March 2021 MPC: A pause before tightening? At the second MPC meeting of the year, the CBN by a 6-3 vote held all policy parameters constant with the benchmark policy rate left at 11.5% and the asymmetric corridor at +100/-700 basis points. The dissenters’ vote was for rate increases of 50-75 basis points, which in the context of Nigeria’s historic double-digit inflation rates implies these were merely for symbolism as rate moves in Nigeria have to be in units of 100bps to matter.
As I noted last week, Nigeria’s exit from recession appears on a tender footing and the MPC shared this view with the Communique citing sub-50 PMI readings over January and February which would suggest that manufacturing GDP remains in contraction. (Curiously the CBN has stopped publishing the monthly PMI). Indeed as the Governor suggested in the press conference afterward, the Q1 2021 GDP number would be the predictor of policy direction.
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Published 4 February 2021
At 45, Ogun State has come of age. Its birth followed the merger by a special decree of both the defunct Provinces of Abeokuta and Ijebu into a full-fledged state within the then 19 states structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ultimately, when the then military junta headed by the late Gen Murtala Muhammed, on February 3, 1976, approved the recommendation of the Justice Ayo Irikefe’s panel for the creation of Ogun State, every discernable mind thought that carving out the state from the old Western Region was a huge blessing for its citizens to start unfurling its full potential. Predicated upon its bourgeoning status, the state took off on a sound note, with Lt Col. Seidu Balogun, on the saddle as the pioneer helmsman. It became a leading light and model as one of the most prosperous and viable (economic wise) states in the country. The unprecedented feat achieved by the citizens in all spheres of human endeavours wae
Oba Darasimi
Nigeria Governors’ Forum has announced it will hold its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, and top on its agenda will be decisions on the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly the vaccinations of citizens against the virus.
The state chief executives are also expected to deliberate on the 2002 to 2018 external debts reconciliation.
A statement by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Head, Media and Public Affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) secretariat, said Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, whose committee is charged with the responsibility of liaising with the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, will brief the meeting on the vaccines.
The 36 state governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) are expected to hold a teleconference meeting on Wednesday to deliberate on the
Daily Trust reports.
Twenty states, representing 56 percent, have signed their budgets into law, while 16 others or 44 percent were yet to do so as of Wednesday.
A further analysis shows that whereas the federal budget of 2021 was raised by N505 billion from N13.082 trillion to N13.588 trillion, 14 cut down their budget figures by N1.4 trillion.
According to the records, the N8.2 trillion states’ budget is just N99bn higher than the N8.173 trillion revised 2020 states’ budget. Just like the Federal Government, the states revised their 2020 budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic which affected their revenue projections.
However, experts have expressed concern about how the governors would finance the budgets considering low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the dwindling fortune at the centre as the world battles the second wave of COVID-19.