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The Federal Government has introduced tax exemptions on key energy products and infrastructure as well as fiscal incentives for the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector.

Mohammed Manga, Director, Information and Public Relations in Federal Ministry of Finance in a statement on Wednesday said the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun unveiled two major fiscal incentives aimed at revitalizing Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

According to him, “The VAT Modification Order 2024 introduces exemptions on a range of key energy products and infrastructure, including Diesel, Feed Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Electric Vehicles, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure, and Clean Cooking Equipment.

These measures are designed to lower the cost of living, bolster energy security, and accelerate Nigeria’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

The notice of tax incentives for deep offshore oil and gas production provides new tax reliefs for deep offshore projects.

This initiative is aimed at positioning Nigeria’s deep offshore basin as a premier destination for global oil and gas investments.

These reforms are part of a broader series of investment-driven policy initiatives championed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in line with Policy Directives 40-42.

They reflect the administration’s strong commitment to fostering sustainable growth in the energy sector and enhancing Nigeria’s global competitiveness in oil and gas production.

With these bold initiatives, Nigeria is firmly on track to reclaim its position as a leader in the global oil and gas market. These fiscal incentives demonstrate the administration’s unwavering commitment to fostering sustainable growth, enhancing energy security, and driving economic prosperity for all Nigerians.”

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Fast-food value meals have been credited with helping get inflation-weary diners back into their favorite chains. 

But there’s a dark side, it appears—at least, if you’re a company that supplies those chains with potato products: Fewer fries are arriving with those orders.  

Lamb Weston Holdings (LW), which on Wednesday reported its latest financial results along with plans for a broad restructuring and a scaled-back outlook, said that its customers' restaurant traffic has been—and is expected to remain—under pressure. That sentiment has been echoed by other food suppliers lately, including Hunt’s ketchup owner ConAgra Brands (CAG) and spice giant McCormick (MKC). 

Lamb Weston Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tom Werner said Wednesday that there was “early evidence” of improving restaurant traffic in the summer months, with customers responding to promotions and, perhaps, getting used to higher prices. Demand for fries isn’t dropping, Werner said, with the rate at which people add them to orders “steady” in the company’s key markets. 

But some promotional value-meal offers, Werner said, include french-fry portions that are smaller than consumers might have ordered before.

“We're obviously pleased with the growth in restaurant traffic, but it's important to note that many of these promotional meal deals have consumers trading down from a medium fry to a small fry,” Werner said on the earnings call, a transcript of which was made available by AlphaSense. ”So, while we benefit from improving traffic trends, consumers trading down in serving size acts as a partial headwinds for our volumes.”

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Clunky websites and complicated check-out systems are costing companies money, scaring away consumers already wary about their spending, according to a report from digital commerce firm Forter.

The firm’s 2024 Trust Premium Report found that a retailer’s digital experience, or how their checkout or return processes work online, can be key to growing sales and that retailers that don’t measure up are leaving money on the table. 

"The digital experience impacts trust more than retailers may think, whether with complicated check-outs, unfriendly policies, or other shopper friction," Forter CEO Michael Reitblat said.

Nearly four in five of the 2,000 U.S. and U.K. respondents Forter surveyed said they would abandon their online shopping carts if the check-out process is too cumbersome. Over one-fifth said they've given up on an online purchase because it would have required them to create an account.

This year's holiday shopping season could be a "stress test" for retailers, Forter said, with companies competing for sales to more cautious consumers with a growing preference for flexible payment options online.

About half of consumers surveyed said they plan to spend as much or more on holiday shopping this year compared to last year. Roughly half also said they plan to make use of buy-now-pay-later services.

“Retailers must focus on providing value and convenience, ensuring that their offerings meet the needs of cost-conscious shoppers,” the report said. “This means prioritizing clear communication of value, offering flexible payment options, and creating seamless online shopping experiences.”

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Singer Mr Eazi has renounced having any boss in the music industry after a fan asked him to show his support for Wizkid while he dragged Davido online

He reacted by telling the fan that the only boss he recognizes is Jesus Christ.

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Crypto index fund manager Bitwise on Wednesday filed an S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would give investors direct exposure to Ripple Labs's XRP (XRPUSD) crypto token.

In the filing, Bitwise explicitly stated that XRP isn't a security—countering past SEC assertions—and emphasized that XRP operates on a decentralized ledger, which generally can enhance accountability, security, and accessibility. According to the filing, BNY Mellon will serve as the trust’s administrator and transfer agent, while Coinbase Custody will act as the custodian.

The filing comes at a time when the SEC is still in a legal dispute with Ripple over the classification of XRP as an unregistered security. The SEC has until Monday, Oct. 7, to appeal a 2023 federal court ruling that secondary sales of XRP through crypto exchanges aren't securities transactions.

According to Galaxy Digital's head of research, Alex Thorn, it would be surprising if the SEC doesn't appeal the decision. Such an appeal's success would make the chances of approval for this ETF proposal effectively zero, he posted Tuesday on the social media platform X.

Bitwise acknowledged the continuing litigation in its filing, noting that if XRP is deemed a security by the courts, it could force the liquidation of the proposed trust under certain conditions. In addition to this new filing for an XRP ETF, Bitwise has already launched spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the U.S.

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If you want to understand why prices for many things aren’t rising as fast as they were a couple years ago, a good place to start would be the drive-thru. 

That’s according to one of the officials at the Federal Reserve who sets the nation’s monetary policy to keep inflation under control. In a speech Wednesday, Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said the habits of McDonald’s customers showed why inflation continues to fall.

 “Consumers are driving this drop,” Barkin said in remarks at an economic conference in Wilmington, North Carolina. “Frustrated by high prices, they have become increasingly price conscious.”

The annual inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index tumbled to 2.5% in August from its recent high of 9.1% in June 2022. Consumer spending, however, has slowed but not faltered.

“They’re still spending, but they’re choosing: trading down from beef to chicken, from sit-down restaurants to fast casual, from brand names to private label,” Barkin said. “They’re waiting for promotions: opting for the $5 value meal at McDonald’s or jumping on discounts at Target.”

“This is how it is supposed to work. The old saying is that the solution to high prices is high prices. And that’s what we are finally seeing. Their choices are pressuring price-setters to finally moderate price increases.”

Fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s, introduced value meals earlier this year in an attempt to win back customers fed up with high prices. Those companies evidently observed the same trend that Fed researchers did earlier this year—diners were rebelling at higher prices at some restaurants and would draw the line at paying $20 for a hamburger. 

Still, Barkin said he wasn’t ready to declare “victory” in the Fed’s battle against inflation. The Fed began raising its benchmark interest rate in March 2022 to counteract a surge of inflation that took hold as the pandemic receded. 

The Fed ultimately raised the federal funds rate to its highest since 2001 and kept it there for more than a year with the goal of slowing the economy and discouraging borrowing and spending to bring supply and demand back into balance. 

Now that that’s happened, the Fed is shifting its focus toward ensuring the economy doesn’t slow so much that unemployment spikes. That's why the Fed reduced its interest rate last month, the first cut in four years. 

Barkin said it was too soon to say “mission accomplished,” with inflation still above the Fed’s annual goal of a 2% growth and the labor market trajectory still in doubt.“Victory means different things to different people, and—while we have made real progress—there remains significant uncertainty on both inflation and employment.”

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