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Binance to Close Shop in Nigeria, Stops Transaction, Trading in Naira

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By Reuters – Binance will stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency after March 8 amid a country-wide crackdown on crypto exchanges that have been blamed by authorities for feeding a black market for foreign exchange.

It will stop supporting withdrawals after Friday and any remaining balances in Nigerian Naira will be automatically converted into Tether – a stablecoin whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Last week, Nigerian authorities detained two Binance senior executives on undisclosed charges as part of the crackdown.

They were still in custody, their local lawyer said before a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Source: Reuters

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Economy

NASS Passes Tinubu’s N54.99tr 2025 Budget Proposal

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The National Assembly, on Thursday passed, the N54.99trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill.

The bill was passed separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

A breakdown of the budget showed N3.645trillion for statutory transfers, N14.317trillion for debt servicing, N13.64trillion for recurrent expenditure and N23.963trillion capital expenditure (development fund), with fiscal deficit put at N13.08trn.

The Deficit-to-Gross domestic product (GDP) Ratio was put at 1.52%.

Last Week, President Bola Tinubu increased the 2025 fiscal year budget from an initial N49.7trillion to N54.2trillion, seeking approval from the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abubakar Bichi, while presenting the bill for consideration, stated that the committee met with the Presidential Economic Planning team to further discuss revenue projections and expenditure for the 2025 Appropriation Bill.

According to him, the 2025 Appropriation Bill was presented late, compared to that of 2024.

He urged the executive to present subsequent budgets to the National Assembly not later than three months before the next financial year, to maintain the January to December budget cycle.

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Economy

CBN Reviews ATM Fees, Imposes N100-600 Charges for N20k Withdrawal

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has imposed a withdrawal charge of between N100 and N600 for every N20,000 worth of interbank ATM withdrawals.

The new policy eliminates the three free monthly withdrawals that customers enjoy on interbank ATM withdrawals.

According to a CBN circular, FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/001/002 with title, ‘Review of Automated Teller Machine Transaction Fee,’ dated February 10, 2025, the new fees would take effect March 1, 2025.

The apex bank said: “In response to rising costs and the need to improve the efficiency of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services in the banking industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed the ATM transaction fees prescribed in Section 10.7 of the extant CBN Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions, 2020 (the Guide)”.

The CBN said customers withdrawing at the ATM of their financial institution in Nigeria would not be charged.

“Withdrawal from another institution’s ATM in Nigeria (Not-On-Us): On-site ATMs (within bank premises): A fee of N100 per N20,000 withdrawal will apply,” the apex bank further directed.

For Off-site ATMs (outside bank premises), the apex bank said a charge of N100 plus a surcharge of not more than N500 for every N20,000 withdrawal would be applicable.

It said that international withdrawals would be based on the exact amount imposed by the international acquirer.

The CBN added:  “This review is expected to accelerate the deployment of ATMs and ensure that appropriate charges are applied by financial institutions to consumers of the service.

“Accordingly, banks and other financial institutions are advised to apply the following fees with effect from March 1, 2025.”

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Economy

NNPCL Shuts Warri Refinery, Cites ‘Routine Maintenance’ As Reason

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The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Friday, disclosed that the recently re-streamed Warri refinery has been shut down for routine maintenance, and would be back soon.

The company, through a statement by its Chief Communications Officer, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, clarified that there was no explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), describing any report suggesting otherwise as “completely false”.

Soneye said: “On January 25, 2025, operations at WRPC Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out necessary intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that were impacting sustainable and steady operations.

“These intervention works are essential to ensure the production of on-specification finished and intermediate products, particularly Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Kerosene (Kero).

“The routine maintenance is progressing as planned, and Area 1 will be back in operation within the next few days. Despite ongoing interventions, over the past 11 days, AGO loading has been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day, with a sufficient supply available to sustain ongoing truck load-out operations.

“NNPC Ltd remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted product supply and appreciates the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders as it completes these essential maintenance activities”.

The 125,000 barrels per day refinery was re-steamed just before the new year after over 10 years in comatose with NNPC saying it was operating at 60 percent capacity.

The Federal Executive Council, in August 2021, approved the contract for the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries at the sum of $1.48 billion.

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