Chief Executives’ officers of manufacturing industries across the country have called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the nation’s manufacturing sector due to its poor performance in the first quarter.

The CEOs’ view formed the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s CEOs Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2020.

The MCCI was created by the MAN as a quarterly instrument for measuring changes in macroeconomic trends and operating environment, among others, and their effects on the manufacturing sector.

They urged the government to develop a stimulus package to rescue the sector from collapse after having studied the peculiarities, suggesting that it could offer to pay 60 per cent of manufacturing concerns’ staff salaries for upward of three months.

The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in un-cleared goods stuck in airport warehouses which are billions of naira worth of overtime cargoes at the airports with accumulated storage fees amounting to over N2bn.

The airports were not opened and there was no access allowed for people to clear their goods due to the extended lockdown so the goods were stored in the various warehouses belonging to the cargo handling companies.

It was gathered that some of the importers and clearing agents had goods ranging from 5,000 kilogrammes and above.

At a daily storage fee of about N12 per kilo, some of the cargoes had accumulated storage fees in excess of N4m during the five weeks they had been in storage.

The National Bureau of Statistics said households in Nigeria spent a total of N2.02tn on fuel and electricity in 2019

The NBS said in a new report on consumption expenditure pattern that household expenditure on fuel/light accounted for 11.57 per cent of the total non-food consumption expenditure in 2019.

The bureau said of this total, 56.65 per cent of total household expenditure in 2019 was spent on food with the balance of about 43.35 per cent spent on non-food items.

According to the NBS, foods consumed outside the home, followed by transportation costs and starchy roots, tubers and plantains were responsible for the largest proportion of household expenditure, representing a combined 24.16 per cent of total household expenditure in 2019.

Facebook and Google have said they will let employees continue working from home for the rest of the year. The tech giants have announced plans to reopen their offices soon but are allowing more home working flexibility.

Google had earlier said it would keep its work from home policy until 1 June but is extending it for seven more months while Facebook said it would reopen its offices on 6 July as coronavirus lockdowns are gradually lifted. Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said that employees who need to return to the office will start being able to do so from July with enhanced safety measures in place.

Mr. Pichai added that the majority of employees who can carry out their jobs from home however have to do so until the end of the year.

Sony Corp said on Friday it will manufacture and donate medical face shields to hospitals in Japan, amid worries about the availability of protective equipment for healthcare workers dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese technology and entertainment company said it has begun producing face shields repurposed from eye shields normally used by surgeons to view images on Sony’s 3D medical monitors.

Sony said it will also help mass produce ventilators designed and developed by medical goods maker ACOMA Medical Industry Co. Production is due to begin in July, with plans to manufacture 500 units by the end of September.

South Africa’s reserve Bank data on Friday showed the county’s net foreign reserves rose to $45.470 in April from $44.774 billion in March.

Gross reserves also increased, to $53.003 in April from $52.458 billion previously. The forward position, representing the central bank’s unsettled or swap transactions, decreased to a balance of $592 million in April after a positive balance of $631 million previously.

South Africa energy minister said the country will soon start developing a plan for a new 2,500 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant.

Africa’s most industrialised economy, which operates the continent’s only nuclear power plant near Cape Town, said last year that it was considering adding more nuclear capacity in the long term, after abandoning in 2018 a massive nuclear expansion championed by former president Jacob Zuma.

Its current nuclear plant, Koeberg, has a capacity of around 1,900 MW and was synchronised to the grid in the 1980s.

The energy ministry said in a presentation to a parliamentary committee on its plans for 2020-25 that the development of the roadmap for the 2,500 MW Nuclear New Build Programme will be commencing soon.

South Africa’s rand rose early on Friday, with sentiment toward risk and emerging market currencies boosted by an easing in tensions between China and the United States.

At 0630 GMT the rand was up 0.22% at 18.5400 per dollar after an overnight close of 18.5900, extending the gains that saw it rise around 2% this week as global central bank stimulus encouraged risk-buying.

Reports overnight that China and the United States’ top trade negotiators had held a phone call and agreed to strengthen economic and public health cooperation, after a week of diplomatic tensions, helped spur risk demand.

Bonds also gained, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 government issue down 6 basis points to 9.25%.

South Africa’s central bank (SARB) said on Friday it would reduce overnight repo auctions to one per day from the two daily auctions it had implemented since early March to inject liquidity into banking system after the coronavirus had caused serious disruptions.

The bank said in a statement that this minor amendment to the liquidity management strategy will not have any adverse effect on liquidity operations and should not be construed as a change to the SARB’s liquidity provision to the market.

Repurchase agreements, or repos, are a form of short-term borrowing used in the money markets, with mainly commercial banks and investment houses purchasing the securities in order to raise cash quickly and meet capital ratio rules.

Banks have been urged to organize their Annual General Meetings electronically to meet the Bank of Ghana requirement of meeting shareholders every year.

Per the Banking Act, banks are expected to publish their statements of account and also hold Annual General Meetings with shareholders annually.

Banking Consultant, Nana Otuo Acheampong, while speaking to Citi Business Newssuggested that banks can hold their Annual General Meetings electronically through the internet to fulfill the Bank of Ghana’s requirement.

He said Nobody can hold an AGM with a 1,000 or so shareholders. It’s all under the Imposition of Restriction Act.