The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the inflation rate fell by 0.05 per cent in April compared to what obtained in March, adding that while the inflation rate stood at 18.17 per cent in March, it reduced to 18.12 per cent in April.
The development was contained in the NBS’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April 2021 released recently in Abuja.
According to the report increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
It aired that: “On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.97 per cent in April. This is 0.59 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in March (1.56 per cent)”.
The NBS said that the percentage change in the average composite of CPI for the 12 months period ending in April over the average of CPI for the previous 12 months period was 15.04 per cent. This, it said, represented a 0.48 per cent increase over 14.55 per cent recorded in March.
Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings, an American credit rating agency, has posited that changes on the boards of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and FBN Holdings Plc actually addressed corporate governance issues witnessed in the Group before Central Bank ‘s involvement.
It should be recalled that Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently replaced the boards of FBN and FBNH, and reinstated the former executive directors, as well as managing director Adesola Adeduntan.
The CBN also requested that FBN open up certain exposures and divest from its investments in a non-banking out-fit which also points to potential corporate governance lapses at the bank.
In a recently released statement, the rating agency maintained that the board changes also helped to ensure the financial stability of Nigeria’s banking sector. Although, it noted that its ratings on First Bank and other Nigerian banks remain constrained by shortcomings in corporate governance and transparency, among other factors.
According to the statement “Dr. Adeduntan’s reinstatement and the re-appointment of the other executive directors underscores the CBN’s confidence in the existing management team to continue the turnaround of the third-largest banking group in Nigeria.
The CBN also asked for the recapitalization of the bank and demanded that its former board members with insider loans must repay the loans in accordance with global best practice.
