By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Federal Government yesterday( Monday) announced the transfer of Regulatory Oversight of the Electricity Market in Imo State to the state electricity regulatory commission, otherwise known as (ISERC). In a statement issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Common( NERC), the development is in compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), reiterating that all transfers envisaged by this order shall be completed by 31 December 2024. According to the Commission,the transfer Order’s provisions include: “Direct Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to incorporate a subsidiary (EEDC SubCo) to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Imo State from EEDC, and that EEDC shall complete the incorporation of EEDC SubCo within 60 days from 27th June 2024. The subcompany shall apply for and obtain licence for the in
By Akinola & Favour Ajibade
Top Nigerian banks are battling credit losses, caused by default in the sovereign debt of Ghana.
The issue has chopped off their profit margin, as well as of their operations.
This is coming on the heels of the recent restructuring of Ghana 's public debt of 576 billion cedis( approximately $49billion, a development, which saw the West African nation exchanging 87.8 billion cedis of notes, which would have otherwise paid an average of 19 percent debt owed by Ghana.
This problem is aggravated by the low returns on bonds, which is put at 8.35 percent, with resultant on financial institutions and other creditors operating in Ghana..
Prior to this period, Nigerian banks have reported expected credit losses from Ghana impairment (at least N284 billion) arising from their investments in Ghanaian financial instruments.
Out of this, Guaranty Trust Bank, the flagship banking subsidiary of GTCO recorded ₦35.6 billion impairment after Ghana’s sovereign securities default which earned the lender a 3.3 percent dip in profit before tax from ₦221.5 billion posted in 2021 to ₦214.2 billion in 2022.
Zenith Bank, which is the largest bank in Nigeria by profitability and gross earnings followed, by booking a sharp increase in impairments of 107 percent to N124.2 billion, up from N59.9 billion in 2021 due to the impact of Ghana’s sovereign debt restructuring programme resulting in the increase in the cost of risk from 1.9 percent in 2021 to 3.3 percent in 2022, and a decrease in capital adequacy ratio from 21 percent to 19 percent. That was not all.
The top Tier 1 lender in its audited financial statement for the period ended December 31, 2022 incurred a net impairment loss of N58.7 billion from its Ghanaian operations for the year under review.
“On February 14, 2023, the Group exchanged N123.6 billion (GHS2, 675,754,659) of its existing Government of Ghana bonds for a series of new bonds with maturity dates commencing from 2027 to 2038 under the Ghana Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
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