BUSINESS ROUNDUP: US SEC nominee disagrees with CBN on bitcoin; Naira plunges further against US dollar by N2.33;

Here are the Headlines:

CBN offers N5/$ incentive for Diaspora remittances
US SEC nominee disagrees with CBN on bitcoin
Naira plunges further against US dollar by N2.33
Emefiele accuses IMTOs of forex diversion

Summary:

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Saturday introduced a new incentive to encourage inflow of Diaspora remittances into the country.

The CBN’s Director of Trade and Exchange Department, Saleh Jubrin, who announced the scheme tagged: “Naira 4 Dollar Scheme,” in a circular to banks in the country, said it would allow all recipients of Diaspora remittances to be paid N5 for every one dollar received.

The nominee for United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has described bitcoin as a catalyst for change.


Gensler said while SEC under his leadership will protect investors, the commission also intends to support the usage of bitcoin.

The exchange rate between the naira and the United State’s Dollar closed at N411.63/$1 at the Investors and Exporters window on Tuesday, March 2. This represents a 0.59% drop or N2.33 when compared to N409.2 recorded on Monday.

However, on the unofficial market, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos showed the domestic currency strengthened by N2.00 or 0.42 per cent to the dollars on Tuesday to close at N480/$1 on from the N482/$1 that it closed on the previous trading day.

Nigeria’s Diaspora remittances recorded 500 percent increase in inflow since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed all International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO) to allow remitters send foreign exchange directly to beneficiaries within the country.

According to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN initiative has had a significant impact on the flow of weekly diaspora remittances which climbed to $30 million post-initiative from $5 million pre-initiative.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Too losers, gainers for last week

Investors traded more shares during trading last week, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a total turnover of 2.092 billion shares worth N29.744 billion in 24,238 deals.


NSE data showed investors traded a total of 1.930 billion shares valued at N20.656 billion in 24,687 deals during the previous trading week. While the number of deals last week were lower than previous trading week, last week trade appreciated.

MEANWHILE, on the tech scene, the week did not only end the month of February but went ahead to end Jack Ma’s hold on the title as being the richest man in China.

Opening the new month of March, one Zhong Shanshan is China’s current richest person, with a wealth of $550 billion yuan ($85 billion).


He climbed to the top spot, displacing techpreneur Jack Ma, after an incredible growth of his bottled-water company and vaccine maker, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise.

Also, Lagos governor launched Lagos Ride as a new ride hailing service provider to compete with Uber, Bolt, EkoCab etc.