While prices have increased due to limited global supplies and concerns that the group will not be able to pump additional petroleum, OPEC+ stated on Thursday that it would keep to its planned increases in oil output in August. However, the meeting avoided debating strategy moving forward. Days before U.S. President Joe Biden visits the Middle East, including Riyadh, where he is anticipated to press the monarchy for more oil, the group that includes Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other significant oil producers met on Thursday. For the week’s final episode of Business Edge, Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun discusses the production quota set by OPEC+ and what the protracted crisis in Ukraine will mean for the global oil market experienced at the moment. She’s joined by Desmond Agboifo, Energy Expert and Director Desyton Energy who speaks from Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.
Also on the episode is a look at Nigeria’s persistent inflation and the central bank’s attempts to reel it in by increasing benchmark interest rates. Fitch Ratings says efforts to reduce inflation in Africa’s largest economy will be hampered by Nigeria’s unconventional monetary policy strategy. In a report released Thursday, Fitch said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to increase its benchmark interest rate by 150 basis points to 13 per cent in May, for the first time in over six years, does not represent a fundamental change in its unorthodox strategy. It increased its inflation projection for the year from 14.6 per cent to 17 per cent and said it expects Nigeria’s complex policy approach to be maintained at least until the next presidential election in February 2023. Gospel Obele, Chief Economist at Streetnomics Limited joins the show from Lagos.
For the stock market segment, Lekan Onabanjo chats with Victor Aluyi, Investment Analyst and Head, Investments, Sankore Global Investments and they go over the trend of interest rates seen across the world, the warning by heads of the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England that the inflation shock caused by the pandemic and the Ukraine war could spiral out of control. They also touched on happenings on the Nigerian stock exchange.
Watch the full program above.