A South African state-owned bank which lends to the agricultural sector said on Friday it had defaulted on payments on two bond programmes worth a combined 50 billion rand ($2.62 billion), highlighting the weakness of state enterprises in the country.

Ratings agency Fitch had already said on Thursday that the lender, Land Bank, had defaulted on debt and that risks posed by state-owned enterprises had been a factor in its decision to lower South Africa’s credit rating this month to BB, from BB+.

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The lead manager of UMOA-Titres said the members of the West African monetary union UEMOA plan to raise 846 billion CFA francs ($1.40 billion) on the regional debt market in response to the coronavirus crisis.

He said the issue of the so-called COVID-19 social coupons will begin next Monday, adding that the instrument would benefit from access to a special refinancing office at the regional central bank. UEMOA’s members include Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

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South Africa’s rand weakened early on Friday as concerns over the economic damage cause by the COVID-19 pandemic knocked risk appetite, outweighing news that Africa’s most advanced nation will allow a partial reopening of the economy on May 1.

At 0645 GMT, the rand traded at 19.1400 per dollar, 0.21% weaker than its previous close.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said from May 1 the government will allow some industries allowed to operate under a five-level risk system.

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The Nigeria Customs Service has effected an increase in duty payable on cargoes imported through the ports which led to an unrest in the seaports on Thursday following the recent increase of the exchange rate for import duty payment from N326 per dollar to N361.

The development has caused tension at the ports as importers and freight forwarders who spoke with DAILY TREND NEWS lamented that they were being forced to pay duty far above what they had initially budgeted for.

Frank Amasiaku, a port user said, he went to work and at the DTI(Direct Trade Input),he noticed some changes in dollar as he was about punching (capturing) his work via the Customs portal.

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The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria has released guidelines on the impact of COVID-19 on financial reporting.

The FRC said on its website on Thursday that this was the second set of guidelines to be released by the council in two weeks.The first guidelines targeted auditors of financial statements in Nigeria who are the latest targeted preparers of financial statements.

The regulator noted that its statutory responsibilities involved ensuring accuracy and reliability of financial reports and advising the Federal Government on financial reporting standards in Nigeria.

It added that the purpose of the guidance was for directors of reporting entities and those charged with governance to assess the risk of COVID-19 at an early stage of the financial reporting and audit process.

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Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday closed southwards, extending previous negative sentiment to three consecutive trading sessions, following sell-off recorded by some stocks.

However, the market breadth closed positive, recording 17 gainers against 15 losers.

Consequently, the All-Share Index dipped 5.74 basis points or 1.36 per cent to close at 22,470.79 index points as against 22,780.30 recorded the previous day while market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N162bn from N11.872tn the previous day to N11.710tn as market sentiment remained on the negative territory.

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is calling for urgent measures to address the debt burden estimated at $3.4tn in Nigeria and other developing countries facing economic disaster as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

UNCTAD in a report released on Thursday said developing countries were facing a looming debt disaster as most of the revenue of these countries had shrunk. Analysts at the UN agency estimated that in 2020 and 2021 alone, repayments on the public external debt were estimated at nearly $3.4tn.

This is comprising between $2tn and $2.3tn in high-income developing countries and between $666bn and $1.06tn in middle- and low-income countries.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its investigation into the acquisition of a Nigerian offshore oil block by Royal Dutch Shell and Eni,

Eni and Shell jointly acquired the rights to Oil Prospecting Licence 245 in 2011 for about $1.3bn but the deal had spawned legal cases spanning several countries.

Reuters quoted a Shell spokeswoman as saying on Thursday that SEC has notified them that it has closed its inquiry into Shell in relation to OPL 245.

Eni and Shell are currently on trial in Italy over allegations they bought OPL 245 knowing most of the $1.3bnn price would go to agents and middlemen in bribes.

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India’s Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, saw its imports of Nigerian crude oil slump to zero in the first quarter of the year, compared to 9,800 barrels per day in Q1 2019.

India has remained the single largest buyer of Nigerian crude oil in the past few years after the United States slashed its imports from the country on the back of its own oil production boom.

According to data from shipping and industry sources, Reuters reported that Reliance Industries imported 8.3 per cent less oil in March than in the same month of 2019

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The Central Bank of Nigeria has set December 31, 2024 exit date for its intervention loans to the Small and Medium Enterprises and households aimed at cushioning the effects of coronavirus on businesses and the people.

It also gave December 31, 2030 as the exit date for the COVID-19 intervention funds for the pharmaceutical sector in its guidelines for the funds.

The CBN introduced a N100bn credit support intervention for the healthcare industry, as part of its measures to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. This will help the sector meet up with the incrase in demand for healthcare product.

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