By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
MPC meets today
The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced its next major policy meeting – the 298th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting – will happen on Monday and Tuesday, November 25 and 26, 2024. Many people are watching closely to see what they’ll decide about interest rates.
Financial experts think the committee will raise interest rates because prices have been rising quickly since their last meeting in September. During that previous meeting, they increased the main interest rate (called the Monetary Policy Rate) by 0.5 percentage points to 27.25 per cent.
The committee has a tough choice to make because of several challenging factors. For instance, major foreign economies are seeing prices rise again, and Nigeria’s prices are going up too. Also, business activity indicators are showing weakness, and government spending is creating bigger deficits. Adding to these concerns, the money supply keeps growing – M3, which measures all money in the economy, grew by 1.6 per cent in one month to reach N109.0 trillion in September.
Adani bonds slid to a year-low
On Monday, the value of Adani Group’s international bonds dropped to their lowest point in almost a year. Investors started pulling away from the Indian business group after U.S. officials accused them of bribery and fraud.
Last week, U.S. authorities charged eight people, including Gautam Adani (the group’s very wealthy chairman), with being involved in a major bribery scheme. They’re accused of agreeing to pay about $265 million in bribes to officials in the Indian government.
These accusations say the bribes were paid to get special business deals that could make $2 billion in profit over 20 years. The charges also involve alleged payments to get permission to build India’s biggest solar power project.
NDIC assured Heritage Bank’s customers of their funds’ safety
The head of Nigeria’s bank insurance agency (NDIC), Bello Hassan, has told Heritage Bank customers not to worry – their money is safe even though the bank has closed.
Hassan shared this message at a meeting with journalists in Lagos on Saturday. He wasn’t there in person, but his operations director, Mustapha Ibrahim, spoke on his behalf.
Ibrahim explained what happened: “The recent closure of Heritage Bank, following the revocation of its licence by the CBN on June 3, 2024, brings to the fore NDIC’s critical role in safeguarding depositors.”
He then described how they’re handling the situation: “Acting by the relevant provisions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 and the NDIC Act 2023, the NDIC was appointed liquidator to manage the orderly resolution of the bank and oversee the payment of its depositors and other claimants.”
Tinubu may present the 2025 budget this week
The Nigerian Senate expects President Bola Tinubu to share his spending plan for 2025 sometime this week.
This news comes from Yemi Adaramodu, who speaks for the Senate and represents Ekiti South under the APC party. He explained that before the budget presentation, the Senate’s Finance Committee will meet with various government organizations on Monday.
As Adaramodu put it: “The President would likely present the 2025 budget this week or in earnest.”
He also mentioned that preparations are already underway: “The Senate Committee on Finance is already working on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and would be meeting with the MDAs today (Monday).”
Uruguay has a new president-elect
Uruguay has a new president-elect – Yamandu Orsi from the center-left opposition party. According to official results from Sunday’s election, with 99% of votes counted, Orsi won the second round of voting that experts had predicted would be very close.
Though he was slightly favoured to win before the election, Orsi secured a clear victory with 49.81% of the votes, while his conservative opponent Alvaro Delgado received 45.90%.
Orsi is 57 years old and previously served as mayor of Canelones, a region that attracted major companies like Google during his leadership. He has promised to focus on economic growth without raising taxes that might discourage businesses. Instead, he wants to attract more investment and improve worker training.