Briefing Paper

Nigeria Economic Update Issue 20

This report provides a brief update on the current economic situation in Nigeria. The first article discussed the Crude oil price which increased week-on-week. The OPEC weekly basket price increased from $38.64 on April 22, 2016 to $41.08 on April 29, 2016 and Nigeria’s bonny light also increased from $43.4 to $44.772 within the same period. The price increase was triggered by a weakening U.S. Dollar and a fall in U.S. production. The next article on the Stock Market and investment – discusses the All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalization which both appreciated by 0.85 percent, from April 22, 2016 to April 29, 2016. The ASI increased to 25,062.41 points from 24,765.10 points and Market Capitalization also increased to N8.62 trillion from N8.55 trillion. The next article on Foreign Exchange and Reserve – discussed the marginal depreciation of the Naira by N1 to N323/$ from N322/$ at the parallel market segment between April 22, 2016 and April 29, 2016, but remained stable at the official market segment (N197) within the same period. The apparent wide gap between both segments of the forex market persisted throughout the period under review. The Power Sector is analyzed in the next article and shows an increase in power generated by 15.5 % from 3639.2 megawatt to a peak of 4196.2 megawatt between April 22, 2016 and April 29, 2016, albeit a sharp fall to 25.2 megawatts on April 23, 2016 following a system collapse.