The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has urged the Federal Government to think creatively and come up with ways to stabilise the Nigerian economy as COVID-19 continues to have a negative impact on the nation's economy.

The speaker made the call on Thursday at t meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly and some top government aides, including the minister of finance, the minister of petroluem and the central bank governor.

Gbajabiamila called for out-of-the-box thinking to stabilise the Nigerian economy. He noted that sacrifices will have to be made due to the unusual nature of the situation.

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Meanwhile, Lagos state government says six more people have recovered from coronavirus in Nigeria. The State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, on Thursday, said the persons will be discharged from the isolation centre in the State on Friday.

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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria has risen to 51 after five new cases were confirmed late Wednesday. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control says one of the cases was the first in Rivers State. The others include two in the FCT and two in Lagos. The agency said three of the infected persons are returning travelers into Nigeria while the other two are close contacts of a previously confirmed case.

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The Federal Government has announced plans to ban inter-state travel and possibly close down all motor parks. The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Thursday as part of measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19.Meanwhile, the Nigerian Government is releasing additional 6.5 billion naira as emergency intervention to the National Centre for Disease Control. This is according to a statement by the personal assistant to the president on new media, Bashir Ahmad.

The statement adds that the move, which was confirmed by the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, is to aid in the fight to curb the spread of the #COVID19 in the country.

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U.S. stocks fluctuated after the best rally in over a decade, as investors awaited details on the unprecedented government spending packages aimed at countering the hit from the pandemic.

The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses following Tuesday’s 9.4% surge in anticipation of the deal between the White House and Congress. A 20% rally in Boeing lifted the price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Equity markets were also mixed in Europe while stocks took a different tack in Asia.

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China has begun buying U.S. liquefied petroleum gas again after a hiatus of nearly 20 months as Beijing waived punitive tariffs to boost imports of U.S. goods as part of the Sino-U.S. Phase 1 trade deal.

Importers have rushed to apply for waivers for the 25% tariff to buy the fuel, a by-product from U.S. shale gas production, after Beijing started granting exemptions this month for nearly 700 U.S. goods.

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Namibia has joined other African countries in closing airports and imposing a partial lockdown on the capital, Windhoek. The lockdown aims to try and prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Namibia reported its sixth confirmed case of infection and first local transmission of the virus that has killed more than 17,000 worldwide and ground economies to a halt.

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The United Nations says Africa could fall into recession this year if multilateral lenders and investors don’t help the continent waive debt-servicing costs that could be used to halt the spread of coronavirus.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which facilitated the ministerial meeting, is considering reviewing the region’s growth estimate for this year, which was already reduced to 1.8 percent from 3.2 percent earlier this month.

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South Africa’s Reserve Bank on Wednesday says it would begin buying an unspecified amount of government bonds. This is part of additional emergency policy measures aimed at easing a severe liquidity crunch triggered by the coronavirus. In a statement, the SARB says the purchases will be conducted across the yield curve. It adds that purchases will allow the bank to enhance its Monetary Policy Portfolio in addition to providing liquidity and promoting the smooth functioning of domestic financial markets.

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South African Airways says it will suspend all its domestic flights from Friday until April 16 in support of a national lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The suspension comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a 21-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday as the number of confirmed cases jumped by 128 to 402.

SAA said its call centres would not operate for the duration of the lockdown, and it would give customers one free travel change for travel between Tuesday and Thursday. The airline has not made a profit since 2011 and has received more than 20 billion rand in bailouts in the past three years.

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