawa (265), Borno (264), Edo (262), Ogun (246), Bauchi (236), Kaduna (232), Rivers (190), Gombe (154), Sokoto (116), Plateau (101).

Kwara State has recorded 87 cases, Zamfara (76), Nasarawa (62), Delta (57), Yobe (49), Akwa Ibom (45), Osun (44), Ebonyi (40), Adamawa (38), Imo (34), Kebbi (33), Niger (30), Ondo (25), Ekiti (20), Taraba and Enugu (18), Bayelsa (12), Anambra (11), Abia (10), Benue (7), while Kogi state has recorded 2 cases.

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

Date	Confirmed case	New cases	Total deaths	New deaths	Total recovery	Active cases	Critical cases
May 29, 2020	9302	387	261	2	2697	6344	7
May 28, 2020	8915	182	259	5	2592	6064	7
May 27, 2020	8733	389	254	5	2501	5978	7
May 26, 2020	8344	276	249	16	2385	5710	7
May 25, 2020	8068	229	233	7	2311	5524	7
May 24, 2020	7839	313	226	5	2263	5360	7
May 23, 2020	7526	265	221	0	2174	5131	7
May 22, 2020	7261	245	221	10	2007	5033	7
May 21, 2020	7016	339	211	11	1907	4898	7
May 20, 2020	6677	284	200	8	1840	4637	7
May 19, 2020	6401	226	192	1	1734	4475	7
May 18, 2020	6175	216	191	9	1644	4340	7
May 17, 2020	5959	388	182	6	1594	4183	7
May 16, 2020	5621	176	176	5	1472	3973	7
May 15, 2020	5445	288	171	3	1320	3954	4
May 14, 2020	5162	193	168	3	1180	3815	4
May 13, 2020	4971	184	164	6	1070	3737	4
May 12, 2020	4787	146	158	6	959	3670	4
May 11, 2020	4641	242	152	10	902	3589	4
May 10, 2020	4399	248	142	17	778	3479	4
May 9, 2020	4151	239	127	11	745	3278	4
May 8, 2020	3912	386	118	10	679	3115	4
May 7, 2020	3526	381	108	4	601	2818	4
May 6, 2020	3145	195	104	5	534	2507	1
May 5, 2020	2950	148	99	5	481	2370	4
May 4, 2020	2802	245	94	6	417	2291	2
May 3, 2020	2558	170	88	2	400	2070	2
May 2, 2020	2388	220	86	17	351	1952	2
May 1, 2020	2170	238	69	10	351	1751	2
April 30, 2020	1932	204	59	7	317	1556	2
April 29, 2020	1728	196	52	7	307	1369	2
April 28, 2020	1532	195	45	4	255	1232	2
April 27, 2020	1337	64	41	0	255	994	2
April 26, 2020	1273	91	41	5	239	994	2
April 25, 2020	1182	87	36	3	222	925	2
April 24, 2020	1095	114	33	1	208	855	2
April 23, 2020	981	108	32	3	197	753	2
April 22, 2020	873	91	29	3	197	648	2
April 21, 2020	782	117	26	3	197	560	2
April 20, 2020	665	38	23	1	188	466	2
April 19, 2020	627	86	22	2	170	436	2
April 18, 2020	541	48	20	2	166	356	2
April 17, 2020	493	51	18	4	159	317	2
April 16, 2020	442	35	13	1	152	277	2
April 15, 2020	407	34	12	1	128	267	2
April 14, 2020	373	30	11	1	99	263	2
April 13, 2020	343	20	10	0	91	242	2
April 12, 2020	323	5	10	0	85	228	2
April 11, 2020	318	13	10	3	70	238	2
April 10, 2020	305	17	7	0	58	240	2
April 9, 2020	288	14	7	1	51	230	2
April 8, 2020	274	22	6	0	44	226	2
April 7, 2020	254	16	6	1	44	204	2
April 6, 2020	238	6	5	0	35	198	2
April 5, 2020	232	18	5	1	33	194	2
April 4, 2020	214	5	4	0	25	185	0
April 3, 2020	209	25	4	2	25	180	0
April 2, 2020	184	10	2	0	20	162	0
April 1, 2020	174	35	2	0	9	163	0
March 31, 2020	139	8	2	0	9	128	0
March 30, 2020	131	20	2	1	8	121	0
March 29, 2020	111	22	1	0	3	107	0
March 28, 2020	89	19	1	0	3	85	0
March 27, 2020	70	5	1	0	3	66	0
March 26, 2020	65	14	1	0	2	62	0
March 25, 2020	51	7	1	0	2	48	0
March 24, 2020	44	4	1	0	2	41	0
March 23, 2020	40	10	1	1	2	37	0
March 22, 2020	30	8	0	0	2	28	0
March 21, 2020	22	10	0	0	1	21	0
March 20, 2020	12	4	0	0	1	11	0
March 19, 2020	8	0	0	0	1	7	0
March 18, 2020	8	5	0	0	1	7	0
March 17, 2020	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
March 16, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 15, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 14, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 13, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 12, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 11, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 10, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 9, 2020	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
March 8, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 7, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 6, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 5, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 4, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 3, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 2, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 1, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 29, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 28, 2020	1	1	0	0	0	1	0

Coronavirus

COVID-19 now a national security threat, as 2020 fiscal deficit exceeds FRA Standards

Reports from the Addendum to the 2020-2022 MTEF/FSP reveal that the revised fiscal deficit is estimated at N4.58 trillion from N1.85 trillion

Published

21 hours ago

May 29, 2020

Lawretta Egba

Covid-19 Regarded As Threat To National Security With 2020 Fiscal Deficit Higher Than FRA Standards

Given the vulnerability of Nigeria to the current global economic disruption, a series of key adjustments have been made to the 2020 fiscal framework. One of such is the fiscal deficit and deficit financing strategy following revisions to projected revenue and planned expenditure.

Reports from the Addendum to the 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP), reveal that the revised fiscal deficit is estimated at N4.58 trillion from N1.85 trillion in the 2020 Budget Framework passed by NASS.

This level of deficit is 3.29% of GDP and this is above the threshold of 3% of GDP as stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007. Section 12 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007 (as amended), stipulates that:

(i) “the estimates of aggregate expenditure and the aggregate amount appropriated by the National Assembly for each financial year shall not be more than the estimated aggregate revenue plus a deficit, not exceeding three% of the estimated Gross Domestic Product or any sustainable percentage as may be determined by the National Assembly for each financial year”; and,

(ii) “aggregate expenditure for the financial year may exceed the ceiling imposed by the provisions of (i) above, if in the opinion of the President there is a clear and present threat to national security or sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

According to the report, when the revenues and expenditures of the 10 GOEs as well as expenditures financed from project-tied loans are captured in the FGN’s budget, the aggregate fiscal deficit for 2020 will be N4.95 trillion, which is 3.55% of GDP.”

“We believe that the COVID-19 crisis poses a threat to national security within the contemplation of the FRA 2007, and therefore the President can legitimately approve a deficit in excess of 3% of GDP.”

The deficit will primarily be financed by new borrowings estimated at N4.17 trillion – N1.98 trillion from external (multilateral) concessional sources like the IMF, World Bank, & African Development Bank, and new domestic debts of about N593.89 billion. N126.04 billion will also be derived from Privatization proceeds, N263.63 billion from the Federal Government’s Special Accounts to fund covid-19 expenditures, and N387.30 billion will be drawn down on multilateral/bilateral loans obtained for specific development projects.