Get the 2020 financial performance summary of some of the big names listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

High CASA mix enables banks to record lower Interest expenses, hence, a higher net interest margin.

The regional paradox – The Richer the oil, the higher the unemployment.

Nigerian Banks Electronic Transaction Revenue a question on efficiency of cashless policy.

Cashless policy a myriad in Nigeria payment transactions amongst other countries.

South African banks are bigger than Nigerian banks in terms of Total Assets. However, Nigerian banks are more profitable, looking at return on Assets. Return on Assets talks about how they are able to utilize their balance sheet (mostly made up of deposits) to drive revenue. Return on Assets = Profit/Total assets. But why are Nigerian banks doing better? Take a look at the MPR. The MPR is the benchmark rate for asset pricing. For example, banks will set loan rate at MPR + Premium. For example, 12.5+3.5 = 16%. For South African banks, the MPR is low, hence the interest they will earn on loan will be lower compared to Nigerian banks. This means their interest income will be lower, hence their Return on Assets will be lower.

Nigeria’s Poverty Rate by Sectors Will able-bodied young people be better off or worse off with Nigeria’s agricultural practices?

Loan Book and Non-Performing Loan of Nigerian Banks as at H1’2020

By JACOB BATHANTI and DEBRA LADNER / Image Credit: World Bank As COVID-19 (coronavirus) spreads around the world, governments and development organizations are thinking hard about how to respond effectively. Trajectories of the epidemic have varied widely among countries as governments adopt a range of policies to contain it. These efforts raise the question of what lessons we can glean from previous experiences in combating novel disease outbreaks. We examined four case studies of epidemic response and recovery from the Global Delivery Initiative (GDI): three from past outbreaks, and one new case: Building a more resilient health system after Ebola in Liberia Financial inclusion and resilience: How BRAC’s microfinance program recovered from the West Africa Ebola crisis How Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control contained Lassa Fever, 2015-2017 (Forthcoming) The Republic of Korea’s First 70 Days of Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak  GDI case studies trace the implementation of development interventions, focusing on delivery challenges (the non-technical problems that impede interventions from achieving their hoped-for results) and how practitioners address these obstacles. Examining implementation processes in context helps surface innovations to inspire practitioners facing similar challenges, since many delivery challenges recur across contexts and interventions. In the cases we analyzed, a host of delivery challenges emerged as practitioners raced to implement effective responses. What were the greatest challenges? Basic infrastructure. Shortfalls of basic health infrastructure and equipment hindered Nigeria’s response to the 2015 Lassa outbreak as well as Liberia’s response to Ebola in 2014. These ranged from too few ambulances to a lack of testing capacity (at one point, Liberia’s health authorities had to send samples to Guinea to test for Ebola). Coordination. Cooperation across a wide range of partners and stakeholders is crucial in epidemic situations. Yet such coordination can be difficult.  In Liberia, the government found that international partners sometimes followed their own playbooks instead of coordinating with each other and with the government. In Nigeria, the country’s federal system added a layer of complexity, as some state governments took their responses to Lassa more seriously than others.   Organizational capacity, communication and engagement. The Liberia and Nigeria case studies documented shortages of frontline staff and technical capacity of some teams, hindering response time and impeding surveillance. As it struggled to keep ongoing microfinance programs afloat in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola crisis, development partner BRAC relied on remote communications such as Skype with its in-country staff.  But communication with clients was more difficult. As a result, management sometimes had an incomplete picture of what was happening on the ground. Lessons and reflections What do these case studies tell us about tackling delivery challenges in an epidemic, and about creating resilient systems? We suggest four lessons that emerge from the cases 1. The importance of adaptive learning for effective responses. Learning from experience is crucial, both for effective emergency response and to rebuild for the future.  Korea’s response to an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 was seen as slow and opaque, but lessons from this experience have informed its effective response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In Nigeria’s response to Lassa in 2015, the government moved quickly, spurred by memories of the recent Ebola epidemic. And Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) examined past responses to Lassa fever outbreaks to improve its response through systematic learning. 2. Coordination is hard – but vital. Cooperation and coordination are urgently needed during epidemic responses. This includes coordination among government agencies, across countries, and with a host of development and international organizations. In Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, the government found it difficult to coordinate among the many stakeholders working to combat the disease. The challenges persisted even after the outbreak and impacted efforts to strengthen the health system. Coordination challenges can be mitigated when leaders use their convening power to bring key stakeholders together.  For example, the NCDC had authority to lead disease responses and coordinate among agencies. Korea’s government moved quickly to convene and work with the private sector to develop testing. 3. Effective public engagement is essential. Communication and transparency are crucial, because public behavior and trust can have profound impacts on epidemic response.  In Nigeria, a decentralized communications strategy empowered the NCDC to reach out to communities affected by Lassa fever using social media and WhatsApp. In Korea, leaders recognized the need for transparency to build trust after MERS. Communications on COVID-19 have been proactive, with regular online updates, text messages, and a massive new call center to answer questions from the public. 4. Investments in frontline workers – and systems to support them – are critical. In Liberia, health workers were overstretched even before Ebola. After the epidemic, the government trained new cadres of community health assistants, strengthened the disease surveillance system, and invested in testing capacity. By 2018, these investments were bearing fruit, enabling the government to respond more quickly to outbreaks including Lassa, monkeypox, and meningococcal disease. Similarly, BRAC found that supporting frontline staff throughout the Ebola crisis influenced its quick recovery in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Global Delivery Initiative is a partnership of over 50 organizations focused on operational insights to better understand what works in implementation. Jacob Bathanti is an editor for the Future Development blog and Debra Ladner is Program Lead for the Global Delivery Initiative as well as Senior Knowledge Management Specialist of the World Bank.

Most trade takes place by sea, and—for navigational safety purposes—virtually all cargo ships report their position, speed, and other information many times a day. A new IMF methodology using these data can help better inform us how international trade is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Great Lockdown is expected to play out in three phases, first as countries enter the lockdown, then as they exit, and finally as they escape the lockdown when there is a medical solution to the pandemic. Many countries are now in the second phase, as they reopen, with early signs of recovery, but risks of second waves of infections and re-imposition of lockdowns. Surveying the economic landscape, the sheer scale and severity of the Global Lockdown are striking.

Compared to the April World Economic Outlook forecast, the IMF now projects a deeper recession in 2020 and a slower recovery in 2021. Global output is projected to decline by -4.9 percent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below our April forecast, followed by a partial recovery, with growth at 5.4 percent in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic could be a game changer for digital financial services. Low income households and small firms can benefit greatly from advances in mobile money, fintech services and online banking. Financial inclusion as a result of digital financial services can also boost economic growth. While the pandemic is set to increase use of these services, it has also posed challenges for the growth of the industry’s smaller players and highlighted unequal access to digital infrastructure. Several actions will need to be taken to ensure maximum inclusion going forward.

The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating labor markets across the world. Tens of millions of workers lost their jobs, millions more out of the labor force altogether, and many occupations face an uncertain future. Social distancing measures threaten jobs requiring physical presence at the workplace or face-to-face interactions. Those unable to work remotely, unless deemed essential, face a significantly higher risk of reductions in hours or pay, temporary furloughs, or permanent layoffs. What types of jobs and workers are most at risk? Not surprisingly, the costs have fallen most heavily on those who are least able to bear them: the poor and the young in the lowest-paid jobs.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already prompted an unprecedented fiscal policy response of close to $11 trillion worldwide. But with confirmed cases and fatalities still rising fast, policymakers will have to keep the public health response their No. 1 priority while retaining supportive and flexible fiscal policies and preparing for transformational economic change.

It is important to emphasize that the World Bank’s income classifications use the GNI of the previous year (2019 in this case). Thus, the GNI numbers that are used for this year’s classification do not yet reflect the impact of COVID-19.

COVID-19 is taking its toll on the world, causing deaths, illnesses and economic despair. But how is the deadly virus impacting global poverty? Here we’ll argue that it is pushing about 40-60 million people into extreme poverty, with our best estimate being 49 million.