The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria said the Federal Government has spent about N10trn subsidising petroleum products in the last 15 years.

MOMAN and other stakeholders, including the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, said there was a need for full deregulation in the petroleum downstream sector.

They stated this on Thursday during the Nigeria Petroleum Downstream Consultative Summit, which was held online.

The Chairman, MOMAN, Mr. Adetunji Oyebanji, described the downstream sector as pivotal and fundamental to the health of the nation’s economy.

Oyebanji is the managing director/chief executive officer of 11Plc (formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc).

He said It is an industry that requires significant investment to improve service delivery and to generate employment, to help expand and grow the economy, especially at this very trying time.

According to him, there are adequate structures that can be put in place to ensure that the consumers are not cheated when market forces are allowed to determine prices.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Thursday met with the leaders of some key committees of the National Assembly to get their input for the revised 2020 budget.

The budget is still being put together by the executive arm of government.

The minister, who was accompanied by the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, said the interactive session was a continuation of the process she had started with the leadership of the two chambers of the nation’s parliament on the proposed fiscal document.

She spoke shortly before the meeting was held behind closed doors.

Ahmed said the outcome of this meeting will form an input into the work that we are doing, which will subsequently be confirmed by the National Assembly.

The Federal Government on Thursday commenced the sale of N150bn seven-year Sukuk bond offer meant for the development of road infrastructure in different parts of the country.

The Debt Management Office disclosed this on its website adding that the offer would close on June 2, 2022 with a settlement date of June 9, 2020.

It disclosed that the N150bn seven-year Ijarah Sukuk due for June 2027 had a rental rate of 11.2 per cent per annum.

According to the DMO, the Ijarah (lease) Sukuk had a half yearly rental payment, and bullet payment on the date of maturity.

It stated that Proceeds will be used solely for the construction and rehabilitation of key roads across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Sukuk bond would be offered for subscription through FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited and Lotus Financial Services Limited.

It had a unit sale of N1,000 per unit subject to a minimum of N10,000 and in multiple of N1,000 thereafter.

According to the DMO, the FGN Roads Sukuk Company 1 Plc is the issuer of the bond on behalf of the Federal Government, and it has appointed the receiving banks and placement agents for the offer.

SoftBank Group Corp said it plans to sell 5% of its domestic telco SoftBank Corp, currently worth $3.1 billion, as part of a programme to raise $41 billion through asset sales.

The sale of 240 million shares for a yet to be determined price and set to close on May 26 will leave SoftBank Group with a 62.1% stake in Japan’s third-largest wireless carrier.

SoftBank Corp’s shares closed down 0.8% on Friday ahead of the announcement at 1,375 yen, giving a 5% stake a market valuation of 330 billion yen ($3.1 billion).

SoftBank needs cash for a record stock buyback aimed at supporting the price of its shares, which have been used by Chief Executive Masayoshi Son as collateral for loans, as its tech investments falter.

Lufthansa is in advanced talks over a 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion) state bailout that would see Germany take a 20% stake in its flagship airline, as countries battle to save an aviation industry hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lufthansa on Thursday said a deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its full voting rights in exceptional circumstances, such as to protect the firm against a takeover.

Lufthansa has been in talks with Berlin for weeks over aid to help it cope with what is expected to be a protracted travel slump, but has been wrangling over how much control to yield in return for support.

The US Senate has passed a bill that could block some Chinese companies from selling shares on American stock exchanges.

It would require overseas firms to follow US standards for audits and other financial regulations.

The measure now has to be passed by the House of Representatives before being signed into law by President Trump.

It comes as US-China tensions increase over the virus pandemic and after the Luckin Coffee accounting scandal.

The planned legislation would also require publicly traded companies to reveal whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has told the BBC that preventing electoral interference is an arms race against countries such as Russia, Iran and China.

He admitted that the firm was behind in the 2016 US presidential election.

In his first UK broadcast interview in five years, he said that Facebook had been unprepared for state-sponsored interference in 2016 but he added the company was confident it had learnt its lessons.

Facebook was previously embroiled in a political scandal in which tens of millions of its users' data ended up in the hands of political interest groups including Cambridge Analytica.

However, he said the social media giant, which also owns Whatsapp and Instagram, was now better prepared than other companies, and even governments, to prevent future attempts to influence political outcomes.

Rwanda’s finance minister on Thursday said the country’s economic growth is expected to slow to 2% this year from 9.4% in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic hits performance in tourism, transport and hospitality.

Uzziel Ndajigimana said growth was expect to rebound next year to 6.3% and to reach 8% in 2022.

Ndajigimana said the hotels and restaurants sector will contract 30.7%, while transport will contract 1.9% due to the stopping of flights.

Agriculture will grow 3% from 5% last year, while industry will expand 4% from 17% a year ago

Ndagijimana told parliament that Services will grow 1% from 8% due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and conferences.

Ethiopia’s central bank has issued a directive limiting cash withdrawals for individuals and businesses.

It said the move is aimed at tackling tax evasion and encouraging a more efficient use of cash.

Under the directive, individual Ethiopians cannot withdraw more than 200,000 birr ($5,800; £ 4,700) a day.

The ceiling for total withdrawals in a month has also been set at 1m birr ($29,000; £23,000) per person.

Business-related withdrawals amounts are higher - around $8,000 per day and close to $74,000 per month.

The bank’s governor Yinager Dessie said the move will help manage liquidity for financial institutions, and that banks and credit companies that breach these limits will be penalised.

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, COPEC, is calling on the Ministry of Energy to address some issues with Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, supplied by the Ghana National Gas Company, which have contributed to the increase in the price of the product in some parts of the country.

According to COPEC, LPG supplied by Ghana Gas at its Atuabo Gas Processing Plant is more expensive compared to imported LPG.

COPEC says despite the price differentials, some Oil Marketing Companies are being compelled under a policy of zonalisation to buy and sell to consumers.

The Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, while speaking to Citi Business News, explained that this has led to increases in prices of LPG from Ghana Gas supplied to some specific parts of the country.

He said the price of Liquified Petroleum Gas has been a source of contention in recent times.