N1m wage useless if naira remains weak — Ajaero

The Nigeria Labour Congress has said a monthly salary of N1m is worthless to workers without a stable naira and improved economic conditions.

The NLC President, Mr Joe Ajaero, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said the organised labour was more concerned about the value of the naira than nominal wage increases, stressing that rising inflation had continued to erode workers’ purchasing power.

According to him, the steady increase in the cost of living has made it difficult for workers to afford necessities, including food, transportation, and housing.

By Agency Report

Full story at Punch NG

US-Iran war: NNPC hikes oil prices by $7/barrel

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has raised the official selling prices of all 37 Nigerian crude grades for May-loading cargoes, according to a report by Oilprice.com.

The report stated that Nigeria is reaping the benefits of the US-Iran war, as the NNPC increased the price of its flagship grade, Bonny Light, by $6.13 per barrel for May compared to April.

Similarly, Forcados was also raised by $7.01 per barrel. This development may indicate that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery could pay more for crude, a move that may ultimately push up fuel prices.

By Dare Olawin

Full story at Punch NG

Trump's $1.5 Trillion Defense Plan Draws Rare Republican Pushback

(Bloomberg) — Key congressional Republicans are poised to break with Donald Trump on his proposed 44% raise for the Pentagon, a rare act of defiance that signals the president’s weakening grip on Washington as the midterm elections near and he quickly approaches the back half of his second term.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will head to Congress Wednesday and Thursday to defend Trump’s hoped-for $1.5 trillion defense budget, a number that’s already facing pushback from members of both political parties.

With just six months until the midterms, Republicans are trying to sharpen their economic message and appeal to voters predominantly concerned about the cost of living. A defense spending spike — coming alongside the unpopular Iran war — risks cuts to domestic programs popular with many Americans.

Full story at Yahoo News

Eurozone inflation jumps to 2.5% in March

Eurozone inflation jumped to 2.5% in March, as the conflict in the Middle East pushed up oil and gas prices ahead of target. It comes as a stark rise against a rate of 1.9% in February, but below expectations of 2.6%.

Energy costs are expected to have risen by 4.9% during the month, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat on Tuesday, compared with a 3.1% fall in February.

When stripping out energy, inflation fell slightly from 2.4% in February to 2.3% in March, Eurostat said.

By LaToya Harding

Full story at Yahoo News.

Stocks surge to N140trn as global investors pile back into Nigeria

The Nigerian stock market is currently charging toward a historic N140 trillion valuation, catalysed by a massive buy signal from the international investment community. This bullish momentum follows the pivotal April 7 announcement of Nigeria’s reclassification from “unclassified” back to Frontier Market status, a move that has already seen equities market capitalisation surge by approximately N10 trillion.

As of Friday, April 17, the market’s primary performance indicators reflect this aggressive growth. The All Share Index (ASI) and total market capitalisation, which stood at 202,584.88 points and N130.4 trillion on April 8, have climbed to 217,167.57 points and N139.826 trillion, respectively. This rally is underpinned by a remarkable streak of eight consecutive days of positive closes, signalling a renewed and robust confidence in Nigeria’s evolving financial landscape.

By Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Full story at Business Day

South Africans spend R1.475 trillion in March, but rising fuel costs threaten economic outlook

After South Africans spent R1.475 trillion in March, an indication of an improvement in economic activity, there are dark clouds ahead as higher fuel costs will spill over into everyday essentials.

This is according to the latest PayInc Economic Index, which showed that the nominal value – which includes inflationary effects – of electronic transactions rose from R1.326 trillion in February to R1.475 trillion in March.

The volume of transactions also increased sharply, reaching 195.5 million in March, up 13.4% year-on-year.

By Nicola Mawson

Full story at IOL

Oil revenue rose to N2.68 trillion as February output dipped: NNPC

The NNPC attributed the production dip to the Trans Forcados pipeline outage and other maintenance and management issues.

Despite a dip in crude oil and condensate output to an average of 1.51 million barrels per day (mbpd) in February, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) said it grew its revenue to N2.68 trillion, up from N2.57 trillion in January

The NNPC said it also remitted N1.804 trillion to the federation account in February.

Full story at Gazette NG

By News Agency of Nigeria