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The Bank of England is being sued over allegations that it has refused to hand over $1billion of gold bullion to the Venezuelan central bank. In an extraordinary case, the South American country's Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) has demanded the gold be released to help it fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Venezuelan authorities say in High Court papers that they intend to hand the proceeds from selling the gold to the United Nations to aid virus relief, but the Bank is refusing to act. They are threatening to sue for around $1bn. Coronavirus is devastating the already battered economy of Venezuela, which is run by the ultra-Left wing government of Nicolas Maduro.

American billionaire, and co-founder of Microsoft, Mr Bill Gates, has described as spurious, media reports that he offered a $10 million incentive (bribe) to the leadership and members of the House of Representatives to hasting the process of passing the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020 being considered by the House. This was as the Adhoc committee investigating the allegation has given the spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties, (CUPP), Ikenga Ugochinyere, till Thursday to appear before it with evidence of inducement as alleged by him or face parliamentary contempt. Ugochinyere, had on May 4, 2020 issued a press statement in which he alleged that the House and its leadership had recieved financial inducement to the tune of $10 million to rush the passage of the bill. But speaking through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation before the House Adhoc committee on Monday, the businessman cum philantrophist who was represented by the country Representative of his...

Determined to mitigate harsh effects of coronavirus pandemic, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN yesterday flagged off year 2020 agriculture season in the state by distributing newly purchased tractors and loans to farmers. The governor, however, distributed 20 tractors with viable implements and soft loans to farmers in the state. Speaking at the event with limited numbers of people due to COVID-19, Akeredolu stated that this year event was the first of its kind, maintaining that it was the demonstration of the government’s avowed promise to agriculture sector.

THE Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Wednesday, slashed the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N108 per litre, a move reflecting the drop in crude oil prices. It is also expected to result in a lower pump price at petrol stations by end of this week. In a memo to oil marketers and other stakeholders in the petroleum marketing business, dated May 5, 2020, with the subject: ‘Re: PPMC Petroleum Products Prices for May 2020,’ the PPMC also slashed the ex-depot price of Automotive Gasoline Oil, also known as diesel, to N164 per litre for depots in Lagos and N166 per litre for depots in Oghara, Calabar, Port Harcourt, among others.

According to reports on SaharaReporters , Some Access Bank employees, who were dismissed by the bank’s management last week, have yet to be recalled. The Central Bank of Nigeria had on Sunday halted lay-offs by banks after a special meeting of the Bankers’ Committee. According to a statement by the CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, no sack of either permanently or ad-hoc staff can be carried out by any bank without the approval of the regulator. Some cashiers and other casual workers at Lagos branches of Access Bank, who lost their jobs, have told SaharaReporters that the bank had yet to recall them despite the CBN’s intervention.

According to reports on SaharaReporters, Forty-six staff of Gotel Communications, a media outfit owned by Nigeria's former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, have been sacked by the organization. Gotel Communication is a television and radio broadcast conglomerate transmitting from Yola, the Adamawa State capital. The affected staff was handed their respective sack letters on Friday, being Workers Day. It was signed by the General Manager, Mohammed El-Yakub.

Some 100 million city dwellers around the world are likely to fall into poverty because of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank has warned. Densely populated cities are on the front line of the outbreak - especially in slums where people are lacking running water, sewage systems or health care, urban experts said. Those problems will become harder to solve because cities will see a drop of 15 to 25 per cent in tax revenues as a result of the crisis, it is feared. 'Within cities we need to focus on those who need help the most, the poor and the vulnerable have been very seriously affected,' said Sameh Wahba, a global director for the World Bank. 'Our estimate is that there will be possibly upward of a 100 million so-called "new poor" on account of loses of jobs and livelihoods and income,' Wahba told reporters. Many cities lack accurate data about slum areas, making it difficult to know where investments should be targeted, experts say. A World B...

Federal offices nationwide can open from May 4 for workers to resume work, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said. The resumption will be based on specific grade levels, the PTF explained. Also, the banking, construction, construction, manufacturing sectors, as well as food processing companies, will be allowed to open from Monday, the PTF further said.

Federal Government, Wednesday said banks in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja will begin operations from Monday 4th of May, 2020. Disclosing this, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, gave conditions and preventive measures to stem the spread of covid-19.

Coronavirus or COVID-19 has devastated the hospitality industry, forcing hotels to take drastic steps to survive. Rooms reservations are at historic lows while cancellations at historic highs, forcing the company to layoff thousands of workers. Thus lowering the country deeper into its already cavernous "unemployment and hunger" well. Hotel room occupancy rates for the week of March through April 2020, when compared to the same week in 2019, is nothing to write home about, while Bars and Nightclubs are currently observing compulsory shutdown order in the country.

Barring any last-minute change in plans, the disbursement of the first tranche of the Central Bank of Nigeria N50bn targeted credit facility would begin on Thursday. According to reports on Punch News , The fund, which is being managed by the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, has received over 80,000 applications. The Managing Director, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Mr. Abubakar Kure, confirmed the development in a telephone interview with our correspondent. Kure, who did not provide the amount to be disbursed in the first tranche, said that those whose applications were successful would start receiving their fund on Thursday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, through its agency, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, is demanding a N10,000 fee from small business owners impacted by COVID-19 as a prerequisite for accessing intervention loans. The CBN had announced in March that it would give a N50bn Targeted Credit Facility to households and small businesses affected by Coronavirus. Those eligible, according to the apex bank, must prove that their livelihood and business operations have been adversely affected by the spread of the virus. Businesses eligible for the scheme are agricultural value chain activities, hospitality, health (pharmaceuticals and medical supplies), airline service providers, manufacturing and value addition, and trading.

Spread across categories like finance, tech, art, and sports, it features 30 young entrepreneurs in Africa who are innovating their respective industries.

British Airways is expected to announce it will suspend around 36,000 staff as it battles to survive the coronavirus crisis. The airline has reached a broad deal with the Unite union that will include the suspension of 80 percent of its cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those working at head office. Crucially however, no staff are expected to be made redundant as a result of the deal, which came after ten days of intense talks, according to the BBC. On Tuesday, the airline axed all its flights to and from Gatwick Airport as COVID-19 continues to strangle the aviation industry. The airline, which jets to Europe, America and the Caribbean from the West Sussex airport, has already mothballed many planes across its UK bases including London City Airport - but is still running from London Heathrow with a severely reduced schedule. It is also among the airlines helping repatriate Britons stuck abroad following Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab's pledge to set aside £75 million t...

The naira exchanged to the dollar for between N372 and N374 at the Bureau De Change segment of the market on Thursday.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc has reported a 3.2% YoY increase in Earning Per Share to N5.19 for 9M’19 in its latest filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The growth in earnings can be attributed to stronger net fee and commission income (+22.9% YoY) as well as modest improvements in net interest income (1.3% YoY) and operating efficiency (the cost to income: -150 bps). Gross loans to customers grew by 7.8% from H1’19 level to N1.5 trillion in 9M’19. This implies a year-to-date loan growth of 6.8% compared to the 1.0% contraction observed in H1’19. It appears, however, that the size and structure of this loan growth were not enough to enable the bank meet the new LDR requirement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), given that GUARANTY was one of the banks impacted by CBN’s LDR-related penalty. By our estimate, GUARANTY had an LDR of 63.8% (bank only) as at September 2019. This supports our view that the apex bank may have applied the more stringent loan to funding ratio in its ...

AFTER the euphoria of their swearing-in, state governors, especially 12 of them, who are first timers will face major hurdles that may hurt their ambitious plans for their states. One of the hurdles is huge debts. Another is low internally generated revenue. Combined, the two hurdles have rendered most of the states non-viable. Currently, most of the states depend precariously on federal allocation for survival, a reason some experts and stakeholders are calling for fiscal federalism and devolution of power to the federating units to make the states economically viable.

Of the 2,153 people who made it to the 2019 FORBES list of the World’s Billionaires, 13 of them are black, up from 11 a year ago. Cement tycoon Aliko Dangote is still the richest black person in the world with a fortune estimated at $10.9 billion. He’s closely followed by Nigerian oil and telecoms mogul Mike Adenuga. American businessman David Stewart, who is majority owner of World Wide Technology, an $11.2 billion (sales) IT provider, whose customers include Citi, Verizon and the federal government, joins the Black Billionaires Club with a fortune FORBES estimates at $3 billion. Nigerian businessman Abdulsamad Rabiu, who made his fortune in cement, flour, edible oils and real estate, returns to the 3-Comma club after a multi-year hiatus. He last featured on the FORBES list of the World’s Billionaires in 2014. In December 2018, Rabiu merged his privately owned Kalambaina Cement Company with listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled.